In 2024, there were fewer leading roles featuring women and women of color than the year before, despite households of color and female audiences continuing to drive top show rankings, according to UCLA’s newly released Hollywood Diversity Report. Published on Tuesday, the full report takes a comprehensive look at the top 250 streaming series of last year, examining the diversity of its actors, creators and audience.
Both behind and in front of the camera, the report shows that diversity has continued to slip across television. Four out of five leads in the most-watched streaming comedies and dramas were white actors, and white men account for close to 79% of all show creators, an increase from last year’s 77%. In contrast, nearly all other races and ethnicities were underrepresented as leads in top shows and as show creators;
Only 49 of the 222 scripted series studied within the report were created by a female, while creators of color only accounted for 8% of show creators.
“Unfortunately, this wasn’t unexpected, especially with the election results in 2024,” said Darnell Hunt, executive vice chancellor and provost at UCLA, who co-founded the report. “When you shut the door on diversity, you shut out opportunities for more perspectives, collaboration, exploration and growth. Without vigilance and pressure, the industry will continue to invest less and less in these creators and stories to the detriment of their bottom line.”
The share of shows that featured underrepresented stories, regardless of the lead’s genre, increased in 2024. The report cited several of the top comedies and dramas led by men in 2023, including Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso,” which included women-centered stories. For 2024, report co-author Nico Garcia singled out HBO’s “The Penguin” and its focus on women characters such as Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) and the Penguin’s mother, Francis Cobb (Deirdre O’Connell).
“Even as diversity drops overall, we find that the stories are still there,” Garcia, a doctoral candidate in cinema and media studies, said in a statement. “When there are good and relatable stories, people watch regardless of who plays the lead.”
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