A new Horowitz Research study reveals that multicultural viewers are gravitating towards streaming services to find diversity on television as they turn to the media, in general, to shut down racial stereotypes. “We’ve heard from multicultural viewers that it’s not just the amount of faces, but it’s also about how they are represented, from how they are portrayed in the news to what roles they play in shows,” Horowitz Senior VP of insights and strategy, Adriana Waterston said. “What’s interesting is that we’re seeing a growing awareness of the issue from white, non-Hispanic audiences who are saying that the story doesn’t have to have characters that look like me to be entertaining to me.”
The Horowitz “State of Viewing & Streaming 2020” study reports that 55% of all viewers who view programming on streaming services and linear television say outlets like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus showcase more stories about and by people of color than broadcast and cable. The survey said 62% of viewers believe that representation of diverse segments of the population within the mainstream media has been improving. Both, multicultural audiences and white audiences also rising above 60%. The shares increase among multicultural viewers is 58% of African-Americans, 61% of Hispanics, and 64% of Asian-Americans say that streaming services are doing a better job of promoting diverse stories and images, according to the report.
Waterston said the ability of the streaming services to offer much more content than traditional TV services, along with their ability to better market and promote content to multicultural audiences, gives their platforms a distinct advantage in reaching additional diverse viewer groups. “Black, Asian and Hispanic consumers are heavy streamers, so they are finding more content that they resonate with through streaming services more than on traditional television,” Waterston said.
The Horowitz survey correlates with Nielsen’s “2019 Diverse Intelligence Series (DIS) Report” which showed that nearly 40% of African-American viewers are subscribed to Netflix, followed by Hulu at 15% and Amazon Prime Video at 14%. Cheryl Grace, Nielsen’s senior VP of U.S. strategic community alliances and consumer engagement, said streamers are just scratching the service on the amount of multicultural-themed programs they can offer. “There’s still a ton of room to grow on the digital side,” Grace said.“It’s wonderful to have options and be able to turn on the TV and find people who look like me.”
Viewers are also hoping that programmers will help diminish stereotypes about multicultural populations. Nearly 70% of viewers agreed that it’s important for the media to represent diverse people and communities in America in ways that bust stereotypes, according to Horowitz. Further, 57% of non-Hispanic white viewers agree that the media plays a very big role in reinforcing stereotypes, according to the survey.