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Top Media Figures Followed by Top Fortune CEOs in 2024

Insights • October 3, 2024

At Rational 360, we influence decisionmakers. As the media landscape around decisionmakers shifts to new platforms, the driving factors for influence are less about the “what” and more about the “who.” Journalists and media figures are trusted sources of information decision-makers rely on – and an audience also ripe for PR and digital outreach.To make communications more impactful and target outreach where it counts, we set out to find which journalists are most followed by CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.

Process:

• To examine this at a macro-level among business leaders in America, Rational 360 leveraged the 2024 Fortune 500 List to identify CEOs with a social media presence. We found where exactly 100 of Fortune 500 CEOs have a public Twitter/X account. 
• Next, Rational 360 identified which accounts were followed by the greatest number of CEOs. This list of influencers was then filtered to individuals who are media figures, further qualified by the question, “Could someone pitch a story to this figure?”

Results:

• These are the top three media figures influential to Fortune 500 CEOs:
  • CNBC’s Jim Cramer (followed by 36% of CEOs)
  • CNBC anchor and New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin (followed by 24% of CEOs)
  • Independent commentator and frequent Vox Media contributor Kara Swisher (followed by 22% of CEOs)

If CEO decisionmakers are an important audience for a public affairs campaign, these three media figures deserve special consideration.

Top Insights:

• The number of Fortune 500 CEOs have not changed since Musk’s takeover of Twitter. 20% of Fortune 500 CEOs are on Twitter/X. This remains consistent with benchmarks taken two years ago.
  

• Fortune 500 CEOs pay more attention to CNBC than any other outlet. 35% of CEOs follow CNBC. Journalists from Squawk Box and Mad Money are the most followed journalists.
  
• 55% F500 CEOs follow media figures who write about business; 44% follow tech and 32% follow sports. This is relatively consistent with trends observed in 2022. 

• Global perspective is lacking. Over 90% of journalists followed most by F500 CEOs are based in the US. 

(Note: Some media figures have the same percent influence. In this case, those that are tied have been assigned the same numerical rank and ordered alphabetically. Interested in learning more about our process or influencing your own list of decisionmakers? Contact us for more information.

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