Work-life balance, online spend, streaming subscriptions: 5 interesting stats to start your week

Lack of work-life balance negatively impacting mental health of women in marketing

Over nine in 10 (93%) women working in the marketing and communications industry say that a lack of work-life balance has negatively impacted their mental health in some way, according to statistics from professional network Bloom UK.

Indeed, over four in five (83%) say they have experienced physical health issues as a result of a poor work-life balance, with over two-fifths (43%) reporting symptoms of stress, anxiety or burnout.

Inflexible working arrangements and an unsustainable workload are large contributors to these poor work-life balances.

Just over half (53%) of women in the marketing and communications industry say they are satisfied with the flexible working arrangements that their employer currently has in place.

Meanwhile, over half of women (54%) frequently feel overwhelmed by their workload. Around two-thirds of women also engage in overtime, despite just 16% saying they’re happy to do this.

The research also looks at how work-life balance differed across diverse groups of women in the industry. It finds that that two-fifths of women of colour (41%) don’t feel their work allows for a healthy integration of personal and professional life, compared to around one-third (31%) of white women.

Around two-thirds of women with a disability (66%) or mental health condition (65%) find it challenging to disconnect from work, the research finds, compared to half of those without a condition or disability.

Source: Bloom UK

UK consumers spent over £8bn online in January

UK consumers spent £8.1bn online in January, up 3.4% versus the same month last year, as shoppers took advantage of sales.

Many shoppers choose to utilise Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes when making these purchases over January. Over one in seven (15.1%) purchases were made through BNPL mechanisms, representing £1.2bn in sales. This represents a 14% increase versus last year.

The online rate of inflation fell by 5.1% across all categories, as retailers made discounts to drive demand in the post-festive season. The deepest discounting in January was in electronics (12.2%), apparel (7.5%), sporting goods (8.3%) and appliances (5.9%).

Retailers saw people buy into health trends, with online sales of exercise equipment up 60% in January compared to December 2023.

Source: Adobe Analytics

Homes with streaming subscriptions decline in Q4 2024

The number of UK homes with access to a subscription video on demand (SVOD) service declined in the final quarter of 2023 versus the same period in 2022, according to Barb.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, 19.3 million homes had access to at least one subscription streaming service, however, in the final quarter of last year, that number declined to 18.8 million. In proportional terms, in Q4 2023, 65.4% of UK homes had access to a SVOD service, versus 67.3% of homes in the year prior.

Barb’s research estimates that one in 20 (5.1%) UK households now utilise Netflix’s advertising tier. Netflix remains the biggest streaming service overall, with 56.7% homes having access to it in the final quarter of 2023.

The number of homes with access to Netflix decreased from the previous quarter, when 58.2% had access.

Amazon Prime Video is the next biggest subscription streaming service, with 12.4 million UK homes (43.1%) having access to Amazon in Q4 2023, down from fractionally under 13 million (45.3%) in the third quarter.

Source: Barb

Marketing and sales sector salaries increased by average of 3.4% in 2023

Salaries in the marketing and sales sector have increased by an average of 3.4% in 2023, according to figures from recruitment business Reed.

That figure means marketing salary increases have stayed consistent with last year, when the average increase was 3.5%.

Marketing and sales salaries have not risen as much as some other sectors, including the hospitality sector, where pay increased by 7.3% last year.

By contrast, the IT and cyber security sector has seen the least growth out of all the sectors in 2023, with the average salary increase standing at 2.4%.

The figures also suggest which areas are the most competitive in terms of marketing and sales salaries. Areas such as the South West (8%) and the West Midlands (7.1%) have seen the biggest increase in wages for marketing and sales roles, with Northern Ireland showing the weakest growth, with a salary decrease of 4.2%.

Source: Reed

Women’s sport sees record year in 2023

Women’s sport was more watched on UK linear TV last year than ever before. Around 46.7 million people tuned in to watch at least one minute of women’s sport in 2023.

That figure exceeds the previous record, set in 2019, by one million people.

The average time spent watching women’s sport across free channels and paid TV increased 16% year-on-year, according to new research from Women’s Sport Trust and Futures Sports & Entertainment.

This equates to 10 hours and seven minutes per person, up from eight hours and 44 minutes in 2022.

BBC iPlayer racked up 25.7 million streams of last summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, a 76% increase on 2019’s tournament, while ITVX recorded 15.6 million views.

On TikTok, the Barclays Women’s Super League gained 150 million views – a 268% year-on-year rise – while the TikTok Women’s Six Nations saw a 586% increase in views. The tournament is now known as the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

While strides are being made, coverage of women’s sports on TV went down in 2023, from 13% to 8%.

Source: Women’s Sport Trust and Futures Sports & Entertainment