Nielsen numbers fit for a Hollywood star

More than 37 million people tuned in to watch Sarah Palin’s speech to the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, almost as many as watched Barack Obama accept the Democratic presidential nomination last week, Nielsen Media Research reported Thursday.

Palin’s highly anticipated appearance drew nearly 16 million more viewers than the previous night’s coverage of the GOP gathering, which was watched by about 21.5 million people.

(The actual numbers of those tuning in to both Obama and Palin are higher than the Nielsen figures, which do not include PBS’ estimated 4 million viewers on those nights.)

The Nielsen report is good news for the GOP, but it set the bar high for John McCain’s acceptance speech last night. Those ratings numbers will be reported today.

-- Kate Linthicum