O.J.'s parole hearing ratings dud with 13.5M viewers...

TV ratings aren't as big as they used to be, even for O.J. Simpson.

Based on preliminary Nielsen data provided by various networks that carried the hearing, around 13.5 million TV viewers watched the Thursday hearing in which the former football star, actor and pitchman was granted parole after serving nine years in prison for a Las Vegas hotel room heist. The hearing was carried across four broadcast networks and several cable outlets, including ESPN.

The estimated figure pales next to previous multinetwork broadcasts of culturally iconic Simpson moments. An estimated 150 million viewers watched Simpson’s 1995 acquittal after standing trial for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. In June 1994, 95 million people tuned in to see police in a low-speed pursuit of Simpson in his white Ford Bronco through the streets of Los Angeles and on the 405 Freeway.

Those events rank among the most-watched TV moments in history, but occurred in an era when people had far fewer channel options and no Internet streaming.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-simpson-parole-ratings-20170721-story.html