Streaming services reveal limited diversity on and off screen

Continued Lack of Diversity in Streaming Television

A recent report from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has revealed that the top television series available on major streaming platforms in 2024 continue to exhibit a significant lack of diversity in both gender and ethnicity among creators and performers. The findings highlight ongoing challenges in representation within the entertainment industry, despite previous efforts to improve inclusivity.

Key Findings from the UCLA Report

The UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report on streaming television, conducted by the university’s Entertainment and Media Research Initiative, analyzed the top 250 television series — including both comedies and dramas — available for streaming during 2024. These shows included newly created programs as well as older series still accessible through streaming service libraries.

One of the most alarming statistics from the report is the overwhelming dominance of white men among show creators. Of the programs with clearly defined show creators, 79% were led by white men. Nearly 92% of all show creators were white, with only 3.3% being Black, 2.5% Asian, and 1.1% Latinx. Additionally, men accounted for 85% of all show creators.

The report emphasized that the gender gap among white show creators remains staggering. White men alone represented nearly eight out of 10 (78.9%) of all show creators among the most-watched, scripted television shows in 2024. While the numbers for other groups are smaller, Black and Latinx males also outpaced their female counterparts as scripted show creators. However, multiracial women outnumbered their male counterparts, though this group’s overall count was minimal. Among Asian and Native scripted show creators, there were no female show creators among the top scripted shows.

Diversity in Current Programs Remains Poor

When considering only current programs — not older series still available on streaming services — the diversity numbers remained dismal. Out of the 109 current scripted shows, only 17 had a creator who was a person of color, representing just 15.6%. Female creators accounted for 24.8% of these shows.

The lack of diversity extended to lead performers in streaming series as well. “Among the most-watched streaming comedies and dramas in 2024, virtually four-fifths of lead actors were white (79.6%),” the report found. Black (8.3%), Latinx (3.3%), Asian (2.2%), and multiracial (5.5%) persons were all underrepresented among streaming leads of top streaming comedies and dramas in 2024.

Just over one-third (34.3%) of lead characters in the top series were female in 2024, a decrease from 39% the previous year. This decline suggests a regression in efforts to ensure gender parity in leading roles.

Underrepresented Communities in Storylines

Historically under-represented communities also received little recognition in the storylines of the programs analyzed. According to the report, about two-fifths or 39.2% of the top 250 streaming shows featured one or more of these underrepresented stories. When only considering scripted shows, the percentage jumps to 43.7%, and when looking specifically at live-action comedies and dramas, the percentage increases to 52.5%.

Despite these figures, the overall representation of diverse narratives remains low, especially when compared to the growing demographic shifts in the population.

Concerns Over Rolling Back Diversity Efforts

The report’s authors concluded that, following progress over the past decade in increasing representation of women and people of color both on screen and behind the camera, “there appears to be a scaling back of these efforts throughout Hollywood in 2024.”

The authors warned that rolling back on diversity efforts poses a clear risk. They noted that younger generations, particularly those under 18, are already majority-BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and will soon become the target demographic for ad-supported programming. These younger audiences — part of Gen Z and Gen Alpha — consume media differently than older generations.

To appeal to this growing demographic, the report recommends that streamers invest in creatives from diverse backgrounds and produce stories that resonate with them. By doing so, studios and networks can better connect with future potential subscribers and ensure long-term relevance in an evolving media landscape.