About 95 million Americans watched live television news coverage of the low-speed chase involving O. J. Simpson on Friday -- a figure rivaling the 118 million who watched the opening salvos in the Persian Gulf war, a ratings expert estimated.

The bizarre sight of Mr. Simpson heading toward his home with police officers trailing and onlookers cheering was covered live for various periods by CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN.

David Poltrack, CBS' senior ratings analyst, based his estimate today on overnight figures for all network and independent stations in major TV markets.

"Some of the coverage was watched by 67 percent of all households, or 63 million homes, and the average number of viewers was 95 million," he said. On average, 118 million Americans tuned in on Jan. 16, 1991, Day 1 of the Gulf war.