Indianapolis Media Twitter Rankings – Pointer, Keefer, Ambrogi, and Sterling Post Biggest Gains

by Kent Sterling

It’s been six weeks since the Twitter standings for Indiana media were recalibrated, and the big gainers were Indy Star new beat reporters were the big gainers.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

Zak Keefer was handed the key to the Butler beat, and Butler fans paid attention.  His following exploded for a 60% gain from 2,401 to 3,841.  The gain for Michael Pointer was even more stark as he was named the interim Pacers beat reporter as he improved from an even 2,000 to 3,677 or an 83.7% bump.

Conversely, David Woods, who came off Butler lost 20 followers to slip from 5,518 to 5,497.

Mark Ambrogi moved from 1,378 to 1,544 for the third largest twitter gain of 12.1%

Coming in fourth for gain percentage was the redoubtable and improbable Kent Sterling, who parlayed social and traditional media exposure along with kentsterling.com into an 11.5% gain from 2,258 to 2,517.

Twitter is an important marker in determining two things – value of a brand and willingness to access all avenues to engage media users.  If you are not a Twitter user, you are not reaching 12-24 year-olds.  That won’t make a big difference today, but in six years, it’s going to be a debilitating void for an information conveyor.

Here are the updated standings divided by media (percent increase followed by total followers):

Sports Radio in Indy

1. Dan Dakich – 1070 the Fan,  +1.8% – 59,229
2. JMV – 1070 the Fan, +3.3% – 17,789
3. Michael Grady – 1070 the Fan, +6.4% – 8,869
4. Mark Boyle – Pacers play-by-play, +6.1% – 7,432
5. Jake Query 1260 WNDE, +3.2% – 7,309
6. Kevin Lee – 1070 the Fan/NBC, +2.2% – 6,257
7. Greg Rakestraw – 1070 the Fan, +8.1% – 4,650
8. Eddie White – Pacers Postgame, +4.2% – 4,382
9. Derek Schultz – 1260 WNDE +3.6% – 3,513

TV Sports Anchors/Reporters in Indy

1. Dave Calabro – WTHR,  +4.6% – 7,200
2. Anthony Calhoun – WISH, +3.5% – 5,337
3. Chris Hagan – Fox 59,  +5.0 – 4,494
4. Dave Furst – RTV6,  +4.5% – 4,177
5. Rich Nye – WTHR,  +3.3% – 4,009
6. Jeremiah Johnson – Fox 59,  +4.0% – 3,850
7. Eric Yutzy – WTHR,  +4.3% – 2,130
8. Jason Spells – RTV6,  +2.9% – 1,779
9. Brittany Diehl – Fox 59,  +7.8% – 1,745
10. Chris Widlic – WISH,  +4.6% – 1,467
11. Larry Hawley – FOX 59,  +5.7% – 1,123
12. Amanda Maynard – WISH,  +4.6% – 867
13. Brad Brown – RTV6,  +3.8% – 515

Print – all with Indianapolis Star (beat in parenthesis)

1. Bob Kravitz (columnist), +2.9% – 34,737
2. Mike Wells (Pacers), +2.0% – 24,616
3. Phillip B. Wilson, +2.5% – 13,778
4. Mike Chappell (Colts), +5.9% – 13,048
5. Terry Hutchens (moved to Fox), +4.5% – 12,562
6. Curt Cavin (Racing), +1.0% – 12,046
7. Kyle Neddenriep (Preps, recruiting), +4.4% – 10,452
8. David Woods, -0.4% – 5,497
9. Zak Keefer (Butler), +60.0% – 3,841
10. Michael Pointer, +83.9% – 3,677
11. Phil Richards, +4.5% – 2,725
12. Mark Ambrogi, +12.1% – 1,544

One of the extrapolations that can be gleaned from these standings is that TV is not a significant portal for sports information and insight.  There is less connectivity among users and talent in TV, and so the Twitter followers for TV are significantly lower than for radio and newspaper.  What that means is not good for TV sports.

Connectivity is the name of the game, and a talent’s value is in that connection with users.  Without it, the talent’s brand value is negligible.

There are some interesting races in the standings.  Mark Boyle passed Jake Query for fourth in radio, and among the TV talent, Jeremiah Johnson from Fox59 is a likely bet to pass Rich Nye in September.  Chris Hagan of Fox59 is closing the gap on Anthony Calhoun, but will need the better part of a year to catch him if percentages hold.  Chris is a good follow @chrishaganfox59.  I like AC, but I spend every Saturday morning with Hagan, and my promotional weight goes to my partner.

Brittany Diehl from Fox59 is reeling in Jason Spells and Eric Yutzy.

Whatever Fox 59 is doing is working as they have the three top percentage gainers in the TV category with Hagan, Diehl, and Larry Hawley.