Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

An annual United Nations conference on biodiversity that ran out of time last year will resume its work Tuesday in Rome with money at the top of the agenda. That is, how to spend what’s been pledged so far—and how to raise a lot more to help preserve plant and animal life on Earth. The talks in Colombia known as COP16 yielded some significant outcomes before they broke up in November, including an agreement that requires companies that benefit from genetic resources in nature—say, by developing medicines from rainforest plants—to share the benefits. And steps were taken to give Indigenous peoples and local communities a stronger voice in conservation matters. But two w…

Featuring Logan Eggleston, Pro Athlete, LOVB Austin Volleyball; Rosie Spaulding, President, LOVB Pro and Stef Strack, Founder and CEO, Voice in Sport. Moderated by Tania Rahman, Social Media Director, Fast Company. Women’s sports have finally been receiving the recognition they deserve. The goal now is to make sure this moment isn’t just a trend, and to ensure women athletes achieve the equity that remains elusive. Join this panel of executives and athletes to understand the strategy behind making women’s sports not just a cultural force but a thriving ecosystem of sustainable businesses. View the full article

MrBeast is currently the most-subscribed YouTuber in the world—but his biggest moneymaker isn’t content. It’s chocolate. The 26-year-old creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, owns the snack brand Feastables, which generated $251 million in sales and more than $20 million in profit last year, according to investor documents obtained by Bloomberg. By contrast, his main media business—including his blockbuster YouTube channel and the Amazon Prime reality competition show, Beast Games—brought in similar revenue but lost nearly $80 million over the same period. With 372 million subscribers at the time of writing, MrBeast’s videos range from spending “100 hours i…

Featuring Stan Adams, Public Policy Specialist, Wikimedia Foundation; Nicole Ozer, Technology and Civil Liberties Director, ACLU of Northern California and Alissa Starzak, Deputy Chief Legal Officer and Global Head of Policy, Cloudflare. Moderated by Max Ufberg, Senior Editor, Fast Company. In an era of mass surveillance, mounting attacks to cybersecurity, the death of net neutrality, and geopolitics fragmenting the internet, it’s never been a more important time to fully understand what’s at stake regarding your digital rights and freedom. Join this panel of leaders at the forefront of securing a better and more open digital space for all. View the full article

Getting a sense of the scale of social media platforms can be tricky. While tech companies often share self-serving metrics—like monthly active users or how likely users are to buy products after engaging with brands—they rarely offer a true sense of their platforms’ enormity. But a new study published in Cornell University’s preprint server arXiv aims to change that by quantifying TikTok’s scale over a single day—claiming to be among the first to grasp the platform’s full scope. It also offers insight into what people are watching, how much content is being uploaded, and who is posting it. “The motivation is using this social media data to better understand socie…

If there’s one thing businesses have in abundance, it’s data—in some cases, far more of it than they know what to do with. AI can turn daunting mountains of information into knowledge that’s accessible to staffers across the organization, regardless of their technical chops. These honorees are helping their customers unlock better understanding of data to do everything from supercharging sales teams to choosing the right music to license. Baseten For giving companies big and small a head start on inference Anyone building an AI application has access to powerful open-weight LLMs such as DeepSeek-R1. But the fact that the models are freely available doesn’t mean they’re…

I have spent my career watching companies make bold declarations about gender equality, only to see those promises fade when tested. Women are often spotlighted in recruitment campaigns but left behind in promotions, appointments, and development opportunities. Policies designed to level the playing field disappear without explanation, replaced with vague references to “merit,” “culture fit,” and the elusive “gravitas.” The 2025 U.N. International Women’s Day theme—For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment—is urgent. However, progress in gender equity is not accelerating; it is stalling. In recent months, executive orders have gutted diversity program…

Spotify just opened up a new stream of revenue for podcasters. That is, if they’re uploading video. What was once an audio-first medium, podcasting is now increasingly filmed and produced. That started on YouTube, which is now racking up one billion podcast viewers a month. While Spotify has hosted podcasts for a decade now, the company is suddenly racing to stay competitive, rolling out new features and monetization tools. That includes their Partner Program, which allows podcasters to earn money directly from the streams of premium subscribers, so long as they’re using a video aspect. “We decided to focus on video because that’s where we see a lot of audiences…

If you look at a map of lightning near the Port of Singapore, you’ll notice an odd streak of intense lightning activity right over the busiest shipping lane in the world. As it turns out, the lightning really is responding to the ships, or rather the tiny particles they emit. Using data from a global lightning detection network, my colleagues and I have been studying how exhaust plumes from ships are associated with an increase in the frequency of lightning. For decades, ship emissions steadily rose as increasing global trade drove higher ship traffic. Then, in 2020, new international regulations cut ships’ sulfur emissions by 77%. Our newly published research sho…

If the joy of seeing butterflies seems increasingly rare these days, it isn’t your imagination. From 2000 to 2020, the number of butterflies fell by 22% across the continental United States. That’s 1 in 5 butterflies lost. The findings are from an analysis just published in the journal Science by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Powell Center Status of Butterflies of the United States Working Group, which I am involved in. The endangered Karner blue butterfly has struggled with habitat loss. [Photo: USFWS/Flickr] We found declines in just about every region of the continental U.S. and across almost all butterfly species. Overall, nearly one-third of the 342 but…

The chronicle of the polygonal failure known as the Cybertruck continues as Tesla issues a new physical recall that covers all 2024 and 2025 models built between November 13, 2023 and February 27, 2024. In the announcement, Elon Musk’s company says that “the stainless steel panel of the cantrail assembly may delaminate at the adhesive joint, which may cause the panel to separate from the vehicle.” The cantrail is the portion of the roof that joins the pillars that form the vehicle’s roof structure. Tesla adds that, “if the cantrail panel separates from the vehicle while in drive, it could create a road hazard for following motorists and increase the risk of injury or…

Fila is looking to Hailey Bieber to help its struggling brand. The South Korea-based sports apparel company is today launching a 13-piece spring/summer 2025 collection made in collaboration with Bieber, who is the founder of Rhode beauty. The pieces, which include a baby tee, sweatpants, and an oversized pullover, are designed to be “wardrobe staples,” according to the company, and are now available on FILA’s website and select Urban Outfitters stores. It’s clear the Hailey Bieber x FILA Collection is geared toward athleisure rather than performance activewear based on the campaign photography, which in one photo shows Bieber spilling an iced coffee. [Photo: Fila]…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Speaking before the U.S. Senate this month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that a decade or more down the road, homeowners in some parts of the country won’t be able to find home insurance. “Both banks and insurance companies are pulling out of coastal areas or areas where there are a lot of fires. So what that is going to mean is that if you fast-forward 10 or 15 years, there are going to be regions of the country where you can’t get a mortgage,” Powell told Congress. “There won’t be [mortgage] ATMs, there won’t be banks [lending mortgages…

DoorDash has a new delivery partner: Coco the robot. Starting this week, some customers in Los Angeles and Chicago have the option to select robot delivery from hundreds of participating merchants in the DoorDash app. The bots, which resemble small coolers on wheels, deliver goods from specific stores inside a tight radius. DoorDash piloted the tech for months ahead of this rollout, completing more than 100,000 deliveries. DoorDash isn’t the only delivery company taking advantage of this new, mostly autonomous tech. Others, including rival service Uber Eats, have partnered with multiple robotics companies, including for deliveries in certain locations. It’s not Do…

You don’t need tickets to see Metallica in concert anymore—just a $3,499 Apple Vision Pro headset. Starting today, Apple Vision Pro users can experience Metallica’s 2024 Mexico City concert as an immersive, ultra-high resolution experience complete with 180-degree video and Spatial Audio. The concert, filmed on September 29 as part of the sold-out finale of Metallica’s M72 World Tour, includes fan-favorites like “One” and “Enter Sandman.” “With Metallica on Apple Vision Pro, you feel like you’re right there: front row, backstage, and even on stage with one of the biggest bands of all time,” Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of Marketing Communications, said in a…

The financial services industry is facing an era of unparalleled fragmentation. Consumers are no longer limited to a single bank or financial provider in an increasingly nomadic digital environment. Instead, consumers can move seamlessly between services and products across multiple platforms. This creates a highly competitive marketplace while still maintaining some degree of segmentation. As fintech disruptors and traditional financial institutions compete for consumers, creating brand differentiation and customer loyalty has become one of the hardest and most critical aspects of growing a business. Adding to this challenge, banks and financial service providers fac…

Do artists and scientists see the same thing in the shape of trees? As a scientist who studies branching patterns in living things, I’m starting to think so. Piet Mondrian was an early 20th-century abstract artist and art theorist obsessed with simplicity and essence of form. Even people who have never heard of Mondrian will likely recognize his iconic irregular grids of rectangles. Tableau I by Piet Mondrian, 1921. [Image: Kunstmuseum Den Haag] When I saw Mondrian’s 1911 “Gray Tree,” I immediately recognized something about trees that I had struggled to describe. By removing all but the most essential elements in an abstract painting, Mondrian demonstrated som…

For the better part of the last half-century, the world has traveled to California to experience Silicon Valley. They’ve heard from Stanford dropouts-turned-unicorn founders, toured dazzling tech campuses, spoken with shrewd venture capitalists, and discussed, ad nauseum, the region’s core DNA. They’ve come to scoop up the secret fertilizer, take it back home, and sprinkle it onto the local soil in the hopes of magically growing “Silicon Prairie,” or “Silicon Heartland,” or Silicon Fill-in-the-Blank. In reality, few places in the United States—almost none outside a handful of big coastal cities—have succeeded. Eventually, hopeful communities have abandoned their “inno…

Noticed all the blondes going back to their natural hair color lately? As much as many try to claim it’s because of a “hair health journey,” other factors seem to be at play here. “How’s the economy?” one TikTok user asks in a viral video. “Well, hasn’t been good for a while seems like my indicators tell me,” the former blonde says, measuring the inches of her incoming roots with her fingers. “THIS IS SO ACCURATE,” one commenter responded. I’m no expert, but root length has always been a pretty solid way to tell how people are doing financially. “Remember when balayage became really popular in 2009?” asked one person in the comments. During the 2007-t…

New Jersey filed a lawsuit against Discord on Thursday, alleging that the social platform recklessly exposed children to “harassment, abuse, and sexual exploitation by predators who lurk on the platform.” The move makes it the first state to sue Discord. Founded in 2015, Discord is a platform where its millions of users can communicate in chatrooms and direct messages. It shot up in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many users were stuck at home and wanted to connect. Children, in particular, make up a “significant portion” of its 200 million global monthly active user base, per the suit. The New Jersey complaint alleges that Discord knew its safety fe…

The latest Big Tech-funded effort to improve affordable housing sees the solution in people’s backyards. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announced today that it’s providing seed funding for a startup that helps turn backyard dwellings into new homeownership opportunities for Americans who are increasingly getting locked out. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced a $750,000 investment in BuildCasa, a California-based startup seeking to increase the supply of ADUs, or accessory dwelling units. The funding is part of CZI’s Affordable Starter Home Initiative, which aims to provide funding for a number of pilot programs addressing housing accessibility and affordab…

If you are career-minded, you may think applying for a loftier position in another company is the best route. In fact half of millennials expect to leave their current company within a year. But it’s not always the right move. Advancing in your present company may be a smarter move. You already know the culture and the people. If you enjoy them, who is to say that you’d find something better elsewhere? Also, some companies reward loyalty. And why would you want to compete with hundreds of applicants in a chaotic job market? If you are staying, hone your strategy. Follow these five steps to boost your likelihood of advancing. 1. ASK FOR VISIBLE ASSIGNMENTS …

I broke its neck. When making a vase at the potter’s wheel, I torqued its slippery neck clear off the pot as I tried to thin it into a graceful curve. I find vases gratifying to make and their shapes especially pleasing to the eye. But vases also must be handled with particular care because one part of their “body” – the neck – is often so narrow that it can be easily broken. That day at the wheel, I realized that it was not unlike the human neck. Though only a small portion of the human body – about 1% by surface area – our necks have an outsize influence on our psyche and culture. From selfies to formal portraits, the neck positions the head in expressiv…

Cancer research in the U.S. doesn’t rely on a single institution or funding stream—it’s a complex ecosystem made up of interdependent parts: academia, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology startups, federal agencies, and private foundations. As a cancer biologist who has worked in each of these sectors over the past three decades, I’ve seen firsthand how each piece supports the others. When one falters, the whole system becomes vulnerable. The United States has long led the world in cancer research. It has spent more on cancer research than any other country, including more than US$7.2 billion annually through the National Cancer Institute alone. Since the 1971 …

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Last June, global architecture and design firm Gensler named Elizabeth Brink and Jordan Goldstein as co-CEOs, succeeding Andy Cohen and Diane Hoskins, who jointly led the company for nearly 20 years. Though some U.S. companies, including Netflix, Zola, and Warby Parker, have two …