FanWord Engagement Recap College.town sponsored newsletters · Saturday, September 12 – Friday, September 18, 2026 |
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Performance at a glance
Impressions 107,109 WoW −0.4%
vs prior-wks avg +13.6% |
Verified clicks 22 WoW −42.1%
vs prior-wks avg −38.3% |
Unique clickers 21 WoW −41.7%
vs prior-wks avg −37.0% |
Sends w/ placement 12 of 27 WoW −20.0%
vs prior-wks avg −10.0% |
Reading the swing. Impressions held essentially flat week over week (−0.4%), while clicks fell by about two fifths. That gap is a mix effect, not a reach problem: the prior week carried a coordinated set of dated testimonial units across D1, D2, D3, NAIA and NJCAA, while this week’s FanWord presence leaned on editorial mentions and small-list creatives. Click counts at this volume — 22 this week against 38, 13 and 56 in the three weeks before — move sharply on small absolute changes, so single-week percentages overstate the trend in both directions. How these are counted. Clicks are verified clicks that occurred inside the Saturday–Friday window, whichever issue carried the link — so a reader opening an older edition this week still counts. Impressions and sends describe the issues that went out during the window. Internal test sends are excluded throughout. The comparison weeks are computed on exactly the same basis. Baseline limitation. The verified-click feed begins 2026-08-22, so the “prior weeks average” is drawn from three complete Saturday–Friday weeks, not four. |
Clicks by placement
| Destination | Verified clicks | Unique clickers |
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| wccsports.com/news/2026/9/9/general-west-coast-conference-partners-with-fanword-to-expand-digital-storytelling.aspx | 10 | 9 |
| tommiesports.com/news/2026/8/24/athletics-st-thomas-signs-multi-year-deal-with-ai-storytelling-leader-fanword | 5 | 5 |
| fanword.com/fanword-assist-for-small-college-athletics | 2 | 2 |
| fanword.com/blog/baylor-partners-with-leading-ai-powered-storytelling-platform-fanword | 1 | 1 |
| fanword.com/blog/case-study-florida-southern | 1 | 1 |
| fanword.com/blog/case-study-hamline-university | 1 | 1 |
| fanword.com/blog/case-study-kckcc | 1 | 1 |
| fanword.com/fanword-assist-for-division-i-college-athletics | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 22 | 21 |
Unique clickers do not sum down the column: one reader clicked twice, so the total counts 21 distinct people across 22 clicks. 17 of the 22 came from issues that went out during the window. The other five are readers opening editions sent shortly before it — the Hamline, Florida Southern and small-college placements from the 9/11 issues of D3.ticker and D2.ticker, the Baylor item from D1.ticker on 9/11, and the KCKCC placement from the NJCAA.ticker welcome edition. Placements keep earning clicks after their send date, so they are counted in the week the reader acted. |
Most-clicked story
9 unique clickers · 10 verified clicks · 45% of the week West Coast Conference partners with FanWord “The West Coast Conference has partnered with FanWord to integrate the firm’s AI-powered software, FanWord Assist, into its strategic communications workflow.” Format: text item in D1.ticker’s news rundown, written in the newsletter’s own voice — no ad graphic attached.
Ran in: D1.ticker “News from Friday, September 11, 2026” (sent Sat 9/12) and “News from Saturday, September 12, 2026” (sent Sun 9/13).
Destination: wccsports.com/news/2026/9/9/general-west-coast-conference-partners-with-fanword-to-expand-digital-storytelling.aspx This single item drew 10 of the week’s 22 verified clicks — twice the next-best placement — and pulled two sitting conference commissioners, Jon Steinbrecher of the MAC and Tom Wistrcill of the Big Sky. Across the period, editorial mentions and paid placements each accounted for 11 of the 22 clicks.
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Ad graphics this period
Seven distinct creatives ran across ten placement-carrying sends, grouped below by creative rather than by destination.
Clicks here cover only the creatives that ran during this window. Clicks on creatives from earlier issues, and on editorial items, are in the placement table above.
| Creative | Destination & description | First seen | Sends | Clicks | Unique |
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 | FanwordStThomas.giftommiesports.com — St. Thomas signs multi-year deal with FanWord
St. Thomas partnership announcement, run mid-issue in D1.ticker. | Aug 26 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
 | FanwordLeadingD1.giffanword.com/fanword-assist-for-division-i-college-athletics
FanWord Assist product unit aimed at Division I departments. | Sep 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
 | FanwordAUM.giffanword.com/blog/aum-athletics-to-power-storytelling-with-fanword
Auburn–Montgomery partnership announcement. | Sep 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 | FanwordLeadingSmallCollege.giffanword.com/fanword-assist-for-small-college-athletics
FanWord Assist product unit aimed at small-college departments. Widest rotation of the week. | Sep 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
 | fanwordERAU.giferauathletics.com — Embry-Riddle Athletics partners with FanWord
New creative, first run this period. | Sep 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 | FanwordChicoState.gifchicowildcats.com — Chico State announces multi-year partnership with FanWord
Chico State partnership announcement. | Sep 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 | FanwordSCCPartnership.giffanword.com/blog/scc-athletics-partners-with-ai-storytelling-leader-fanword
New creative, first run this period. | Sep 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 10 | 6 | 6 |
First seen is the earliest send carrying that creative within the tracked period, which begins 2026-08-22. fanwordERAU.gif and FanwordSCCPartnership.gif both made their first appearance this week. |
Editorial content mentioning FanWord
Two items ran in College.town’s own editorial voice this period. Both were written by the desk and link to the institution’s own announcement rather than to FanWord, so neither is a paid placement.
| Item | Sends | Clicks | Unique |
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West Coast Conference partners with FanWord
“The West Coast Conference has partnered with FanWord to integrate the firm’s AI-powered software, FanWord Assist, into its strategic communications workflow.”D1.ticker · sent Sat 9/12 and Sun 9/13 · newsletter’s own writing, linking to the conference’s release on wccsports.com | 2 | 10 | 9 |
Morehead State renews partnership with FanWord
“Morehead State has renewed its partnership with FanWord to continue utilizing FanWord Assist’s powerful storytelling platform.”D1.ticker · sent Sat 9/12 · newsletter’s own writing, linking to Morehead State’s release on msueagles.com | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 3 | 10 | 9 |
A third editorial item — the Baylor / FanWord partnership, which ran in D1.ticker on 9/11, just before this window — drew one further click during the period and appears in the placement table above. No third-party journalism about FanWord was linked from any of the seven newsletters this period. |
Everyone who clicked
All 21 verified clickers, four of them VIP-flagged. One entry is a College.town staff record and is tagged below; discounting it, external reach for the period is 20 readers across 21 verified clicks.
| Name | Notes | What they clicked |
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| VIP |
| Dr. Christopher Parker VIP | President and CEO of NJCAA | KCKCC case study — ad graphic |
| Jon Steinbrecher VIP | Commissioner @ MAC | WCC / FanWord partnership — D1.ticker editorial |
| Matt Tanney VIP | AD @ Denison | Hamline case study — ad graphic |
| Tom Wistrcill VIP | Commissioner @ Big Sky | WCC / FanWord partnership — D1.ticker editorial |
| All other clickers |
| Dassin Blackwell | Assistant Athletic Director, NCAA Compliance & Sprint Football Operations @ St. Thomas Aquinas College | St. Thomas / FanWord deal — ad graphic |
| Brian Bowsher Internal | Senior Director of Integrated Marketing @ College.town | St. Thomas / FanWord deal — ad graphic |
| Claude Bragg | Co-Founder & CEO @ UpNext | St. Thomas / FanWord deal — ad graphic |
| Lisa Champagne | Asst. Dir. for Media Relations @ New England Small College Athletic Conference | WCC / FanWord partnership — D1.ticker editorial |
| Kelsey Edwards | Finance & Data Associate @ Notre Dame | St. Thomas / FanWord deal — ad graphic |
| Donna Hodgert | AD @ Sweet Briar | FanWord Assist, small college |
| Reese Johnson | Sport Administration Student @ University of Louisville | FanWord Assist, small college |
| DJ L | Works @ Atlantic 10 | WCC / FanWord partnership — D1.ticker editorial |
| JJ Litten | — | WCC / FanWord partnership — D1.ticker editorial |
| Jake Miller | Assistant Director @ UNC Asheville | Florida Southern case study — ad graphic |
| Matt Mueller | Chief Operating Officer @ Hudl | WCC / FanWord partnership — D1.ticker editorial |
| Sherman Neal | Former Strategic Initiative Coordinator @ Washington State | Baylor / FanWord — D1.ticker editorial |
| NIL Newsstand | Works @ NIL Newsstand | WCC / FanWord partnership — D1.ticker editorial |
| Phillip Rhodes | Director of UX Research @ Flexport | St. Thomas / FanWord deal — ad graphic |
| Dayna Scherf | VP Competition @ Big 12 | WCC / FanWord partnership — D1.ticker editorial |
| Brian Sereno | Assoc. Athletics Director / Athletics Communications @ George Washington | WCC / FanWord partnership — D1.ticker editorial |
| Meaghan | Works @ Lynio | FanWord Assist, Division I — ad graphic |
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