Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

When the New York Red Bulls professional soccer team heads to practice at its new state-of-the-art training facility in Morris Township, New Jersey, the players will be doing so alongside a bunch of 9-year-olds. The $100 million facility, which officially opened in April, was designed as much for the pros on the Major League Soccer squad as for the roughly 6,000 kids that take part in the club’s academy and soccer camp programs every year. “The objective was always to have a space that we could grow into—not just good for the moment, but to think about the future,” says Marc de Grandpré, president and general manager of Red Bull New York. “Our success on the first…

Plenty of brands use AI to talk to consumers. In other words, they’re tapping AI to generate customer service responses, automate interactions, and speed up outreach. But what they’re not doing is investing in the listening side of AI or leveraging into its vast capabilities here—i.e., using AI to better understand customer friction, synthesize feedback, spot patterns, or act on what people are saying. And to me, this is a major miss. Whenever leadership looks out onto their world below—rather than from within the trenches—gaps can emerge. And while leaders routinely make business decisions with the aid of spreadsheets, dashboards, and second-hand summaries, you c…

Chipotle has been tweaking its recipe to lure diners back, and in the first quarter of the year it appears to be working. The build-your-own burrito chain posted higher sales in its new quarterly earnings report, showing some signs of life after a record rough year. Chipotle reported that sales across established stores perked up by .5%, besting a predicted 1% decline. In the first three months of the year, the chain reported $302.8 million in net income, down from $386.6 million in the first quarter of 2025 – a period prior to its recent struggles. Cost of living stress tied to high prices – and now the war in Iran – continues to steer price-conscious consumers a…

I sat in my car staring at the front door of the community mental health center, questioning if I could walk in. If anyone saw me, they might have assumed I was a patient struggling to face my mental health issues head-on in treatment. But I wasn’t. I was the therapist who was struggling to find the courage to walk in the door. My husband had passed away unexpectedly just two months before, at the age of 26. After my three days of bereavement time, I wasn’t in any shape to return to work. Fortunately, my doctor diagnosed me with “acute stress disorder” and bought me two months of short-term disability. I still didn’t feel ready to go back to work but my mortgage bill …

Psychological safety is a crucial key to high performance, a positive culture, and team success—and for good reason. Google’s Project Aristotle found that it’s the number one factor in high-performing teams. When people feel safe to speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes, and challenge ideas, teams learn faster and perform better. But as the concept has gained traction, something else has happened. Many misunderstand what it actually means, and that misunderstanding is quietly killing accountability. At its core, psychological safety is about creating an environment where people can speak up without fear of humiliation or punishment. What it’s not about is avoid…

I have a very conflicted relationship with my jute rug. I love the organic, textured aesthetic that makes my dining room feel earthy and relaxed. But over time, I’ve come to resent how scratchy it feels underfoot, how the fibers shed and splinter, and how if my toddler spills yogurt on it, there’s no way to get it out of the nooks and crannies, so it becomes part of the rug forever. Ruggable, the company that launched nearly a decade ago on the premise that rugs should be washable, has been on a mission to reimagine the jute rug. And after nearly two years of development, it is launching a machine-washable rug called Performance Weave that mimics jute so convincingly, yo…

Most people think of California as the home of Hollywood liberals, neglecting to acknowledge its many rural and more conservative areas. Despite its modern reputation as a Democratic state, the world’s 4th largest economy has actually had more Republican governors. Without a clear Democratic frontrunner for the current election cycle, Republican candidates have an opening. Tonight, CNN is hosting a California governors debate to give the crowded candidate field a chance to make their case. Even those outside the state will be tuning in to see what trends might impact the larger midterm Congressional elections later this year. Here’s what you need to know bef…

The AI data center building boom isn’t fueling just water shortage concerns and GPU-maker Nvidia’s coffers. It is now also firmly making memory chip makers and their investors significantly richer. Yesterday, two of the largest memory makers, Micron Technology and Sandisk, saw their stock prices soar more than 11% in a single trading session. And those gains are small potatoes compared to their five-day increases. But why is this happening? Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? Yesterday, all four of the Nasdaq’s major memory chip makers saw their stock prices jump. Those four memory makers include: Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) Sa…

GameStop announced on Sunday that it would offer to buy eBay for nearly $56 billion. One day later, CNBC spoke to GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen about the news, in an interview media outlets have called “bizarre,” “evasive,” “dizzying” and “awkward.” In what felt more like an SNL sketch than a CNBC interview, the billionaire CEO of GameStop provided little context or further explanation as to how the company would afford and operate eBay, which has a market capitalization of $46 billion compared to GameStop’s $11 billion. When asked how math for the deal would actually pan out, Cohen answered, “It’s on our website. Half cash, half stock, but the details are on our websi…

Book bans are on the rise—and they’re increasingly focused on censoring facts. In a new report on banned books in U.S. public schools, the free expression advocacy group PEN America found that the number of nonfiction books pulled from shelves doubled last year. The group describes a “surge” of book bannings targeting nonfiction science, history, and biographic titles, including books about the digestive system and ancient Egypt. PEN America conducted an analysis of 3,743 books removed from American school libraries and classrooms in the 2024-2025 academic year. Of the banned titles, 29% (1,100) were nonfiction, up from 14% the previous school year. Fiction t…

Chili’s has had a major comeback in recent years. The casual dining chain turned 50 last year, and recently reported 20 consecutive quarters of growth. Chili’s CEO Kevin Hochman told Business Insider that the success of the chain boils down to two things: marketing and operations. “We have a saying here: marketing brings them in, and ops brings them back,” Hochman told BI. Hochman shared this sentiment with analysts and investors during an earnings call with investors last year. It’s clear the Tex-Mex chain has continued to lean in on that strategy. “The marketing has to be exciting,” Hochman said. “And then the operators are in charge of creating that ex…

There were moments leading up to the 30th WNBA season where it appeared as if it wasn’t going to happen. Thankfully, after a lengthy 17-month negotiation where both the players and owners were heard, that is not the case. The new season of women’s basketball kicks off tonight (Friday, May 8) with three exciting games. Here’s everything you need to know to tune in. Who is favored to win it all? Hot off their 2025 championship, the Las Vegas Aces want to continue their streak. The team has won three of the last four, including consecutive wins in 2022 and 2023. The women have more than momentum on their side. Most of their players are returning this yea…

When University of Pennsylvania student Crystal Yang was in high school, she and her friends were avid players of the trendy online game Wordle. One of Yang’s friends, however, is blind and was unable to join in. That inspired Yang, while still a high school student, to work with researchers at Texas A&M University looking at conversational audio interface possibilities for the game. Soon, she founded a nonprofit called Audemy that has developed more than 50 audio-powered games accessible to blind and visually impaired players. The organization is now also at work on an accessible gaming console that will incorporate audio and tactile features and can function wi…

In our 2026 Performance Marketing survey with Harris Poll, we asked more than 300 marketing decision-makers about the trends and investments they predicted for 2026. The biggest takeaway—75% report increased expectations for accountability. And nearly two-thirds say leaders now evaluate them based on pipeline contribution rather than traditional top-of-funnel metrics like lead volume. For years, marketers have argued for a more meaningful seat at the revenue table, one that is measured on business outcomes instead of activity. That shift is happening. Leaders are asking marketing teams to deliver revenue outcomes without giving them the visibility to understand, p…

Wordle, the game originally designed as a gift for the creator’s partner, has been a national obsession for years. Now it’s becoming a television game show. NBC has greenlit a new series centered around the game, which will run in prime time. Today anchor (and self-confessed Wordle megafan) Savannah Guthrie will host. The show will be executive produced by Jimmy Fallon and The New York Times, which owns Wordle. The show is scheduled to premiere in 2027 and casting is underway. If you’re interested in being a contestant on the show, you can apply at wordle.castingcrane.com. (The game will be played in teams of three, so you’ll need to find a couple of buddies or fa…

It has become clear that women—and working mothers, in particular—are up against all kinds of challenges that threaten their foothold in the labor force. But one trend that may be less evident is that men are also dropping out of the workforce, albeit for different reasons. The jobs report last week offered a more sunny outlook than expected, with an uptick of 115,000 jobs in April; the unemployment rate also held steady at 4.3%. The data also, however, points to a more nuanced story about a broader shift in the labor force. Last month, the number of men who were working or actively looking for a job fell to the lowest figure seen in decades, with the exception of an…

Simone Stolzoff has a gift for asking questions that slice the soul. In his first book, The Good Enough Job, he asks how work came to be so central to our identities, and what we can do to rebalance our lives. He’s a journalist whose writing on the intersection of work, identity, and relationships has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired, and National Geographic. Now he’s back with a second book: How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty in a World that Demands Answers. This time around, he unpacks why uncertainty generates so much anxiety, and what we can do about it. In a world where climate change is reshaping the actual landscape, politicians a…

Prebiotic soda brand Poppi has come a long way since it first appeared on Shark Tank under its original name, “Mother Beverage,” in 2018. Allison Ellsworth cofounded Poppi with her husband Stephen Ellsworth—but before becoming multimillionaires, though, the Ellsworths were maxing out their credit cards to launch Poppi. “My husband told me I was absolutely crazy, but he trusted the vision,” Ellsworth said. “So we maxed out our credit cards, sold one of our cars to buy bottles [and] opened our own manufacturing facility.” The pair invested $90,000 into the business in the first year, while her husband worked various gigs to cover their mortgage. In 18 months of…

Yes, you read that right: Brain-eating amoeba have been found in two popular U.S. national parks, according to a recent study from the U.S. Geological Survey, and a number of other institutions, published in the American Chemical Society’s journal, ES&T Water. Here’s what to know. What happened? Researchers took 185 water samples from five popular U.S. national parks, looking at “40 thermally impacted recreational waters” at Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Olympic National Park, and Newberry National Volcanic Monument over an eight year period from 2016 to 2024. What they found revealed widespre…

It’s not often that a serious medical condition gets renamed, but that’s the case now for a condition that impacts one in eight women. Polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal disorder long known as PCOS, will now be called PMOS – short for polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome. The new name, announced Tuesday at the European Congress of Endocrinology and published in leading medical journal The Lancet, aims to more accurately describe the syndrome and make diagnosis easier for people who suffer from it. A group of specialists who worked to rename the condition criticized its longstanding name as inaccurate, explaining that misunderstandings about its features led…