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Netflix subscriptions have been given a greater weighting in the basket of goods used to calculate the UK’s inflation rate, as households spend more money on streaming services and less on DVD rentals.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said spending on DVD rental had plunged to such a low level that it had removed it from its list of products monitored each month to instead focus on streaming subscription services.
An estimated 17.3m households had access to Netflix late last year, according to industry data from Barb, as viewing habits have transformed over the past decade.
The ONS has also added yoga mats to the inflation basket as the market “has grown considerably since the pandemic, when people started to exercise at home and have continued in organised exercise classes”, officials said.
Men’s “sliders” – a form of sandal similar to flip-flops – have been added to the inflation basket, as have virtual reality (VR) headsets as people spend more time entertaining themselves at home.
Stephen Burgess, deputy director for prices at the ONS, said: “Men’s slider sandals step into the basket as a rapidly growing part of the male footwear market, while yoga mats also limber up as a new addition because of their increased popularity since the pandemic.”
The decisions, which are based on changing spending patterns by households, will feed fears that the abandonment of the office has led workers to be lazier and more antisocial.
About 13pc of workers are exclusively home-based, according to an ONS survey from October. Another 28pc work part of the week at home. The ONS found that remote workers sleep more and work less than those who commute.
Many bosses have been trying to bring staff back to the office amid concerns about the impact of home working on productivity and creativity. Lord Rose, the business veteran and former Asda chairman, has said working from home was “not doing what I call proper work”.
Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, accused air traffic control engineers of being “at home watching morning television instead of being where they are supposed to be” when a system glitch grounded hundreds of flights in 2023.
The ONS itself is currently in dispute with its staff over demands to come back to the office. Hundreds of staff have voted to strike over demands to come in at least two days a week.
Netflix is the most high profile of a range of subscription services which have boomed in popularity in recent years, including Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Sky’s NowTV.
In January, Netflix announced its subscriber base had risen to above 300m for the first time, bolstered by the company’s push into live sports.