The People v. O.J. Simpson: AMERICAN CRIME STORY premiere scores the highest ratings in FX history!
Media reporting an American Crime Story touchdown!! The People v. O.J. Simpson had the most watched series premiere in FX history!! With encores and recorded viewing that’s 12 million viewers of episode 1 so far!!!
Deadline Hollywood:
‘The People V. O.J. Simpson’ Viewership Surges To FX High In Live + 3* Results
by Dominic Patten
February 8, 2016 11:04am
FX
The day after the Super Bowl, FX just scored a touchdown of its own. The February 2 premiere of The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story drew the best viewership debut for a drama series on the cabler in Live+Same Day**, and now delayed-viewing results have the Ryan Murphy-directed first episode doing the same in Live+3*.
With resepctive lifts of 62% and 68%, the opening of the Cuba Gooding Jr-starring tale of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman and the subsequent media circus of a trial pulled in 8.3 million viewers and 4.2 million among adults 18-49. That makes the beginning of the 10-episode first run of ACS the most watched series premiere in FX’s history.
That viewership number tops the series premiere of previous top slotted The Shield by 73% — of course, the latter series debuted back in 2002, long before L+3 became part of the TV game. While the overall numbers are much bigger, the growth percentage comes just under FX’s drama debut L+3 viewership record. In DVR viewing, the Season 1 debut of Fargo in April 2014 jumped 67% in overall viewership and 74% in the demo.
Over its first run plus two encores, FX has the ACS debut garnering 12 million total viewers with 6.1 in the key demo.
* Live+3 ratings measure live viewing plus DVR viewing up to three days later. The networks often put these numbers out in press releases within a week of the airdate.
** Live+Same Day ratings measure live viewing plus a program’s DVR viewing until 3:00am local time that night.
The Wrap Hollywood:
‘People v OJ Simpson’ Kills It in Delayed Viewing
TV | By Joe Otterson on February 8, 2016 @ 12:56 pm
Premiere episode based on the “Trial of the Century” jumps to 12 million viewers in live-plus-3 numbers, making it FX’s biggest ever
“The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story” saw a major jump in its delayed viewing numbers released Monday by Nielsen.
On a live-plus-three basis, the premiere episode which aired Feb. 2 with two encores, drew 12 million total viewers and 6.1 million in the advertiser coveted 18-49 demographic.
The first airing of the premiere episode of the show posted 5.1 million total viewers and 2.5 million in the key demo. With these new numbers, “People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” is officially the most-watched original scripted series premiere in FX’s 22-year history.
The show’s second episode airs this Tuesday and follows Simpson (Cuba Gooding Jr.) on the run in the white Bronco. Lawyers Robert Shapiro (John Travolta) and Robert Kardashian (David Schwimmer) deal with the fallout.
The series is based on the book “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson” by Jeffrey Toobin, exploring the chaotic behind-the-scenes dealings and maneuvering on both sides of the court.
Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski and Brad Falchuk serve as executive producers. Travolta, Gooding Jr., Schwimmer, Sarah Paulson, Courtney B. Vance, Sterling Brown, Nathan Lane, Kenneth Choi, Christian Clemenson and Bruce Greenwood star. The limited series is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions.