Obama Speech More Viewers Than American Idol Finale

Barack Obama's acceptance speech drew more viewers than the finale of American Idol and it was watched by more people than the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Even this year's Academy Awards was watched by fewer people.

Barack Obama's audience for his acceptance speech likely topped 40 million people, and the Democratic gathering that nominated him was a more popular television event than any other political convention in history.

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

Through four days, the Democratic convention was seen in an average of 22.5 million households. No other convention _ Republican or Democratic _ had been seen in as many homes since Nielsen began keeping these records for the Kennedy-Nixon campaign in 1960.

Barack Obama was still listed with -180 odds to become the next US President at BetUS.com. Odds could be updated when new poll data was due out.

----

Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher