Spursy, noun. “A Spursy performance is to have success in reach but to ultimately chuck it away.” A word suggested to Collins dictionary, originally inspired by Tottenham Hotspur FC, can now also be applied to the San Antonio Spurs, having let the NBA finals slip through their fingers.
Scroll down to read about the UK’s upcoming social media ban, some unexpected findings about fans, and World Cup watch party posters.
Stats to power your week
🎒Monday morning back at school is bad enough, but spare a thought for British kids starting their week with news that the Prime Minister will ban their use of social media. But the ban is likely to attract broad support - not only do 6 in 10 Brits support age verification on social media, even the majority of those who think social media is good for society support it. GWI Pulse
👯Sometimes brands need to know when they’re not the main event. Just 16% of consumers involved in fandoms say they want brands to participate directly through events, creator support, or charity. The lesson - fandom partnerships work best when brands facilitate the experience, not when they try to “fellow kids” it. GWI Pulse
🧩Another quite contrarian finding from the same survey: brand fit isn’t everything. Fans would rather that a brand has a good overall reputation or is useful (both 37%) than fits the franchise (33%). You can be the perfect fit on paper, but if fans don’t trust you, or don’t need you, the partnership can still fall flat. GWI Pulse
🖼️ChatGPT launched during the last World Cup, making this year’s tournament the first of the generative AI era - and you can see it in the wild. From watch party posters to social graphics, more World Cup visuals now carry that unmistakable whiff of AI. And people are noticing: over half now say they often see signs of AI-generated writing or design in apps and websites they use. GWI Pulse
Meet the audience: UFC fans
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With GWI data
When John Adams moved into the White House in 1800, he couldn’t have imagined that centuries later, its lawn would host a UFC spectacle.
But that’s exactly what happened last Sunday; if nothing else, a striking sign of how far UFC has moved into the mainstream. The current White House occupant is clearly a fan, but outside of octogenarian heads of state, what does the typical UFC fan look like?
GWI data points to someone younger, more diverse, and more working-adult than the stereotype suggests. UFC fans skew male and cluster around 25–44, with Hispanic/Latino and Black audiences over-indexing versus average.
Along with professional boxing and WWE, the UFC audience is defined by education. Compared with the average US adult, they’re more likely to have a high school, some college, or trade/vocational background, and they’re over 2x more likely to work in building or construction.
Chart of the week
Almost everyone wants AI-generated content to be labeled as such; it’s one of the clearest areas of consensus we’ve ever polled about. Legislation is starting to catch up, as the state of New York has introduced what it calls a “first-in-the-nation” law requiring AI-generated “synthetic performers” to be disclosed when used in ads.
But where do people most want that transparency? The strongest demand is in high-stakes areas: healthcare, law, news, and finance. After that comes a middle tier of everyday information and decision-making, including social media posts and product reviews. And at the bottom are entertainment categories, where the content is creative or commercial.
Ultimately, regulation will decide what has to be labeled. But as a rule of thumb, transparency matters most when AI-generated content could shape consequential decisions.
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