Michelle Obama wows social media, TV audience

LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - Mrs Michelle Obama wowed Americans with an emotional speech at the Democratic National Convention that set the Twitterverse alight with gushing praise and boosted husband Barack Obama's social media standing as he makes his bid to stay in the White House.

TV viewing figures showed that the audience for the first lady's Tuesday night address in Charlotte, North Carolina, was about 22 million across the three main cable TV and three free-to-air United States (US) networks, according to Nielsen data.

The preliminary figure was about 1.5 million higher than the 20.5 million people who tuned into the 10pm (10am, Singapore time) hour a week ago to hear Mrs Ann Romney speak about her husband, Mr Mitt Romney, Mr Obama's Republican challenger in the Nov 6 presidential election.

Audience figures for cable news networks will be available later on Wednesday.