UCLA’s Entertainment and Media Research Initiative unveiled its latest Hollywood Diversity Report, this time focused on streaming television in 2023, and found that “streaming audiences want new offerings and diverse stories, as the most-watched metrics fail to to conquer the market.”
According to the report, which will be released on Tuesday, streaming audiences need diverse stories and female viewers are a major factor when it comes to total viewership. The study found that women overindexed on nine of the top 10 programs, ranked by both total minutes watched per household and total household viewing figures.
Households of color were found to be overrepresented among the viewer demographics for six of the top 10 shows by ratings. Data showed that women represented the largest audience and even surpassed their population share for every 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 accounted for for 46.7% of viewers.
“Suits” appeared to top the streaming charts in 2023, during a year in which few new shows aired and many television series were canceled, partly due to the Hollywood strikes and overall business contraction.
“With television productions halted for most of 2023 and streaming audiences dominating broadcast and cable, we decided we needed to change the way we watch television to better understand what viewers want to see on the small screen,” says Ana-Christina Ramón, co-founder of the Hollywood Diversity Report.
The study also found that among the most popular streaming series of 2023, the majority of content represented currently ongoing series.
Other key findings indicated that showrunners, creators and leading actors on television are overwhelmingly white and male. However, data shows that the top streaming shows with BIPOC leads consistently outperform others when it comes to average ratings, and that series that follow “underrepresented stories” also rank higher in the ratings. Additionally, BIPOC households reportedly enjoy high ratings on the top-streamed programs, yet have a less substantial impact in terms of total minutes watched.
“Focusing on total minutes watched gives an advantage to older shows that have more episodes and seasons on streaming platforms. “Current programs, which our research has repeatedly shown to be more diverse, have been at a disadvantage in some respects from the start,” said Darnell Hunt, the interim chancellor of UCLA who coauthored the report with Ramón. “Inevitably, this will only add to the legacy of inequality built into the sector.”
Overall, BIPOC groups — especially Latinx creatives — tend to be underrepresented when it comes to television deals in 2024.
The Hollywood Diversity Report Presents report can be read here. It’s UCLA’s latest release
Entertainment and Media Research Initiative, which Ramón heads. The study looked at the top 250 television series available on major streaming services in 2023, including for the first time library titles in addition to new and ongoing programs.
The report criticized streamers for citing “minutes watched” as a key metric.
“Focusing on total minutes watched gives an advantage to older shows that have more episodes and seasons on streaming platforms. Today’s programs, which our research has repeatedly shown to be more diverse, have been at a disadvantage in some respects from the start,” said Darnell Hunt, the interim chancellor of UCLA who coauthored the report with Ramon. “Inevitably, this will only add to the legacy of inequality built into the sector.”
Here are some findings from the report:
