693,347
▲ 4,398
- Engagement
- 2.19%
- Avg likes, last 3
- 14,781
- Real Engagement
- #10▲12
- Meta board
- #3–
Community groups post drew 22K likes; his Helen Haines message 17K.
Lonsdale St Studio Political Intelligence
Sen. David Pocock
Week of 15 to 22 Oct 2026
David Pocock
Senate1,288,197
Combined reach▲ 9,698since 14 Oct, all five platforms
Instagram 53.8%
Facebook 30.2%
X 13.1%
TikTok 2.2%
YouTube 0.7%
▲ Up since 14 Oct▼ Down– No changeRank moves are in places
Overall reach rank
#3 of 18
– No change
Behind Albanese and Hanson only
Facebook engagement
1.55%
▲ 25 places
#14 of 44 on Real Engagement, was #39
TikTok engagement
3.35%
▼ 7 places
#8 of 44, was #1. No post since 15 Oct
Search interest, this week
8.3
▲ 1 place
#4 of 13 politicians, was #5. Doubled on last week
This week
- Press Club address, 21 Oct. Proposed a 5% levy on AI data centre revenue and pitched a coalition of community independents. Carried by five outlets, #3 national headline.
- Security in the open. Told the Canberra Times his family has moved house over threats, two days after the attack on Helen Haines. Opened his address with a tribute to her.
- His best Meta week this term. Instagram averaged 14,781 likes (#3 of 44) and Facebook jumped 25 places on engagement.
Platforms
Meta carried the Press Club week. TikTok went quiet.
Re-read 23 OctEvery follower count below was read from his own profiles on 23 October. Change is against the 8 to 14 October snapshot.
389,000
▲ 5,000
- Engagement
- 1.55%
- Avg reactions, last 3
- 5,733
- Avg shares
- 286
- Real Engagement
- #14▲25
Last week one post averaged 271 reactions. Press Club content lifted it twentyfold.
X
169,200
– No change
- Engagement
- 0.83%
- Avg likes, last 3
- 1,260
- Real Engagement
- #24▲11
- X board
- #5–
His 19 Oct post drew 2.3K likes, his best on X in weeks.
TikTok
27,700
▲ 100
- Engagement
- 3.35%
- Avg likes, last 3
- 852
- Avg comments
- 76
- Real Engagement
- #8▼7
Latest clips 8 and 15 Oct. Nothing from the Press Club week.
YouTube
8,950
▲ 200
- Leaderboard
- #9–
- Format
- Podcast, clips
Home of the podcast video. Slow, steady growth.
Leaderboards
Third overall and third on Meta, holding steady
Dashboard 23 OctWhere he sits against the field on each follower board. Arrows show rank movement since 14 October.
Engagement
Two platforms in the top 10 for engagement
Dashboard 23 OctReal Engagement ranks all 44 tracked accounts by likes plus comments as a share of followers, so a smaller account that resonates can beat a large one that coasts.
Real Engagement, top 10 plus his other rows
His ranks of 44: TikTok #8, Instagram #10, Facebook #14, X #24.
| # | Name | Platform | Rate | Avg likes | Avg comments | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacqui Lambie | 18.35% | 15,748 | 557 | ▲14 | |
| 2 | Anthony Albanese | TikTok | 10.00% | 13,970 | 707 | ▲7 |
| 3 | Pauline Hanson | TikTok | 6.26% | 10,543 | 822 | – |
| 4 | Sarah Hanson-Young | TikTok | 6.19% | 741 | 324 | ▲1 |
| 5 | Bob Katter | TikTok | 5.03% | 1,652 | 97 | ▼1 |
| 6 | Jacqui Lambie | 4.83% | 22,450 | 1,366 | ▲4 | |
| 7 | Jacqui Lambie | TikTok | 3.38% | 867 | 126 | ▲1 |
| 8 | David Pocock | TikTok | 3.35% | 852 | 76 | ▼7 |
| 9 | Ralph Babet | TikTok | 2.90% | 907 | 71 | ▲3 |
| 10 | David Pocock | 2.19% | 14,781 | 369 | ▲12 | |
| 14 | David Pocock | 1.55% | 5,733 | 292 | ▲25 | |
| 24 | David Pocock | X | 0.83% | 1,260 | 137 | ▲11 |
Katter's TikTok row is carried forward (no post since December 2024). Lambie's Instagram rate is lifted by two viral posts (40K and 52K likes) and an 11,900-follower jump in a week.
Content performance
Third in the country on raw Instagram likes
Dashboard 23 OctThe same 44 sampled accounts, ranked by average likes or reactions on the latest three posts. This rewards audience size, so read it alongside Real Engagement.
| # | Name | Platform | What was posted | Avg likes | Rate | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacqui Lambie | Statement on Helen Haines (23.3K reactions); "A statement from me" | 22,450 | 4.83% | ▲1 | |
| 2 | Jacqui Lambie | "A statement from me" (40K likes) | 15,748 | 18.35% | ▲23 | |
| 3 | David Pocock | Community groups (22K likes, best); message to Helen Haines and her family (17K); first Press Club address (5.3K) | 14,781 | 2.19% | ▲2 | |
| 4 | Anthony Albanese | TikTok | 19 Oct clip (30.1K likes); Medicare | 13,970 | 10.00% | ▲2 |
| 5 | Pauline Hanson | TikTok | No new post this week (latest 30 Sep to 13 Oct) | 10,543 | 6.26% | ▼4 |
| 6 | Pauline Hanson | Attack on government grant spending (12.7K reactions) | 6,867 | 0.69% | ▲8 | |
| 7 | David Pocock | Community groups post; message to Helen Haines at the start of his Press Club speech; Press Club clip | 5,733 | 1.55% | ▲30 | |
| 8 | Jacinta Price | COSBOA small business meeting; second post (9.3K reactions) | 4,743 | 1.28% | ▲26 | |
| 9 | Anthony Albanese | Queensland disaster relief; two further posts | 4,731 | 1.19% | – | |
| 10 | Pauline Hanson | Launceston branch; Bell Bay smelter; Helen Haines | 3,319 | 0.74% | ▼2 | |
| 20 | David Pocock | X | 19 Oct post (2.3K likes); behind-the-scenes work; research findings | 1,260 | 0.83% | ▲16 |
| 29 | David Pocock | TikTok | Two clips on 15 Oct, one on 8 Oct | 852 | 3.35% | ▼18 |
Spotify
Second of seven politician podcasts, best rated of the active shows
Read 23 OctRanked on release frequency and rating, 50/50. Spotify does not publish listener counts. A new episode landed on 15 October, eleven days after the last.
| # | Show | Rating | Latest | Score | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Sarah Hanson-Young Podcast | 4.6 (28) | 20 Oct | 91 | – |
| 2 | With David Pocock | 4.9 (72) | 15 Oct | 68 | – |
| 3 | Based with Senator Alex Antic | 4.9 (230) | 14 Oct | 53 | ▲2 |
| 4 | Andrew Leigh MP: Speeches & Conversations | 5.0 (1) | 23 Oct | 52 | ▼1 |
| 5 | Wisdom, Mongrel, Patriot (Katter) | 4.2 (10) | 19 Oct | 51 | ▼1 |
| 6 | Truth Telling with Lidia Thorpe | 4.8 (23) | Jun 2025 | 44 | – |
| 7 | Dan & The Doctor | 5.0 (11) | Nov 2025 | 44 | – |
"With David Pocock" at a glance
| Rating | 4.9 from 72 ratings (71 last week) |
| Latest episodes | 15 Oct, 4 Oct, 28 Aug, 12 Aug |
| Average gap, last six | 17.2 days |
| Frequency score | 40 of 100 (weekly = 100) |
| Rating score | 95 of 100 |
| Spotify followers | 2,443 (team figure, 18 Sep) |
The rating is close to the top of the field. Cadence is what holds the score at 68: two episodes in October after a five-week gap.
Search
His most searched week in three months
Google Trends 23 OctThe heat table shows each person's weekly search interest against their own 12-week peak (100). The ranking below it puts all 13 on one shared scale.
12-week search interest, top 10 overall
Weeks starting 31 Jul to 16 Oct. Darker means closer to that person's own peak. Compare the shape of each row, not sizes between rows.
Most searched politicians, 15 to 22 Oct
One shared scale, anchored on Pauline Hanson. Movement against 8 to 14 Oct.
| # | Name | Interest | Move |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pauline Hanson | 56.4 | ▲1 |
| 2 | Jacqui Lambie | 29.0 | ▲6 |
| 3 | Anthony Albanese | 17.1 | – |
| 4 | David Pocock | 8.3 | ▲1 |
| 5 | Bob Katter | 5.3 | ▲1 |
| 6 | David Shoebridge | 4.3 | – |
| 7 | Penny Wong | 3.8 | ▼3 |
| 8 | Tanya Plibersek | 2.4 | ▼7 |
| 8 | Jacinta Price | 2.4 | ▲1 |
| 10 | Fatima Payman | 1.3 | ▲1 |
What people search alongside his name
Rising searches in Australia, 15 to 22 Oct. Breakout means growth above 5,000%.
| Term | Growth | Likely signal |
|---|---|---|
| david pocock press club | Breakout | His top search of the week. The 21 Oct address sent people looking for the speech itself, and the full address title broke out too. |
| david pocock policies | Breakout | People wanted to know what he stands for after the address. His site's policy pages are where this lands. |
| david pocock wallabies | Breakout | The rugby story still pulls new people in. |
| david pocock news | +650% | General news interest up more than sevenfold. |
| david pocock party | Top 5 | High-volume search. Many people don't know he is independent. |
| is barbara pocock related to david pocock | +120% | Some confuse him with Greens senator Barbara Pocock. A clear "independent, no party" line helps here too. |
| david pocock wife / family | +550% | Follows the MP safety story about him moving house. Personal interest, not a content opening. |
AI search: what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google say about him
AI answers can't be looked up for a past week, so these were checked on 27 Oct, after the briefing week. ChatGPT run in Temporary Chat, unpersonalised. Perplexity run logged in. Google run logged out.
| Question | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Google AI Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Who is Senator David Pocock?" | Accurate Wallabies captain, ACT's first independent senator, re-elected 2025. Climate, housing, integrity. No podcast mention. | Accurate Same story, cites APH, his site and SMH. Stresses his crossbench influence. No podcast mention. | Accurate Cites APH, Wikipedia and his site. Already includes his Press Club call for a 25% gas export tax. No podcast mention. |
| "Does David Pocock have a podcast?" | Found Names With David Pocock and its transparency angle. Says it launched May 2026. | Found Names With David Pocock via Apple Podcasts. Calls it weekly; his recent gaps run 11 days to 5 weeks. | Found Names With David Pocock, cites Spotify and its 4.9 rating, lists his recent topics. |
| "Which federal politicians host their own podcasts?" | Miss Named Repacholi and Reid (Dan & The Doctor), Andrew Leigh and Andrew Wallace. | Miss Named Andrew Leigh and Andrew Wallace only. | Miss Named Andrew Leigh as the only sitting host, plus former MPs such as Malcolm Turnbull. |
What this means: all three engines know his show when asked by name, but none of them lists it when people ask the general question. That makes four checks in a row with no client show in the general answer. The engines lean on Apple Podcasts, his website and news coverage, so linking the show from his APH profile and his site's front page, and having it mentioned in coverage, is the way in. A steadier release rhythm would also back up the "weekly" label Perplexity is already using.
Social trends
One political story topped everything Australia searched
Google Trending Now 23 OctGoogle's own Trending Now list for Australia, past seven days, not filtered to politics. Shows how much of the public's attention is political in a given week.
Top 10 trending searches
Top 25 of 990 trends shown on the dashboard.
| # | Term | Volume | Started |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | helen hainesPOLITICAL | 500K+ | 3 days ago |
| 2 | kim jong unUNCLEAR | 50K+ | 3 days ago |
| 3 | diet coke | 10K+ | 6 hours ago |
| 4 | avian influenza | 20K+ | yesterday |
| 5 | tom skerritt | 10K+ | 9 hours ago |
| 6 | jules neale matching tattoo | 20K+ | yesterday |
| 7 | zach bryan tickets | 20K+ | 2 days ago |
| 8 | phpUNCLEAR | 50K+ | 2 days ago |
| 9 | nba scores | 50K+ | 2 days ago |
| 10 | thunder vs nuggets | 5K+ | 4 hours ago |
What this means for him
The Haines attack held the week's attention. The PHP flaw is a tech story with a government angle.
| Helen Haines | 500K+ searches. His tribute posts were his best performers of the week (17K Instagram likes). A respectful follow-up when there is news on her recovery fits his voice. |
| php | A global web security flaw took sites offline; the government says no federal sites were breached. Links to his data and tech-accountability theme. |
National news
The levy made him the #3 political story of the week
News pass 23 OctRanked by how many outlets carried each story, 15 to 22 October. Highlighted rows involve him directly.
| # | Headline | Outlets | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Independent MP Helen Haines is hit by a car outside her Wangaratta office in an alleged deliberate attack and loses both legs; a 43-year-old local man is in custody | ABC, NIT, ACM, The Nightly, SBS | 19 to 22 Oct |
| 2 | MP safety in the spotlight: AFP, ASIO and Home Affairs brief MPs; threat reports rose to 1,067 last year. Pocock reveals his family has moved house over threats | ABC, Region, Canberra Times, SBS | 21 to 22 Oct |
| 3 | Pocock's first Press Club address: a 5% levy on hyperscale AI data centre revenue (PBO-costed at about $500m by 2030), Labor "starstruck" by US tech, and a coalition of community independents to force minority government. Data Centres Australia warns it could scare off investors | Region, Canberra Times, SBS, Nine, Switzer | 21 Oct |
| 4 | Greens senator Jordon Steele-John takes leave while conduct allegations are investigated; he strongly rejects them | Region, ACM, SBS, The Nightly, ABC | 16 to 22 Oct |
| 5 | Trump drops plans to livestream the Nidal Hasan execution after Australian pushback | Region, ACM, Mediaweek, InDaily | 16 Oct |
| 6 | PM's office circulated a list of Haines's funding requests to journalists; Albanese says it was no personal criticism | ABC live blog | 22 Oct |
| 7 | Global PHP security flaw takes sites offline; no federal sites breached, says Minister Ayres | ABC live blog | 21 to 22 Oct |
| 8 | Record quarterly fall in house prices; Gallagher and O'Neil defend the tax changes | ABC live blog | 22 Oct |
| 9 | NACC acting commissioner on the Marrickville Golf Course grant: corruption needs more than a political benefit | ABC live blog | 22 Oct |
| 10 | Marles signs a $62m defence cooperation deal with Timor-Leste | ABC live blog | 22 Oct |
ACT news
His own electorate: safety, housing and a Liberal challenger
He represents the whole ACT, so this is all his electorate. From ABC Canberra, The Canberra Times and Canberra Daily, 15 to 22 October.
| # | Headline | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pocock says his family has moved house over security threats; says he still wants to be accessible to Canberrans | Canberra Times | 21 Oct |
| 2 | Experts say the alleged attack on Helen Haines was "sadly predictable" in the current political climate | ABC Canberra | 22 Oct |
| 3 | Buyers in an affordable home scheme say incomplete works and builder disputes have left them stranded | ABC Canberra | 22 Oct |
| 4 | A childcare chain collapses amid a wave of centre closures | ABC Canberra | 21 Oct |
| 5 | Mother of a child who walked out of a Canberra daycare says she is "flabbergasted" | ABC Canberra | 20 Oct |
| 6 | What would it take to finally oust ACT Labor? | ABC Canberra | 19 Oct |
| 7 | Racism complaints rise in the ACT | ABC Canberra | 19 Oct |
| 8 | A new party will contest the 2028 ACT election, amid voter appetite for independents | Canberra Daily | 18 Oct |
| 9 | Nick Tyrrell campaigns to win back for the Liberals the ACT Senate seat Pocock took in 2022 | Canberra Daily | 17 Oct |
| 10 | Lifeline Canberra marks 25 years with its millionth call | Canberra Daily | 15 Oct |
The affordable housing scheme and the childcare closures are the local stories closest to his housing and cost-of-living themes. Rows 6 and 8 show the appetite for an alternative to ACT Labor. Rows 1 and 9 involve him directly.
Diagnosis
A strong week on Meta. The gaps are TikTok, the podcast and home turf.
None of these are about his message. They are about where the message is going.
Working against him
TikTok sat out his biggest week
3.35% engagement, #8 of 44 (was #1); latest clips 8 and 15 OctHis TikTok was the best-engaging account in the country last week. Nothing from the Press Club address reached it, and the rate halved.
FixPost two cuts from the Press Club this week: the levy in 45 seconds, and the independents pitch. Captioned, native, no links.
The podcast still doesn't show up where people look
#2 of 7 on Spotify, 4.9 from 72 ratings, but missed by Google's AI Overview for a third checkThe show is well rated and released twice in October, but search engines and AI tools can't find it by name or by topic.
FixPublish a transcript or detailed show notes for each episode on his site, with podcast schema markup.
A Liberal challenger is already campaigning for his seat
Nick Tyrrell, reported 17 Oct; a new party is also forming for the 2028 ACT electionHis national profile grew this week. His ACT content did not: none of his sampled Instagram or Facebook posts were about a Canberra issue.
FixOne Canberra post a week, starting with the affordable housing scheme buyers or the childcare closures.
Working for him
Big set pieces lift every Meta number
Instagram 14,781 average likes (#3 of 44); Facebook up 25 places on engagementThe community groups post drew 22K likes and a Press Club post outside the sample drew 25K. Facebook went from one post at 271 reactions to three averaging 5,733.
He set the national agenda for a day
The levy was carried by five outlets, #3 political story of the weekA costed, specific proposal (PBO, about $500m by 2030) gave journalists a number to report. Industry pushback keeps the story alive.
People went looking for him
Search interest 8.3, up from 3.9; his 12-week peakFourth most searched politician this week, ahead of Wong and Plibersek. Searches for "david pocock policies" and "david pocock press club" broke out.
Next moves
Keep the levy story running, and bring it home
Content ideas
- 1
"What 5% of a data centre pays for"
A 60-second explainer: the levy roughly matches yearly federal spending on new social and affordable housing through HAFF. One number, one comparison.
Turns a tax into a housing story, on TikTok and Reels. - 2
Answer "capital is mobile"
Reply to Data Centres Australia's warning with the ATO transparency figure reported this week: Microsoft's Australian data centre business earned $2.3 billion in local revenue and paid no company tax.
The pushback is the second news cycle. Own it. - 3
Stand with the stranded home buyers
A short piece to camera with the affordable home scheme buyers left with incomplete works, framed around housing he can help fix.
Local, on his housing ground, and the buyers are already talking to media. - 4
Childcare closures
A short post on what the childcare chain collapse means for Canberra families, and what he is asking of government.
Cost of living, local, and reaches parents he rarely speaks to. - 5
A podcast episode on the levy
Invite a tax or energy economist to test the idea, then cut three clips from it.
His gas and AI episodes are already his most played.
Platform fixes
Restart TikTok within 48 hours
Two Press Club cuts this week, then at least two clips a week.
Repeat the community groups format
A thank-you to named local groups drove his best Instagram and Facebook numbers. Do one a fortnight.
Keep X reactive
His 19 Oct post drew 2.3K likes. Post within hours on live stories, not the next day.
Make the podcast findable
Transcripts, show notes and schema on every episode page. No new recording needed.
Method
Where the numbers come from
Follower counts, leaderboards, Real Engagement, Content Performance, Spotify, Google Trends and Trending Now come from the Political Intelligence dashboard's 15 to 22 October 2026 pass, read live on 23 October in a signed-in browser. Movement is against the 8 to 14 October snapshot.
Engagement rate is likes plus comments on the three most recent own posts, divided by followers on that platform. Pinned posts are skipped. Facebook rounds follower counts to the nearest thousand and hides exact post dates. TikTok's web view shows no share counts.
National headlines were cross-checked across ABC News, ACM, SBS, Region Canberra, The Nightly, Nine and others. ACT headlines cover 15 to 22 October, from ABC Canberra, The Canberra Times and Canberra Daily. Breakout searches were pulled from Google Trends for 15 to 22 October. The AI search check (ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview) was run on 27 October, because AI answers can't be looked up for a past week. X trending and Reddit are not shown: both only show what is live now, so neither can be matched to the briefing week.
The Spotify follower figure (2,443) was supplied by his team on 18 September. Client highlight colour: maroon for senators, green for House members.