The tip of the Peak TV era has budget-conscious TV streamers counting on classic or long-running series like Suits, The Big Bang Theory and Grey’s Anatomy. They rating high amongst streamers when measured for total minutes viewed, and never coincidentally are series led by white characters.
But the most recent Hollywood Diversity Report from UCLA also measured streaming series for household rankings to disclose a hidden market not fully accounted for: women and BIPOC audiences preferring recent and current titles that are inclined to be more diverse when it comes to storylines and characters.
The UCLA study found women are probably the most engaged audience for brand spanking new streaming series measured for overall household minutes viewed and likewise ranked by total household rankings. The median rankings were higher across demographics for shows led by actors of color and for shows featuring underrepresented stories, researchers added.
“Specializing in total minutes watched gives a bonus to older shows which have more episodes and seasons on streaming platforms. Current shows, which our research has repeatedly shown to be more diverse, face a drawback in some ways from the onset,” Darnell Hunt, interim chancellor at UCLA, argued in a press release.
The most recent Hollywood Diversity Report checked out streaming TV series and the variety of their actors, creators and audience in 2023. And the study focused on the highest 250 TV series available from major streaming services and, for the primary time, accounted for library titles alongside recent and ongoing programs, no matter language, to see where the longer term of popular streaming TV lies.
Certainly one of the important thing conclusions was that recent shows, often with stories from underrepresented communities, and diverse actors and creators, proved popular with audiences. “Top streaming shows in 2023 that featured underrepresented stories posted higher median rankings than people who didn’t, especially for female audiences (1.57 rating points vs 0.78 rankings points),” the study found.
Over 60 percent of the top-rated shows had secondary themes, including stories centered around women or LGBTQ characters. When measuring total household rankings, streaming series that engaged audiences include kids animation series like Cocomelon and Bluey, and diverse shows like Wednesday, Queen Charlotte and Beef.
Researcher Michael Tran, who co-authored the report, added: “The longer term of the industry lies in stepping away from this reliance on old and dated content. So-called ‘comfort television’ won’t usher in first-time subscribers or keep people from canceling their subscriptions. They need something recent.”
