Sarah Palin…Superstar!

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s highly anticipated speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night nearly matched the record-setting numbers of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Palin pulled in 37.2 million viewers across broadcast and cable networks, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That’s 55% higher than Day 3 of the DNC, when her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, and President Clinton took the stage (24 million).

It’s also up a sharp 99% from the Republican convention’s third day in 2004 (18.7 million). In fact, it came close to upsetting Obama’s historic address on Thursday — the most-watched convention speech in history (38.4 million viewers).

Palin’s viewership is up 73% from Tuesday’s RNC tally, when 21.5 million tuned in to see President Bush and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman endorse nominee John McCain.

- from THR