Arsenal have been crowned Premier League champions, but can they call themselves the kings of London? Yes they can. With 29% of Londoners calling themselves Arsenal fans, they pip the 23% who pledge allegiance to Chelsea - though you’d have to expect this gap to widen even further soon.
Scroll down to read about the lowdown on hantavirus, the sunscreen gender divide, and why the World Cup might not boost soccer fandom in the US.
Stats to power your week
👑 Was the winner of Granta’s Commonwealth Short Story Competition written by AI? The evidence is compelling, but it might not even matter - the mere possibility is unsettling enough. While a new wave of AI detectors claim improved accuracy, most people still struggle to tell the difference: only 1 in 5 say they’re very or extremely confident they can identify AI-generated content. GWI Pulse
🦠A mysterious new disease spreading on a cruise ship - for many of us, it brings back memories of the Diamond Princess quarantined off the coast of Japan in early 2020. Is hantavirus the new Covid-19? For now Americans are much less concerned - just 19% are worried about it, compared to 54% worried about Covid-19 in March 2020. GWI Pulse
🧴And lastly, a plea for the blokes out there to be sensible this summer - despite men having a higher incidence of skin cancer, women are 13% more likely to apply sunscreen when it gets warm. Make sure you lather up at those World Cup viewing parties, fellas. GWI Pulse
Meet the audience:
people interested in weight-loss jabs
Without GWI data
With GWI data
GLP-1 drugs are a new-ish category, so we’re still figuring out who’s interested in them and why (even Sam Altman has dabbled). Early on, the story has been shaped by the most visible users, especially celebrities and influencers.
But it can be misleading to focus on the vocal minority, and miss the much larger prospective audience. Our research suggests a more everyday profile: people interested in weight-loss jabs are more likely to be women, but they also skew mid-life, suburban, and family-oriented. Often they’re parents juggling work, home, older kids, errands, and their own health goals.
It’s less about aspiration and more about practical life management - finding something that fits into a very busy schedule.
Chart of the week
There are all sorts of stories wrapped up in this summer’s FIFA World Cup, but an intriguing one is how it might contribute to the upward momentum of soccer in America. It seems weird to even ask - the 1994 had record breaking attendances and contributed to the US hosting a second time, so surely it will?
Not necessarily. While the 1994 tournament was a catalyst in all sorts of ways, tournaments themselves tend not to convert followers en masse. We can see this through the case study of Japan hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2019.
While there was a curiosity-led bump during the tournament itself, rugby fandom gradually settled down to its previous levels. If soccer is to continue making progress in one of its big growth markets, the deciding factor will be the work that’s done afterwards.
More from GWI
Synthetic audiences are reshaping how organizations understand their consumers - but imagine how powerful they could be when backed by over 40 billion reliable, human data points. Sign up for our webinar on June 4th to find out more.
We’re bringing a packed agenda to Cannes Lions this year. Find out more here.
