Yahoo Lifestyle UCLA Diversity Report Finds White Men Dominate Most-Watched Streaming Shows as Lead Actors, Series Creators
UCLA’s Entertainment and Media Research Initiative has unveiled its latest Hollywood Diversity Report, this time focusing on streaming television in 2023, and it found that “streaming audiences want new offerings, diverse stories as most watched metrics fall short of capturing the market.”
According to the report, set to be released Tuesday, streaming audiences have a desire for diverse stories and female viewers are a significant force in regards to total viewership. The study indicated that women overindexed in regards to nine of the top 10 shows ranked by both total household minutes viewed and total household ratings.
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Households of color were found to be overrepresented among viewer demographics for 6 of the top 10 shows based on ratings. Data indicated that women represented the largest audiences, even exceeding their population share for each top 10 streaming series, with the exception of “The Last of Us,” for which women made up 46.9% of viewers and “Family Guy,” for which women made up 46.7% of viewers.
“Suits” was found to top the streaming charts in 2023, during a year in which few new shows aired and many television series were cancelled, partly due to the Hollywood strikes and overall business contraction.
“With the halt in television productions for most of 2023 and streaming viewership dominating broadcast and cable, we decided we needed to change the way we examined television to better understand what viewers want to see on the small screen,” said Ana-Christina Ramón, co-founder of the Hollywood Diversity Report.
The study also found that among the most popular streaming series of 2023, a majority of content represented currently running series.
Other key findings indicated that showrunners, creators and lead actors across television tend to be predominantly white and male. However, data shows that top streaming shows with BIPOC leads consistently outperform others in regards to median ratings and series following “underrepresented stories” also rank higher in ratings. Furthermore, BIPOC households are reported to drive high ratings among the top streamed shows yet have a less substantial impact in regards to total minutes viewed.
“Focusing on total minutes watched gives an advantage to older shows that have more episodes and seasons on streaming platforms. Current shows, which our research has repeatedly shown to be more diverse, face a disadvantage in some ways from the onset,” said Darnell Hunt, the interim chancellor at UCLA who founded the report with Ramón. “Inevitably, that just feeds into the legacy of inequity that was built into the industry.”
Overall, BIPOC groups — particularly Latinx creatives — tend to be underrepresented in 2024 when it comes to television deals.
The Hollywood Diversity Report Presents report can be read here. It’s the latest release from UCLA’s
Entertainment and Media Research Initiative, which Ramón directs. The study looked at the top 250 television series available from major streaming services in 2023, including for the first time library titles alongside new and ongoing programs.
The report criticized streamers for touting “minutes viewed” as a key metric.
“Focusing on total minutes watched gives an advantage to older shows that have more episodes and seasons on streaming platforms. Current shows, which our research has repeatedly shown to be more diverse, face a disadvantage in some ways from the onset,” said Darnell Hunt, the interim chancellor at UCLA who founded the report with Ramon. “Inevitably, that just feeds into the legacy of inequity that was built into the industry.”
Here are a few findings from the report:
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