Hello! Netflix released its first-ever "What We Watched" engagement report yesterday — of more than 18,000 titles, new crime thriller The Night Agent came out on top, clocking over 812 million viewing hours in the last 6 months. Today we're exploring:
Screen teens
A new survey has found that maybe the older generations were right after all: teenagers these days really do spend all of their time on their phones. Nearly half (47%) of teen pollees aged 13-17 years old responded that they were online “almost constantly”. While that share is about the same as last year, it’s almost double the figure recorded for 2014-15 — with a whopping 95% of teens also now reporting having access to a smartphone.
And for anyone wondering exactly how the younger netizens are whiling away their online hours, the majority of teens use several social media apps and sites every single day, including 71% for YouTube, 58% for TikTok, and 51% for Snapchat.
Liked and subscribed
While YouTube remained the firm favorite among teenagers, with 93% using the video site altogether, a small contraction in daily usage from last year was observed across most social media platforms included in the poll — perhaps the result of the screen time limit feature, introduced on iPhones in 2022.
There was one major exception to the downward trend, however: TikTok. The share of teens who identified as “almost constant” users of the Bytedance-owned app increased to 17%, and millennial mainstay Facebook even saw a modest rise among constant users as well. Zuckerberg’s platform still isn’t exactly cool amongst the teenage demographic, however, with total teen FB users plummeting from 71% in 2014-15 to just 33% today.
Crowded houses
Some iconic Soho House locations are getting even more exclusive in 2024, with Houses in New York, Los Angeles, and London all announcing that they’d be halting admittance to new members in the new year.
Soho House & Co, the company behind the buzzy members-only clubs (which can cost up to $5k to get into), is introducing the measures to combat overcrowding in British and American branches, as the number of people on the SHCO waitlist hit ~98,000 last quarter, a record high for the company.
Worldwide exclusivity
The original House opened almost 29 years ago in (somewhat unsurprisingly) London’s fashionable Soho area, where it quickly became a favorite haunt of creative types looking for a place to relax, have fun, and meet like-minded people. Back then, under the stewardship of founder Nick Jones — who broke the new member news to current Housers via email on Friday — the company counted just 500 members... though it’s certainly grown a lot in the years since.
While memberships to Soho Houses around the world, of which there are now more than 40, have grown 73.5k since the business went public in 2021, the company’s efforts to diversify the sort of membership it offers have also proved successful. Indeed, its popular Soho Friends membership — which offers discounted rates at Houses and other member-only perks — was up more than 260% in Q3 from the same period in 2021, helping revenues soar to record highs in each of the last 2 quarters.
Ill-flation
Constant office colds, ceaseless sniffling sounds, and steering clear of flu-ridden friends: it’s around that time of year when seemingly everyone you know is getting sick.
Although the negative health implications of feeling under the weather are clear, being ill this winter could now set you back a lot more in financial terms too. Indeed, according to the Consumer Price Index report from the Labor Department released yesterday, prices for hospital and related services were up 6.3% year-over-year in November — the biggest annual jump in almost 13 years.
Similarly, the cost of medication also saw the steepest rise since October 2016, with prescription and non-prescription drug prices up 5% compared to the same point last year.
In sickness and in wealth
Even before the latest surges, the US had some of the highest healthcare costs in the world: in 2021, healthcare spending averaged ~$13k per person, and around 50% of adults reported finding it difficult to afford their healthcare in a recent survey. Indeed, in the run-up to the election, America’s enormous medical debt is likely to be a key issue in debates, as federal actuaries project healthcare expenses to rise another $3 trillion in the next 8 years.
However, despite staff shortages that have afflicted the medical sector in the past few years, it was reported ~40% of overall job growth this month was made up by healthcare workers; with any luck, a recovering economy, and some TLC, hopefully this labor shift can nurse inflated prices in 2024.
• Animal rights org PETA made Apple its company of 2023, making a strong case for the tech giant after it announced plans to stop selling leather accessories.
• Antisemitic incidents have surged 337% since October 7, per a new Anti-Defamation League report.
• A UPS driver racked up ~12 million views on TikTok by shocking viewers with his $2,000 pre-tax weekly payslip.
• Bibimbaps to Barbie: explore Google’s most-searched terms of the year across different categories.
• Charting the nations with the most government debt.
Off the charts: Which fast-selling restaurant chain will be undergoing big changes in 2024, as its long-standing CEO has announced their retirement amid a massive global expansion? [Answer below].
