Diverse viewers watch diverse shows—but representation still lags, study finds

Diverse casts in TV shows on both linear and streaming are more likely to attract diverse viewers, but on-screen representation in popular programming is still lacking, according to data from Samba TV.

The research, which analyzed TV viewership from the beginning of 2023 through May 1 and conducted a nationwide survey, found a positive correlation of 43% between diverse households tuning into programming and the diversity of a show’s cast—which may have implications for media companies and advertisers looking to court diverse customer bases.

• Two-thirds of Black audiences said they were more likely to watch programming where they “see themselves represented.”
• Shows with a higher proportion of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and white leads were correlated with attracting more viewers of the same ethnicity.
• Among streaming shows with the highest percentage of non-white leads, nearly every one—including shows like Netflix’s Beef and FX’s Snowfall—over-indexed among households whose ethnicities were similar to the top-billed cast.

But: Hispanic and Asian on-screen representation in popular shows is still lacking. Hispanic actors in particular only represented 10% of lead cast members of the 50 most-watched shows on TV, despite making up nearly one-fifth of the US population, Samba TV found. That underrepresentation was consistent across both streaming and linear TV programming.

• Less than half of the 50 most-viewed shows had Hispanic or Asian leads, and none of the top 50 shows on television featured a majority Hispanic cast, Samba TV found.
• Forty eight of the top 50 programs on TV featured a white lead, two-thirds included a Black lead, and just over half featured mixed-race leads.
• Among the top 50 programs, Black lead-actor representation was higher on linear TV than on streaming, while the reverse was true for Asian lead-actor representation.

The ad gap: Diverse audiences are also being underserved ads, Samba TV found.

• Hispanic audiences were only served 15% of total ad impressions, despite making up 18% of the US population.
• Asian audiences, making up 6% of the US population, were similarly underserved at 4% of total ad impressions.
• White audiences, at 59% of the US population, were overserved with 64% of all ad impressions.