Twitter’s biggest TV stars

Tim Minchin, Rove McManus, Dave Hughes, Hamish Blake, Annabel Crabb & Leigh Sales are some of TV’s most popular personalities on Twitter.

Stars with overseas fanbases, whether through TV or music, are amongst those with the biggest following, quickly followed by comedy performers.

This list* features stars with recent Australian-made productions (albeit some with overseas audiences).

Entertainment:

Dannii Minogue 1.24m
Rove McManus 955,000
Dave Hughes 747,000
Hamish Blake 654,000
Andy Lee 617,000
Delta Goodrem 535,000
Adam Hills 526,000
Wil Anderson 523,000
Josh Thomas 472,000
Guy Sebastian 424,000
Charlie Pickering 314,000
Sophie Monk 276,000
Matt Preston 155,000
Julia Morris 145,000
Sonia Kruger 134,000
Dr. Chris Brown 117,000
Todd Sampson 117,000
Grant Denyer 113,000
Gary Mehigan 104,000
Larry Emdur 95,000
Tom Ballard 89,000
Matt Moran 89,000
David Campbell 85,000
Benjamin Law 80,000
Tom Gleeson 76,000
Manu Feildel 75,000
Kylie Gillies 72,000
Richard Wilkins 72,000
Adam Liaw 70,000
Tony Martin 68,000
Joel Creasey 66,000
Ita Buttrose 62,000
Georgie Gardner 54,000
Stephanie Bendixsen 54,000
Jessica Rowe 53,000
Chrissie Swan 50,000

News:

Karl Stefanovic 447,000
Annabel Crabb 474,000
Leigh Sales 348,000
Peter Helliar 300,000
Carrie Bickmore 273,000
Lisa Wilkinson 242,000
Lee Lin Chin 221,000
Sam Armytage 174,000
Sandra Sully 128,000
David Koch 165,000
Myf Warhurst 109,000
Barrie Cassidy 107,000
David Speers 106,000
Peter van Onselen 103,000
Emma Alberici 96,000
Virginia Trioli 91,000
Peter Hitchener 71,000
Tracy Grimshaw 69,000
Marc Fennell 64,000
Hamish Macdonald 50,000

Drama:

Tim Minchin 1.52m
Chris Lilley 316,000
Natalie Bassingthwaighte 116,000
Magda Szubanski 103,000
Daniel MacPherson 93,000
Ada Nicodemou 85,000
Nicole Da Silva 83,000
Lynne McGranger 71,000
Emily Symons 64,000
Danielle Cormack 60,000
Alan Fletcher 52,000

But does having a big Twitter, or social media, following increase your casting options?

An industry source tells TV Tonight, “Social media following probably doesn’t come into it when casting for Drama. Thankfully, Drama is still cast purely on ability and talent. However, a healthy following on social media certainly can’t harm your chances of being cast as a judge or contestant on a Reality program. The established following that Elyse Knowles (Instagram 879,000) seemed to bring to The Block was invaluable and would in no doubt have contributed to the bump in ratings the past series achieved.

“Producers are increasingly looking at an individual’s presence on social media to determine if that can be used to a show’s advantage.”

One agent said, “I expect producers have done their research about talent’s social numbers before they reach out check our client’s availabilities for a show.

“If they haven’t they should. This is a legitimate part of a talent’s personal brand asset register.

“It’s not the defining point. I can think of plenty of household name talent who don’t give a rats about social media and nor should they. They earned their stripes before social media was a thing.

“Twitter is great for comics, news people and social commentators – but, Instagram is better for a lot of others who are more visually inclined like cooks, renovators, stylists, fashionistas etc. TV is a visual medium and I think Insta is very complimentary for posting shots from on the set and behind the scenes.”

*This list updates