The percentage of non-white actors playing leading roles in the most-watched shows on television has fallen by 7% this year, according to an analysis by Samba TV.

Samba, a real-time insights and audience analytics firm, said this is bad news for TV networks and streaming services because the non-white population is growing and viewers are more likely to watch shows in which they are represented.

Similarly for advertisers, consumers are more likely to be engaged and persuaded by characters they identify with.

“Unfortunately, as the United States grows more and more diverse, TV has not followed suit,” Samba TV says in its State of Diversity on TV report. 

“As we strive to create data at the heart of TV and power a better viewing experience for everyone, we hope that our new analysis will show what’s working and where our industry can do better, because everyone benefits from a viewing experience that is representative and empowering,” Samba said.

Within the top 50 TV shows, 39% of top-billed actors were Hispanic, Black, Asian, or another ethnicity such as mixed or Native, while 61% were white, up 5%, Samba TV found.

The proportion of Americans who identify as ethnicities other than white has already hit 41% and continues to increase, and before 2060 more than half of the country will be part of one of these minority groups, Samba TV said, pointing to Census data.

Hispanic actors were particularly underrepresented, with 40% fewer in top roles in the first half of 2024, compared to a year. Hispanic actors had just 6% of the most prominent parts, compared to Hispanic people being 19% of the U.S.

Black actors got 15% of top roles in the top shows, up 7% from a year ago. Asians got 7% of the top roles, unchanged.

In streaming shows, Black actors had 12% of the big roles, compared to 24% on shows on linear neworks. 

Hispanic actors had 11% of lead roles on streaming, compared to 3% on linear shows.

Asian actors were cast in 13% of the top roles on cable and 7% of the leads on linear.

Across the streaming services and linear networks with top shows from 2024, Netflix and ABC were the only two where over half of leads within the top three shows were nonwhite. 

Hulu, Max and Amazon Prime Video all tied for second place among the streamers, with slightly less than half of leads coming from diverse backgrounds, while Apple TV Plus and NBC each had just 22% levels of diversity.

Diverse shows tend to score with minority audiences. 

Samba found a positive correlation of  39% 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. 

“With the streaming wars waging, content creators looking to boost viewership should increase cast diversity to gain attention from diverse populations,” the report said.

The strongest correlation was among Hispanic households with 50% of Hispanic households watching shows featuring a higher percentage of Hispanic leads. 

Shows with a high percentage of Hispanic leads like Griselda dramatically over-indexing in viewership among Hispanic households.

While each of the top five advertisers served a disproportionate amount of ads to white households, other advertisers in different product categories are doing a good job at reaching different diverse groups.

Automotive advertisers like Acura, Kia and Volkswagen are serving more than 20% of their ads to Hispanic households. 

TurboTax also distinguished itself by serving ads proportionately to Hispanic households at 19%.

At the same time, each of the top advertisers underserved Black and Asian households.

Representation drives engagement from diverse audiences. Hispanic, Black, and Asian households are all more likely to watch TV where they seem themselves represented, according to Samba TV. 

“Advertisers looking to engage these audiences should work diversity into their creatives,” the report said. “To reach different ethnic groups, advertisers must look to advanced targeting tactics across CTV and digital that allow for precision.”

To reach Hispanic audiences in particular, advertisers should consider moving beyond putting ads on Spanish-language networks. “They should target viewers of top programs among Hispanic audiences, such as Griselda,” Samba TV said.

Diversity could also be a powerful weapon in the streaming wars. “With representation driving viewership, streaming platforms should focus on diversity as a differentiator,” the report said.

“As we strive to create data at the heart of TV and power a better viewing experience for everyone, we hope that our new analysis will show what’s working and where our industry can do better, because everyone benefits from a viewing experience that is representative and empowering,” the Samba TV report said.

Samba TV said its analysis is based on the top 25 highest-reaching direct-to-streaming and top 25 highest reaching linear-TV premiere episodes that were released between January 1, 2024 and May 1, 2024.

WASHINGTON — Rainbow/PUSH founder the Rev. Jesse Jackson, no fan of the FCC's set-top proposal, pulled no punches in a USA Todayonline op-ed published Monday afternoon (June 6), evoking images of snarling does and fire hoses in taking aim at a commission he likened to a recalcitrant southern governor.

He said the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to regulate set-top boxes — which would require multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to make set-top data and content available to third-party devices and apps, to be wedded with online video offerings — is a “deep threat” especially to smaller, independent and diverse networks and programmers, “who often lack the deep pocket resources to weather this type of transition.”

There are diverse programmers on both sides of the issue. More established networks such as TV One and BET are generally opposed to the new regulations as a threat to their business models, while some over-the-top programmers argue the new rules will provide a way for them to get noticed and draw eyeballs in a media marketplace dominated and controlled by larger players.

Jackson was clearly siding with the TV One camp’s argument. He even cited TV One president Alfred Liggins’s comment that the FCC proposal was “a new form of ‘redlining’ that could bury diversity programming.”

Jackson offered his own harsh assessment. “The FCC cannot be, on this issue, as woodenly unreflective as a Southern governor ignoring the community that he was supposed to serve,” he said.

Jackson echoed Congressional Black Caucus leaders in suggesting the FCC pause the process until studies of the proposal’s impact on diverse programming have been concluded, and to "listen to those who have fought this battle for equality over the decades and in other contexts."

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission has launched an inquiry into the current state of programming diversity and the principal obstacles that independent and diverse programmers face in obtaining carriage on video distribution platforms, including, potentially, contractual issues, program bundling and access to over-the-top platforms.

That launch of a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) came at the FCC's public meeting Thursday (Feb. 18). The vote was unanimous, but with some reservations.

In outlining the inquiry, Media Bureau chief Bill Lake called it a fact-finding enterprise on program diversity and possible ways to address complaints that cable operators and other multichannel video-programming distributors (MVPDs) might be stifling competition.

The FCC is inviting comment on the state of the marketplace and the challenges to entry. It’s also seeking comment on most favored nation and alternative distribution method provisions in contracts, which independent networks have said can hinder their access. It is also seeking comments on OTT distribution, program bundling, and issues affecting public, education and government (PEG) channels.

The FCC is also seeking comment on its legal authority to address any hindrances to distribution.

FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn had sought the inquiry, and signaled last month that it was being teed up for a vote.

Clyburn, a Democrat, has concerns about independent programmers getting projects their projects green-lighted, and about access to distribution channels. She said she did not know whether it was an issue the FCC could solve, but it would be a platform for discussion and put attention on the issue.

An NOI is an investigation and might or might not result in any regulation.

Clyburn said she was not sure the FCC was the best place to solve the issues raised by independent and diverse programmers, but said it was appropriate to launch and inquiry and start a conversation about the best solution.

Democratic commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said it was an important inquiry.

"[W]hat we see on the screen says so much about who we are as individuals, as communities, and as a Nation," she said. "In this season of #OscarsSoWhite and female directors so few, starting a conversation about programming diversity and independent voices might be hard — but it is the right thing to do.  Kudos to my colleague Commissioner Clyburn for encouraging us to get this discussion started."

Republican commissioner Ajit Pai said when he grew up there were few people who looked like him (a United States-born son of immigrants from India), most notably Haji from the cartoon series Jonny Quest. He said today, things are different, which shaped his view on the item.  He cited Netflix's Master of None, a series starring and created by comedian Aziz Ansari, about the American-born son of Indian immigrants.

He said there is already a wealth of content available at the push of a button, but did say there "still may be some challenges in the brave new world of video."

He said that included the fact that, as the NOI said, "[s]ome independent programmers have expressed concern that certain carriage practices of cable operators and other [multichannel video programming distributors] may limit their ability to reach viewers."

Pai said he had heard those concerns in his own meetings with programmers, and was glad stakeholders would have a chance to weigh in.

Republican FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly said he feared the NOI was the beginning of a regulatory push, but said he could concur with the item after edits that tempered some of the language that made it seem so.

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said it was a simple item that went hand to hand with the set-top box proposal also being considered at the meeting.

"The FCC has shown tremendous leadership with today's vote for the Notice Of Inquiry (NOI),” said Patrick Gottsch, founder and president of RFD-TV.  “Independent programmers are under attack, and are now experiencing a tremendous disadvantage to gain and even maintain carriage in this deteriorating marketplace. The NOI will give all independent programmers and consumers the opportunity to share their frustration and experiences in a public forum. RFD-TV looks forward to participating in every way possible".