More than 38 million people tuned in to watch the acceptance speech given by Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Obama spoke to a live audience of 80,000 people at Invesco Field. Nielsen Media Research reports:

That MORE people watched Obama speak...

• than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing.
• than watched this year's American Idol season finale.
• than watched this year's Academy Awards.
By comparison John Kerry'sTV audience was seen by just over 20 million people back in 2004 when he gave his speech accepting the Democratic nomination.

NOTE:
Since Nielsen Media Research didn't have an estimate for the numbers of viewers who may have watched Obamaon C-SPAN or PBS the audience is most likely even higher.

Click hereto read Obama'sfull speech, The American Promise.