Does representative content drive bingeability across streaming platforms?

According to Nielsen’s latest "Attitudes on Representation on TV" study, 34% of respondents said they do not think there is enough content that represents them. Moreover, among certain ethnic groups, the perceptions are more extreme. Respondents in the study also noted the impact of representation on their viewing behaviors, as 53% said they would be more likely to watch inclusive content, up from 47% in 2021.

To validate the importance of representation in content, Nielsen used Gracenote Inclusion Analytics to look at the most viewed streaming programming and the representation within those programs in the 2021-22 TV season. The company then applied a new Nielsen Gracenote data set that can be used to assess the likelihood that an audience will watch additional episodes. Among the more than 973 streaming titles, 326 had bingeability scores of three or higher. On the bingeability scale, programs with a score of three or higher are considered highly bingeable, and of these highly bingeable programs, 232 (more than 71%) were inclusive of one or more under-represented racial/ethnic identity groups.

In a more focused analysis, Nielsen looked at a selection of linear and streaming programs with Native American and Indigenous representation levels above their representation in the United States (2.9%). In each case, the content attracted new audiences and maintained a sizeable portion of the audience after viewers watched the program they came to see.

For example, the second season of “Reservation Dogs,” which debuted on Hulu in 2021, attracted 1.4 million viewers who had not watched any content on Hulu before coming to watch this particular show. Of this audience, 23% stayed to watch other content in addition to “Reservation Dogs.” Meanwhile, “Dark Winds,” a 2022 drama airing on AMC, attracted 2.8 million viewers who had not watched any content on AMC before. Of this audience, 15% stayed to watch other content in addition to “Dark Winds.”

“While these analyses highlight the power of representative content, they also illuminate the impact of delivering relevant content to audiences – something that will grow increasingly challenging as new programming and services come to market. In September 2022, for example, there were more than 923.000 video titles available to audiences across linear programming and streaming services. Of those titles, more than 778.000 were on streaming platforms,”  the report noted.

That expanse of programming, which is up from just over 646.000 back in December 2019, makes it increasingly difficult for audiences to find what they are looking for, especially if they do not know what they are specifically looking for. According to Nielsen’s latest streaming content consumer survey, 24% of streaming audiences do not know what they want to watch before they start searching. That, plus the growth of content and platforms, has a direct impact on the time audiences spend looking instead of watching. And if they cannot find something to watch, a service runs the risk of losing them to a different one.

Time spent searching aside, Nielsen says streaming video now represents the future of how audiences will engage with TV content. Between October 2021 and October 2022, audiences increased their weekly time spent streaming by more than 30%. And as TV viewing surged during the year-end holidays, streaming had grown to account for 38.1% of total TV usage in December, up from 27.7% a year earlier.

“The immense amount of program choice and fragmentation across services speaks to the importance of delivering relevant options to content-hungry audiences. For creators, publishers and distributors looking to maximize audience engagement, representation is a powerful lever,”  the report concluded.