Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

The healthcare crisis in the U.S. is one marked by rising costs, coverage gaps, staggering medical debt, and attacks on access. While various groups have stepped up with innovative solutions to address these serious issues, experts say the crisis is likely to get worse in the absence of radical policy change at the federal level. Consider how Undue Medical Debt is tackling the $220 billion in medical debt that affects some 100 million Americans. Since the nonprofit was founded more than a decade ago, it has forgiven $27 billion in debt for 17 million people by buying debt for pennies on the dollar using donations. But the cumulative mountain of debt is …

Unlike on the popular TV series Severance, most people don’t get to disconnect from what’s happening in the rest of their lives when they arrive at work each day. While employees can take steps to manage their stress and anxiety, it’s also imperative that employers have their backs—and foster a work environment that prioritizes mental health. The constant barrage of unsettling news headlines, economic uncertainty, and concerns about job security create a heavy cognitive load for many American workers that’s only made worse by an “always-on” hustle culture, which also causes burnout. To address this systemic exhaustion, the best leaders are those who practice…

Many organizations are racing to build AI strategies, but too often they focus on adopting the latest tech, rather than creating the environment to support it. The reality is that lasting transformation is fueled by people, which requires companies to take a good look at their culture. At Architech, that’s exactly what we did. By prioritizing and rewarding innovation, we aligned our culture with our AI strategy—and it worked. This year, we are proud to be recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Workplaces. We are one of 10 companies globally recognized by Fast Company for excellence in AI, automation, and machine learning. Here’s how we built an award-…

“Christmas at Pemberley Manor” and “Romance at Reindeer Lodge” may never make it to Oscar night, but legions of fans still love these sweet-yet-predictable holiday movies—and this season, many are making pilgrimages to where their favorite scenes were filmed. That’s because Connecticut—the location for at least 22 holiday films by Hallmark, Lifetime, and others—is promoting tours of the quaint Christmas-card cities and towns featured in this booming movie market; places where a busy corporate lawyer can return home for the holidays and cross paths with a plaid shirt-clad former high school flame who now runs a Christmas tree farm. (Spoiler alert: they live happily eve…

Conspiracy theories are literally contagious. Recent research on misinformation and how it goes viral across social networks has revealed remarkable parallels to how diseases spread in populations. It’s all the more remarkable, then, that Tracy Letts’s Bug was tackling this topic 30 years. The psychological stage drama feels like a cautionary tale for our current moment, where facts bleed into false assumptions and produce toxic conclusions. Except the story here is decidedly pre-internet, centering on a nomadic Gulf War veteran and a substance-abusing cocktail waitress who develop a codependent relationship with deleterious results. The more time they spend alo…

Quiet is out and the “swicy” trend has calmed down. Now our taste buds are screaming for “crunch,” gritty textures, and noisy flavor experiences. Last year, noiseless squishy gummies and sweet-and-spicy, or “swicy” flavoring, were the breakout food innovations that took over the snack aisle. Remember the peelable mango gummy candy that went viral on TikTok? In 2025, food trend watchers, with a little help from TikTokers, have identified our top cravings. They include crispy foods, bold flavor mashups, and edible aquatic plants. The crunchier the better “‘Crunch’ is one of the trends that I’m excited about,” says Alyssa Vescio, Whole Foods Market’s senior vice president…

Understanding how to leverage current events can significantly enhance your blog and YouTube content monetization strategies. How do you incorporate timely topics into your content to engage your audience? Relevance: Current events resonate with audiences, making your content more relatable and shareable. This can lead to increased traffic and engagement.Timeliness: Posting content that aligns with ongoing events can position you as a thought leader. Being timely can also improve your SEO rankings.Audience Engagement: Encourage discussions around current events to foster community. This can lead to more comments and shares, boosting your visibility.Monetization Opportuni…

At a recent groundbreaking for one of our data center campuses, three members of the community told our team, “Great, we’re going to get a Trader Joe’s now.” It may sound funny, but this is one small part of the data center effect. Having Starbucks and Whole Foods establishments in the neighborhood famously have been associated with higher property values. Data centers also boost the communities where they’re located, by creating jobs and supporting revitalization efforts, for example. Of course, the industry faces criticism too, often based on outdated perceptions that don’t reflect advances in design and sustainability. But public opinion is shifting—partly tha…

For home business owners, understanding how successful brands like Date Lady Syrup leverage retail partnerships can unlock new monetization strategies for your own content. How do you plan to adapt these insights to grow your blog or YouTube channel? Retail Partnerships: Date Lady Syrup's recent deals with Erewhon and Sprouts highlight the importance of aligning with reputable retailers to enhance brand visibility.Content Creation: The brand's marketing strategy includes creating engaging content that resonates with health-conscious consumers, demonstrating the power of storytelling in product promotion.Audience Engagement: By actively engaging with their audience throug…

On a hot day, most clothing traps heat. But fabric coated with nanodiamonds—tiny diamond particles—can instead release heat, helping cut energy use for air-conditioning. The diamond nanoparticles, each less than one-thousandth of the width of a human hair, have the same carbon crystal structure as larger diamonds. But since they don’t have to be perfectly formed and can be made from carbon waste such as plastic, they are relatively inexpensive to make. The structure means that they’re especially effective at moving heat. “Because carbon has exceptional thermal properties, it can absorb energy and heat quickly, and it can dispense it quickly through that system,” s…

Discounting has been part of retail’s toolkit for decades, and it can be effective, especially during high-stakes shopping seasons. But as promotions become more frequent across the industry, companies are taking a closer look at the downside: Short-term sales gains don’t always come with long-term loyalty or durable margins, and customers remember how a brand made them feel far more than what they saved at checkout. What’s often missing from the conversation is the role of experience-led value. Loyalty isn’t built through price alone—it’s built through moments that make a customer feel recognized, appreciated, and confident they made the right choice. When brands com…

Walt Disney Imagineering has revealed the inner workings of its latest creation: a real-life 3D version of Olaf, the funny snowman from Frozen, complete with a detachable carrot nose that kids can steal. According to Disney Parks, creating the snowman was a far greater challenge than standard bipedal humanoids, which rely on symmetrical weight distribution to stay upright. Olaf is a physical anomaly: He has a massive, heavy head perched on a remarkably slim neck, with two floating snowballs for feet and arms as thin as literal tree branches. This introduced equilibrium, mechanical, and thermal problems that the team had to solve. Adding to these design and technologica…

Disney might tout its rides and character IP when it looks to lure people to its theme parks around the world, but once visitors get there, the draw is an escape from reality. Fans call it the “Disney Bubble”: The day-to-day world melts away and you’re immersed in an environment that is carefully crafted (and controlled) by Disney. The Disney Bubble is designed to let vacationers to take one step away from the real world for the length of their stay. Distractions are minimized. You don’t even need to pull out your wallet. Paying for things like a souvenir or a snack can be done with just the tap of your phone or Magic Band. The Bubble is why many guests prefer to stay…

With last weekend’s opening of World of Frozen in the renamed Disney Adventure World park, Paris became the new leader in advanced technology among the company’s theme parks. It’s a title that shifts hands frequently, but with its robotic Olaf and a new nighttime show that blends airborne and water drones with fountains, fire, and water walls, Adventure World is a technological marvel. Disney tends to downplay the focus on technology in its park attractions. Workers and executives at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) see the technology as a way to evoke emotion, their primary goal. And with a growing arsenal of tools at their disposal, from AI to powerful game engines (a…

Disney+ and Hulu subscription cancellations rose during the month that ABC briefly cancelled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” according to data from subscription analytics company Antenna. Walt Disney Co. owns the streaming platforms and ABC. ABC pulled the show off the air for less than a week in September in the wake of criticism over his comments related the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Antenna estimates total cancellations in September were 4.1 million for Hulu and 3 million for Disney+. The “churn rate,” or the percentage of customers that cancel their subscriptions in a specific month, jumped from 5% in August to 10% in September for Hulu. That figure jumpe…

During a lunch with my friend Kurt at the Chicago Club—one of those quietly elegant institutions where history sits comfortably in the room—I arrived with a question. It was one that could only be asked by someone trying to understand the United States from outside its horizon. Kurt’s surname carries enough S’s and K’s to suggest Eastern European roots. I am Brazilian, the grandson of Italians, Portuguese, Ukrainians, and with some Indigenous blood. Our grandparents crossed oceans from similar places, yet our lives unfolded inside different societies. I asked him: If our families had boarded different ships—mine arriving at Ellis Island and his in Brazil—would we …

Futureproofing your business requires an ability to embrace change, not just to react to it. Change is a constant, so companies that thrive in today’s landscape must be continuously adapting and innovating—changing as consumers change. Brands that truly stand the test of time understand that the core ingredients for long-term success are relevance, ease, and distinctiveness. Relevance No business, regardless of its size or sector, can consistently thrive without remaining in sync with consumers’ wants and needs, and keeping a pulse on the cultural nuances across their markets. At KFC, we have driven brand recognition and global growth by prioritizing relevance since 19…

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s workplace advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: How do I decide what to take off of my résumé? A: There is much debate about if your résumé really needs to be one page. But regardless of if it’s one page or two, there are some common elements you can cut to make your résumé easier to read and more effective. Here are a few: Work history that’s more than 15 years old This one isn’t cut and dry. You shouldn’t just delete everything before 2010. But here’s what to consider cutting or condensing. If you ha…