Popular dramas and comedies on streaming services showed a sharp decline in cultural diversity from last year, indicating a worrying trend in the television industry in terms of inclusivity, a new UCLA study concluded.
The latest edition of the Hollywood Diversity Report released Tuesday, which examined the diversity of artists, creators and viewers across the top 250 series on streaming platforms, found that top shows in 2024 were less culturally diverse than the previous year and that people of color and women face more limited opportunities behind the camera.
According to the study, nearly four-fifths of the main characters in the most popular comedies and dramas were white, while nearly all other races and ethnic groups were underrepresented.
Additionally, white men increased their percentage among all show creators and lead actors: 4 out of 5 leads were white. Of the 222 scripted series surveyed, only 49 had a female creator. Creators of color were largely excluded from scripted series, both veteran library titles and current projects.
The report indicates a sharp shift from the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020, when streamers, as well as broadcast and cable networks, began developing more projects featuring people of color, particularly Black people. Studios and networks also committed to establishing initiatives and programs designed to increase diversity.
Those initiatives have been largely abandoned after last year's election, when the Trump administration and conservatives launched relentless attacks on nonwhite groups and diversity, inclusion and equity programs. Walt Disney Co., Amazon, Paramount and Warner Bros. were among the studios that dismantled long-standing programs and initiatives developed to increase diversity.
The decline in diversity represents a worrying change, the report's authors said.
“Unfortunately, this was not unexpected, especially with the results of the 2024 election,” Darnell Hunt, executive vice chancellor and provost at UCLA, said in a statement.
Hunt, co-founder of the studio, added: “When you close the door on diversity, you exclude opportunities for more perspectives, collaboration, exploration and growth. Without oversight and pressure, the industry will continue to invest less and less in these creators and stories to the detriment of their results.”
The study's researchers also determined that shows on streaming services benefited from broadening horizons in their storytelling and including content focused on non-white cultures, as well as LGBTQ+, disabled groups, and women.
Projects that featured those entities were popular among all household and viewer groups, and showed higher average ratings than shows that did not, similar to 2023.
The share of shows featuring underrepresented stories, regardless of the protagonist's gender, increased in 2024. The report cited several of the top male-led comedies and dramas in 2023, including Apple TV's “Ted Lasso,” which featured female-focused stories. For 2024, report co-author Nico Garcia highlighted HBO's “The Penguin” and its focus on female characters like Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) and the Penguin's mother, Francis Cobb (Deirdre O'Connell).
“Even when diversity declines overall, we find that the stories are still there,” García, a doctoral candidate in film and media studies, said in a statement. “When there are good, relatable stories, people watch them no matter who the protagonist is.”
The controversial bidding battle by Netflix, Paramount and others to buy the historic Warner Bros. studios has created even more uncertainty about the future of diversity and inclusion within Hollywood. Industry groups, several unions and antitrust experts say a massive merger would have a negative impact on creative competition.
In a joint statement criticizing the proposed merger between Netflix and Warner Bros., the Eastern and Western chapters of the Writers Guild of America argue that “the world's largest streaming company swallowing up one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent. The result would eliminate jobs, reduce wages, and worsen conditions for all entertainment workers.”
