Surf Exposure Meter: October 2008

josh hunter

• October 27 2008
• 580 views
• 3 comments

AS REPORTED IN OCTOBER TRANSWORLD BUSINESS

January–September 2008 Tally
Jordy Smith Takes The Lead From Fanning

Well, it’s official: Jordy Smith has now received more exposure than any other surfer in the world at this point in the year. After delving through every page of surf coverage from the September issues of Transworld SURF, Surfer, and Surfing, Mick Fanning had an uncharacteristic slow month and Smith was easily able to overtake the pole position in the 2008 Surf Exposure-Meter race.

Fanning scored a measly 1,000 points, while Smith logged in 6,800 points. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly caused Fanning’s slow month. Perhaps it was a lack of ad support from sponsors. Couple that with a slow month editorially and all of a sudden we’ve got ourselves a really interesting race going into the final quarter of the year. Only three months’ worth of magazines remain, and at this points it’s anyone’s race!

The most impressive boost in points this month came from Bruce Irons. Irons not only scored the cover of Surfing, but the cover shot bled over onto the back cover as well. Oddly enough, that spot has been occupied by Volcom ads all year—weird. Not to mention Irons had a ten-page feature about him leaving the WCT in the issue as well. Throw in his edit coverage from the Dude Cruise trip in Transworld SURF and Bruce totaled way more than just his rental truck! Irons piled on an incredible 11,300 points this month. To put that in perspective, that’s just about as many points as Damien Hobgood has scored this year!

Whether you are a team manager, athlete agent, marketing director, or a shop grom, you do not want to miss the results from the next few months. This is one of the most interesting Exposure-Meter races ever, and there’s no way to know who will finish at the top. Stay tuned to the only place in the world for a quantifiable gauge of surf athlete exposure, the world famous Surf Exposure-Meter!

To view the entire Surf Exposure page from October, click HERE.