WHAT THE DATA SAY: 1 in 4 Americans are more interested in soccer today than a year ago

By: Ray Day

CONTACT:

Ray Day
ray.day@stagwellglobal.com 

We wanted to share our latest consumer and business insights, based on research from Stagwell and Allison Worldwide. Among the highlights of our weekly consumer sentiment tracking:

WORLD CUP CONVERTING U.S. FANS

Half of Americans are watching the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, with 1 in 4 saying they only recently started following soccer. The newfound interest is because of this summer’s tournament, our Harris Poll research finds.

• 27% of Americans say they are more interested in soccer today than a year ago.
• 26% self-identify as growing soccer fans because of the World Cup.
• 52% say hosting major events in North America is making Americans bigger fans.
• Millennials (62%), Hispanic Americans (63%) and hybrid workers (66%) are driving the soccer fandom surge.
• Gen Z’s new interest in the sport is being driven by social media – cited by 70% of new Gen Z fans, compared to 55% overall.
• Soccer’s rise isn’t temporary: 39% of Americans already are interested in the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

PATIENTS TRUST DOCTORS MORE THAN INFLUENCERS

Consumers are increasingly turning to emerging media for healthcare information, yet trust still rests with medical professionals, according to new research from The Harris Poll and Syneos Health.

• People receive healthcare news from influencers more than healthcare providers (HCPs) – but 84% trust HCPs compared with 49% who trust influencers.
• 61% of consumers prefer healthcare news that uses “common sense” over data science.
• 99% of primary care providers (PCPs) say patients bring information from emerging media sources into appointments.
• 76% of PCP’s say they spend more time correcting misinformation, while 69% spend more time explaining care.
• Two thirds of PCP’s say emerging media decreases a patient’s willingness to follow recommendations.
• 77% of HCP’s say they are already seeing patients’ health suffer because they followed advice from emerging media over medical experts.

CORPORATE REPUTATION PAYS

Companies with excellent reputations earn a clear advantage across purchase, advocacy and community support, according to the Trust-Relevance Matrix research from The Harris Poll and HarrisQuest.

• 79% would purchase products or services from companies with excellent reputations, versus 70% for companies with good reputations.
• 7 in 10 would recommend a company with an excellent reputation as a good place to work, compared with 58% for companies with good reputations.
• 84% would welcome expansion in their community from companies with excellent reputations, versus 71% for companies with good reputations.
• 78% would give a company with an excellent reputation the benefit of the doubt, compared with 68% for companies with good reputations.
• 82% of Americans say companies need a proven track record of acting on their values before they will take them seriously.
• Traditional trust signals – longevity, product quality, familiarity – carry less weight with Gen Z.
• When asked what they want companies to engage on, Gen Z ranks mental health second only to economic stability – a priority that barely registers for older generations.

AI ADS NOT CUTTING IT WITH CONSUMERS

Global consumers are turned off by AI in advertising, saying it makes brands feel less authentic and less trustworthy, based on a new survey from The Harris Poll, Infillion and 4As.

• More than two-thirds of global consumers view AI as largely a “marketing ploy.”
• 63% say they would be less likely to purchase from a brand that uses AI-generated ads
• 73% say they would be less likely to trust an ad they suspected was made using AI.
• 54% of consumers say hearing so much about AI is “starting to annoy them.”
• Ad industry adoption is moving faster than consumer comfort, with more than half of professionals already using AI for idea generation and concepting.
• See also: How Artificial Intelligence became corporate America’s new reputation fault line

ICYMI: In case you missed it, check out the thought-leadership and happenings around Stagwell making news:

• Creativity can be communicators’ secret sauce (Ray Day and The Holmes Report)
• 6 PR leaders unpack key trends from Cannes Lions 2026 (Ray Day and PR Week)
• Monthly beer consumption among craft drinkers reached 85%, its highest number since 2020 (Harris Poll)
• How the on-the-go video network, Gas Station TV (GSTV), is redefining the attention economy (The Marketing Cloud)
• Megan Rapinoe shares her women’s sports prediction with the Allison Sports Report (Allison)