CNN
—
Latinos are avid consumers of TV content and having on-screen representation leads many to spend more time on a streaming platform and watching shows, according to a new audience report from Nielsen.
The report, which was released Wednesday, analyzes how Latinos watch television and the impact of representation, both in front of and behind the camera.
Nearly half of total television viewing by Latinos in the United States in July was attributed to streaming platforms, according to the report. About 23.1% was traditional over-the-air broadcast or television, and 20% was cable.
Compared to the overall US population, Latinos spent less time watching traditional live television in the first quarter of this year. People across the United States watched a total of about 20 hours per week while Latinos only watched 18 hours, according to the Nielsen report.
From 2021 through the first quarter of this year, researchers analyzed the top 530 shows in the United States and worked to identify what appealed to Latino audiences.
They found that shows in which Latinos only worked behind the scenes had an average cultural viewability of 25.2%. Meanwhile, shows that have Latino representation behind and in front of the camera saw their viewership increase by nearly 10% to 34.2%, according to the report.
Of the 530 shows analyzed, only 36 had the same percentage of Latino representation as the population, or 19%, the report said.
Of the 134 shows considered highly bingeable industry-wide, 56 had Latino representation on at least one side of the camera.
Stacie de Armas, senior vice president of Diverse Insights and Initiatives at Nielsen, said the report shows that “it’s clear that inclusion plays an important role in bingeability and cultural watchability in content for Latinos.” .
“It’s also important that Latino-led content not only serves Latino audiences, but attracts new viewers and platform subscribers, who stay longer and consume more content, which shows the power of directed content. by Latinos,” added de Armas.
The Nielsen report comes as Latinos in all corners of the industry and even some in the political sphere have come under fire for lack of representation in recent years.
Last year, the United States Government Accountability Office released a report indicating that Latino workers make up about 12% of the entire workforce in the media industry, including film, television, publishing and news. That’s a lower percentage of Hispanic workers than the percentage of all other industries combined in 2019, the report said.
A Netflix Diversity Audit conducted by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative in 2020 found that only 4.5% of key cast members from more than 300 original movies and scripted series released on the platform from January 2018 to December 2019 went to of Latinx actors and filmmakers over this two-year duration. At the time, Netflix said it needed to greenlight more original Latinx content.