Link-o-rama! VC prospects and Houston's one-man Telemundo

• Why didn’t/don’t creators or creator-supporting accelerators attract VC money? This TechCrunch interview with Hank Green is a great macro look at the state of the creator economy.

• Are creators being lured back to traditional media companies? That’s the thesis of this piece from Media Voices’ Charlotte Henry, who points to folks like Charlie Warzel, who went solo post NYT only to bring his independent newsletter to The Atlantic in 2021.

• Influencer marketing will reach $24B by the end of 2024, according to a new study from the aptly-named Influencer Marketing Hub. The study attributes the uptick to the explosive growth of influencer content and its effectiveness. Seventy-five percent of respondents (agencies and marketers with budgets to spend on digital campaigns), said they’d grown their influencer specific spends in the last year. And it’s not just for the Mr. Beasts: “There is a strong preference for working with small (nano - 44% and micro - 26%) influencers ahead of expensive macro-influencers (17%) and celebrities (13%).”

• Maybe that’s because, according to another trend report, creator content achieves 12X higher engagement rates. The report, from Dash Hudson and NielsenIQ, credits the shift to the very real connections creators make with their audiences. From this piece about the report at Media Makers Meet: “On Instagram, creator content outperforms traditional brand posts, and brands are increasingly favouring long-term collaborations with creators.”

• Trump may now hold the distinction of being the oldest presidential candidate in the race, but he has some stalwart supporters in the under-30 set. The New York Times asked a bunch of them where they get content online and uncovered a long list of brands and influencers keeping them in the bubble. (That bubble being a melange of conservative policy, tradwives and anti-DEI hot takes.)

• Pennsylvania local news solopreneur John Paul Vranesevich, owner and sole reporter for the Beaver Countian, scooped national media in the aftermath of the Donald Trump assassination attempt for one big reason: he knew who the right sources were and they trusted him with previously unreported details. The Washington Post talked to him about his path to journalism.

• With more TikTok followers than Beyonce (😱) or Reese Witherspoon, Carlos Espina, is described by the New York Times as Houston’s “one-man Telemundo.”

Headed to ONA in September? I’ll be co-leading a Saturday morning workshop with Nieman Fellow/digital news hotshot Ryan Kellett, engagement strategy and fundraising strategy queen Blair Hickman and one of my fave indie newsletter scribes, Caitlin Dewey. To apply, fill out this form to tell us why you’re interested. (Browse the full schedule)