Why representation is a deciding factor when consumers choose what to watch?

Cast diversity is a key indicator of viewership among diverse households, according to Samba TV’s “State of Diversity on TV” report, an analysis of representation across top TV shows of 2023 and how that representation impacts viewership. As the United States grows in diversity, content creators, marketers, and advertisers have an opportunity to boost engagement with programming decisions like cast composition, storytelling, and more, the report notes.

The “State of Diversity on TV” report’s findings also illustrate a television and entertainment landscape marked by dramatic underrepresentation of some demographics, mainly Hispanic and Asian audiences, as well as an ad market that is also underserving these viewers. The analysis encompassed programs released on streaming and traditional linear television, based on the top 25 highest-reaching direct-to-streaming and top 25 highest-reaching linear TV premiere episodes released between January and May. Insights into representation were sourced from cast composition of top-billed actors and actresses throughout each program.

“The data shows that greater on-screen representation will tend to increase viewership overall and among diverse populations. Audiences are deeply connected to what they watch on TV. Although we live in the golden age of content, diversity on-screen still does not adequately represent the population in all its identities,”  commented Ashwin Navin, CEO and co-founder of Samba TV.

Samba TV’s report sheds further light on diversity trends in television viewership. For example, it revealed that within the top 50 television shows, 42% of top-billed actors were Hispanic, Black, Asian, or another ethnicity such as mixed, while 58% were white. The report’s findings indicated a positive correlation of 43% among households with Black, Hispanic, Asian, mixed race, or another non-white ethnicity watching programs with higher percentages of non-white stars, indicating that cast diversity is a selling point among diverse households.

Representation is a deciding factor when audiences choose what to watch on TV, Samba TV assures. For example, Black households saw the strongest correlation with watching shows with Black leads, with a positive correlation of 67% among Black households watching programs with a higher percentage of Black leads.

Meanwhile, despite making up almost 20% of the United States, Hispanic actors are underrepresented on TV: across both linear and streaming, only 10% of lead actors were Hispanic, despite Hispanic people comprising 18% of the US census. In fact, none of the top 50 shows featured a majority Hispanic cast, compared to multiple shows featuring majority white, Black, and Asian leads.

The study also highlights that more than 1 in 4 of the lead actors among the top linear shows was Black, and that representation paid off for those shows from a viewership standpoint. Multiple shows with a majority Black leading cast over-indexed in the triple digits based on Black household viewership, including “BMF,” “Snowfall,” and “Power Book II: Ghost.” The vast majority (90%) of Black audiences say that having diverse representation is important to them when choosing what content to watch.