Last night marked the series premiere of Showtime’s newest original series ‘Ray Donovan’ which delivered their highest ratings yet for an original series premiere, as well as eighth and final season premiere of ‘Dexter’ which broke viewership records for the eighth year in a row. You can read the press release regarding this announcement after the jump.

Immediately below you can read the press release with the full details and numbers regarding this announcement.

RAY DONOVAN DELIVERS SHOWTIME’S HIGHEST-RATED

ORIGINAL SERIES PREMIERE EVER WITH 3.04 MILLION VIEWERS

For The Eighth Season In A Row, Dexter® Breaks Viewership Records With Best Ever Premiere

The momentum and growth of SHOWTIME® original series continued last night with the record breaking premiere of RAY DONOVAN, starring Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award nominee Liev Schreiber. And, with the eighth and final season premiere of Dexter at 9 p.m.

RAY DONOVAN delivered the network’s highest-rated original series premiere ever with 1.35 million viewers at 10 p.m., besting all other SHOWTIME freshman comedy and drama series including Homeland’s blockbuster premiere in 2011 by 25 percent (vs. 1.08 million). The series delivered 2.22 million viewers for the night, the highest-rated freshman series night of any SHOWTIME series to-date, up a staggering 61 percent versus the season one premiere night for Homeland (with 1.38 million viewers).

RAY DONOVAN was sampled across multiple platforms in the two weeks leading up to its premiere last night. Within that period, an additional 816,000 SHOWTIME subscribers sampled the series on SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and SHOWTIME ANYTIME®, bringing the RAY DONOVAN series premiere total to 3.04 million viewers. Additional online sampling data will be available in the upcoming weeks.

The eighth and final season premiere of Dexter continued to break records, ranking as the series’ highest-rated premiere ever, a record which the show continues to break season after season. Dexter’s debut last night delivered 2.5 million viewers at 9 p.m., up four percent vs. its season seven premiere (2.4 million). The series delivered 3.2 million viewers for the night, up five percent versus season seven (3.04 million). In seasons past, 64 percent of viewers tuned in to Dexter after its Sunday 9 p.m. episode – watching replays, via DVR, On Demand and authenticated viewing.