More than 90 per cent of streaming TV made by white people, study finds
"When you shut the door on diversity, you shut out opportunities for more perspectives, collaboration, exploration and growth"
by Adam England · NMEA new study from the University of California at Los Angeles has found that more than 90 per cent of streaming shows are created by white people, with a decline in cultural diversity both behind and in front of the camera.
The latest edition of the Hollywood Diversity report, published yesterday (December 16), found that more than 91.7 per cent of the top 250 most-viewed current and library scripted series in 2024 were created by a white person, with 79 per cent of all show creators being white men. White actors were cast in 80 per cent of all roles, too – another increase.
Meanwhile, almost all other races and ethnicities were underrepresented as leads and show creators. And, of the 222 scripted series surveyed, just 49 were made by women.
Overall, the report found that opportunities for female actors and people of colour had decreased.
In the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, many networks and streaming companies put in place programmes and strategies to increase diversity or invested in projects by or featuring more people of colour, but many of these efforts were abandoned in the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election as president of the United States in November last year.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has issued a series of executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes, and companies including Disney, Amazon, Paramount and Warner Bros. have discontinued their own programmes in the past year.
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Darnell Hunt, executive vice-chancellor and provost at UCLA, who co-founded the study, wrote (via The Guardian): “Unfortunately, this wasn’t unexpected, especially with the election results in 2024. When you shut the door on diversity, you shut out opportunities for more perspectives, collaboration, exploration and growth. Without vigilance and pressure, the industry will continue to invest less and less in these creators and stories to the detriment of their bottom line.”
However, underrepresented storylines, regardless of the gender of the lead actor, did increase in 2024. The report highlighted shows including Ted Lasso and The Penguin, which gave female characters compelling secondary storylines.
These storylines result in higher social media engagement, particularly among women, with other shows mentioned including House Of The Dragon and Bridgerton.
“Even as diversity drops overall, we find that the stories are still there,” said co-author Nico Garcia, a doctoral candidate in cinema and media studies. “When there are good and relatable stories, people watch regardless of who plays the lead.”
Co-author and sociologist Michael Tran added: “If a show features some kind of underrepresented story, such as a women-centred story, the median total interactions for these shows were talked about on social media more than five times than shows without.”
The report comes weeks after Marvel actor Simu Liu hit out at a “backslide” of Asian representation in Hollywood. He wrote on Threads last month: “Put some Asians in literally anything right now. The amount of backslide in our representation onscreen is fucking appalling. Studios think we are risky.”
Listing a variety of successful films featuring Asian actors, including his own, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, he added: “Every single one a financial success. No Asian actor has ever lost a studio even close to 100 million dollars but a white dude will lose 200 million TWICE and roll right into the next tentpole lead.
“We’re fighting a deeply prejudiced system. And most days it SUCKS.”