The world just can't get enough of Jack Freestone.
SwellNet’s Stu Nettle, who might be a good looking man though it is hard to find many online pictures of him, just did a post-Snapper state of professional surfing’s union and it is great. (read here).
There are many nuggets but the best is that the Quiksilver Pro creates “approximately 19 million in tangible media value,” according to the World Surf League. $10,131,631 is attributed to “social media buzz value.”
“$10 million in social media buzz value?” You ask, nose scrunched all cute like maybe Stu Nettle scrunches his nose all cute (again, difficult to say since lack of online pictures). “How did they arrive at that number?”
Easy! 1.6 billion people love watching, or reading Twitter feeds, about surfing! 1.6 billion, or as Stu Nettle points out, over 1/5 of the earth’s population. Eyes are glued in Tibet, Yemen, Mongolia, Bolivia. The people can’t get enough. The people crave Nat Young’s stylish goofy-footed attack. The people must know that @Mick_Fanning thinks “Bells!! Some people love it and some people hate it. Personally I love the feeling of going really…instagram.com/p/0ittynEnf.”
1,600,000,000 people.
And this 1.6 billion was calculated after last year’s Margaret River Pro, so it can be reasonably assumed that a few extra million checked in on the new season.
1,637,000,000 people.
A company named Repucom figured out that 1.6 billion people consume online surfing. Repucom’s head of US Consulting, Michael Lynch, used to be the World Surf League’s Chief Marketing Officer.
It is truly an amazing number and I am sorry for every poking fun at the World Surf League’s revenue projections. Professional surfing is the world’s 4th largest sport. Barely smaller than basketball but lots bigger than tennis. The NBA recently signed a 24 billion dollar television deal. The WSL’s upcoming television deal might be a touch less but not by much.
Do you think, when the WSL inks their upcoming television deal, Graham Stapelberg will buy me a Winston Cocktail (one part Cognac Croizet 1858 one part Grand Marnier) or will he buy one for Stu Nettle instead? Do you think Stu Nettle is better looking than me?
Chase, have you been at the glue again-if you read the article–that’s the number Repucon stated as viewers–Stu,doing his own research- stated, (in the same article) that approx. 25,000 viewers tuned in for the final, (which should have had the biggest audience) , but only had about 25,000 viewers–.00005 of the population..It seems you mis-read the article and Repucon it seems– are stacking their numbers
These numbers are whack. There’s no way in hell that the WSL content was viewed by half the worlds internet users. This reeks of dot-bomb era hubris.
Surfing – the most deluded, self-centered, self-loathing ‘sport’ in the world.
By using the same sorcerous Repucom algorithm, we can deduce Graham’s real social metrics (https://twitter.com/grahams… 1 million tweets, 1 million followers…
1.6bn people reached and the WSL is still hemorrhaging cash like shit through a goose*. NOTE – Only one of the assertions in the previous sentence is actually true.
I take it the writer of this article is a Dane Reynolds fan… Also, Proof read before posting (Kelly Slater Section / 2nd section “you’ve only surfer once or twice”?)
Nothing quite like anonymously correcting grammar in a comment section.
It’s cool, I should do a better job of proofreading before submitting, but I do hold the same disdain for people who can’t even be bothered to create a username.
Yeah, I saw that too, after the fact. C’est la vie.
And I’m a fan of them all, even Mick Fanning.
In my mind’s eye, the assignment board at Beachgrit HQ reads: “Chas – google pictures of Stu Nettle.” Well done boys, you’ve cracked life’s code.
Thank you for noticing. It’s part of why BeachGrit gets 1.3 billion views a day.
Skinny jeans are nice.
Nah, the only thing written on the assignment board at Beachgrit HQ is “Find Chas skinnier jeans”