Whitney Houston’s family brings record ratings to Oprah Winfrey’s cable channel OWN as Winfrey chats with Bobbi Kristina Brown, Gary Houston and Patricia Houston

Oprah Winfrey and Bobbi Kristina Brown on "Oprah's Next Chapter" on OWN

Whitney Houston's daughter spoke out for the first time since the singer's death Sunday night and 3.5 million people listened.

The highly anticipated Oprah Winfrey chat with Bobbi Kristina Brown generated the highest numbers in the short history of Winfrey's channel OWN, according to the Nielsen Co.

Winfrey included the interview as part of her regular Sunday series "Oprah's Next Chapter." Besides Bobbi Kristina, Houston's daughter with ex-husband Bobby Brown, the special also included brother Gary Houston and her sister-in-law Patricia Houston.

While the audience was big by OWN's standards, 3.5 million is relatively small in overall audience terms.

For example, 3.5 million is less than what the usual Winfrey daytime show averaged, which is a couple million less than what MTV's "Jersey Shore" does on a regular basis.