Only 0.2% of Britons say they trust Andrew Tate.
Yet when asked who shapes public debate and gets people to act differently, Tate comes out ahead of the Pope.
It sounds absurd, but it’s an example of a pattern that runs through Woodrow’s first Influence Economy Report, based on polling of 4,000 people across the UK, US and Kenya. Experts are believed, then ignored. Social media is doubted, then followed.
For communicators, the warning is uncomfortable. The most credible voice can still be the one nobody follows.
The report asks what the firestarters understand that respectable organisations often miss, and what can be learned from them without resorting to their worst habits.
We then took the numbers to people whose working lives depend on knowing what gets read, watched and repeated. They include Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian; Ellie Beetham, Head of Social Creative at DMG Media; Rory Taylor of TLDR News; Dominic Ponsford of the Press Gazette; and Seán Hickey of PoliticsJOE.
We’ll repeat the research every year to see who gains ground, who loses it and whether today’s strange results become tomorrow’s pattern.
You can download the first Influence Economy Report below.
We also want to know what we have missed. If there is someone you think we should test next year, a platform that deserves closer scrutiny or a question the research should ask, tell us.
Get your copy of the Influence Economy Report 2026.
Contact Sophie Woollands, Woodrow’s Campaigning & Influence Lead, at (s.woollands@woodrowcommunications.com).
