Influence Weekly

In this September episode, hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene break down three stories that together paint a clear picture of where creator marketing stands heading into Q4—who's winning, who's scaling, and why measurement is still the industry's biggest unsolved problem:

🛒 TikTok Shop Has Arrived—But Most Brands Aren't Ready: American consumers spent $11.8 billion on TikTok Shop in the first half of the year, double ...

Influencer marketing is becoming a math problem, not a creative one.

For years, brands have believed that great creative is what makes a post go viral. James Nord, founder and CEO of Fohr, says that's backwards. In this episode, he breaks down the data behind why distribution has almost nothing to do with the content itself — and everything to do with probability.

James walks through how Fohr uses mathematical models borrowed f...

Follower count isn't dead. Brands are just using their biggest names wrong.

Everyone in the creator economy has decided mega-influencers and celebrities are washed up — that follower count doesn't matter anymore. Tinashe Chaponda, founder of Sosani, says that's exactly backwards. In this episode, he breaks down why big names still move the needle, and why the real problem is brands don't know how to work with them.

Tinashe pull...

In this August episode, hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene break down three stories that signal how seriously the broader economy—from tech platforms to universities to major retailers—is now taking the creator economy as infrastructure:

🔍 Google Gives Creators Search Data for the First Time: Google launched Platform Properties inside Search Console, letting creators see how their social posts perform in Google Search and...

Kaleigh Moore is an independent B2B content strategist and LinkedIn creator who helps SaaS companies improve their visibility in AI-generated answers. She publishes the newsletter Context Window, tracks the intersection of creator economy and AI search, and coined the Source Signal Stack framework to diagnose why brands rank in traditional search but still get ignored by LLMs.

Ceci chats with Kaleigh Moore, writer and B2B creator st...

In this July episode, hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene break down three stories that capture the creator economy's maturation—from institutional capital entering the space to brands cracking creator performance marketing to Forbes confirming the industry has officially crossed the billion-dollar threshold:

💰 CAA Bets $250M on Creator-Led Media: Creative Artists Agency and Integrated Media Company launched Compound Creative Ho...

CYLNDR Studios is a Los Angeles-based creative and production studio that operates at the intersection of strategy, design, filmmaking, and influencer marketing. The company serves brands looking to move beyond transactional creator partnerships by embedding creators into the creative process from the brief stage, treating influencer work as a craft discipline rather than a content assembly line.

Ceci chats with Leah Chaney, Directo...

Waypoint Partners is a specialist M&A advisory firm supporting high-growth businesses at the intersection of creativity, technology, and intellectual capital. With over $2 billion in completed deal value across 40 transactions, the firm advises founders, buyers, and investors navigating critical strategic moments across creator economy, marketing, entertainment, and talent businesses—including advising on the Sister Group...

Pop.Store is an agentic AI commerce platform built for creators, combining a social-first storefront where creators can sell digital products, bookings, and affiliate deals with an AI operating system that runs key business tasks autonomously. The platform serves creators of all sizes—from aspiring entrepreneurs to established talent—and is the title sponsor of VidCon Anaheim 2026, where it is launching Echo Me, its mul...

In this June episode, hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene break down three stories that reveal how brands are thinking about creator investment—and where the line is between genuine cultural impact and expensive noise:

🎨 Lenovo's Creator Odyssey: When a Campaign Becomes IP: Two years, three chapters, fifty million views. Lenovo and agency Portal A built a creator program around a simple but powerful brief—don't make it abo...

CESD Talent Agency is one of the leading talent representation firms operating across both Hollywood and the creator economy, with offices in Los Angeles and New York. The company's digital department represents content creators across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and podcasts, applying traditional Hollywood representation principles to building sustainable creator careers.

Ceci chats with Eddie Pietzak, SVP of Digital at CESD Talent...

Superfiliate is a creator-led growth platform helping thousands of D2C brands run and scale creator partnerships across Shopify, Meta, and TikTok Shop. The platform provides unified affiliate and creator management, automated gifting workflows, creator storefronts, discovery tools, and performance visibility—consolidating what used to require 12 different tools into one system.

Ceci chats with Andy Cloyd, Co-Founder and CEO of...

Underscore Talent is a premier creator economy management company representing diverse talent across creators, comedians, athletes, and thought leaders. The company's division, Shorthand Studios, provides editorial services, editing, digital strategy consulting, and production support to help creators build sustainable businesses across social platforms, CTV, paywalls, and original content development.

Ceci chats with Nick Jacklin, ...

Verbatim is a boutique marketing agency that helps SMBs and startups grow through influencer marketing and speaker sourcing, specializing in SaaS and eCommerce brands. The agency focuses on helping businesses tell compelling stories that drive measurable results rather than just creating content for visibility.

Ceci chats with Brianna Doe, Head of Influencer Marketing and Founder at Verbatim, to hear her perspective on three critica...

In this May episode, hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene unpack three stories revealing how brands are rethinking creator program structure, compensation models, and platform commerce strategies:

🎯 Does "Make It Cool First, Scale Second" Actually Work?: A Net Influencer roundtable asked industry professionals whether brands need a macro creator to anchor credibility before scaling through micro creators. The consensus? The logic works...

Sounds Profitable is a media property covering strategic and tactical changes in the podcasting business through newsletters, podcasts, and industry research. The company produces educational content, conducts quarterly research series, and provides advisory services to keep companies informed on the state of podcasting. Bryan Barletta also serves as President of Podcast Movement, the world's largest conference for podcasters.

Ceci ...

Spotter is a platform that provides creators with capital, community, and AI-powered tools to accelerate growth. The company has deployed over $940 million to YouTube creators for reinvestment and operates a premium catalog generating 88 billion monthly watch-time minutes, offering brands a scaled media solution that's transparent and brand-safe.

Ceci chats with Christian Liquigan, Director of Brand Partnerships at Spotter, to hear ...

Creator Revolution is a talent management and advisory firm that helps top creators scale businesses through strategic partnerships and long-term monetization while helping companies unlock creators as a core growth channel. Founded by Monica Khan, the firm operates at the intersection of creator management, platform strategy, and corporate advisory, including work with McKinsey & Company.

Ceci chats with Monica Khan, Founder an...

OWM is a platform building infrastructure to help creators move from brand deals into equity and ownership. The company standardized the influence-for-equity agreement, created creator stock option pools, and built systems that let founders, operators, and creators partner on attention-first businesses with real upside.

Ceci chats with Jeff Frommer, Founder and CEO of OWM, to hear his perspective on three critical issues: why creato...