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Obama acceptance speech gets record ratings

Last Updated: Friday, August 29, 2008 | 4:01 PM ET

The Associated Press

Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention was seen by more than 38 million people in the United States, a new record for convention viewership, according to a ratings report released Friday.

Nielsen Media Research said more people watched Obama speak than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final American Idol episode or the Academy Awards this year.

Obama spoke Thursday night before a live audience of 80,000 people in Denver.

His TV audience nearly doubled the number of people who watched John Kerry accept the Democratic nomination to run against President George W. Bush four years ago.

Kerry's speech was seen by slightly more than 20 million people.

Obama's audience might be higher, since Nielsen didn't have an estimate for how many people watched Obama on PBS or C-SPAN.

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