Streaming films top theatrical when it comes to diversity, new Hollywood study shows

A caller survey shows that determination is 1 spot successful Hollywood wherever diverseness efforts person been palmy — streaming films.

Released Wednesday, Part 2 of UCLA’s 2025 Hollywood Diversity Report has recovered that the proportionality of women and radical of colour moving successful cardinal amusement jobs has accrued since the erstwhile variation of the yearly study. The study besides recovered that a bulk of the apical 20 streaming-only films released successful 2024 featured divers casts.

“People crossed the state enactment divers films careless of whether it’s successful a theatre oregon from the comfortableness of their couch,” Ana-Christina Ramón, the report’s co-founder and the manager of the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative astatine UCLA, said successful a statement. Part 1 of the 2025 Hollywood Diversity Report, released successful February, likewise recovered that theatrical films with casts that bespeak the diverseness of the existent satellite performed amended astatine the container office.

“Streaming platforms are 1 of the fewer places wherever the stories and faces that bespeak the radical of this state tin beryllium recovered connected and disconnected screen,” she added.

According to the study, 1 retired of 2 leads were played by actors of colour successful the year’s apical streaming movies. Broadly speaking, radical of colour arsenic good arsenic women successful pb streaming movie roles exceeded proportional representation.

Actors of colour starred successful 51% of the apical streaming releases successful 2024 (up from 45% successful 2023). In comparison, actors of colour accounted for 25.2% of pb roles successful the apical theatrical films of 2024 (down from 29.2%). People of colour relationship for 44.3% of the U.S. population.

But erstwhile the actors’ demographics are breached down further, the survey shows that Latinx and Asian actors are inactive underrepresented among pb streaming roles. Latinx actors accounted for 6% of pb streaming roles, portion Asian actors accounted for conscionable 2%. (According to census data, 19.5% of the U.S. colonisation identifies arsenic Hispanic oregon Latino, and 6.4% arsenic Asian.)

Women, who represented 51% of streaming movie leads successful 2023, saw an summation to 61% successful 2024. The survey besides recovered that portion actors with known disabilities gained crushed successful 2024, they stay underrepresented connected screen.

This latest UCLA survey examined 100 of the apical English-language streaming films released successful 2024 arsenic good arsenic 175 movie deals that were documented that year. Among the accusation analyzed were the demographics of the actors, writers and directors progressive successful the films and deals arsenic good arsenic movie genre and budget.

Much similar the findings successful the UCLA’s theatrical report, the streaming study recovered that women and radical of colour drove viewership of the apical 2024 streaming films.

“Our information shows that divers storytellers and actors gully successful and prosecute radical from each demographic,” Jade Abston, the report’s co-author and a doctoral campaigner successful cinema media studies, said successful a statement. “They’re not conscionable watching it — they’re sharing it with their societal media followers and talking astir it online.”

One cardinal quality betwixt streaming and theatrical movies, the survey shows, is the wide fund of the films. The survey recovered that portion 65.5% of apical streaming releases successful 2024 had budgets nether $20 million, 65.3% of theatrical films that twelvemonth had budgets higher than that — 26% had budgets of $100 cardinal oregon more. A specified 4.4% of streaming films had budgets successful that scope successful 2024.

The study besides recovered that the proportionality of radical of colour successful directing and penning roles connected streaming films saw an summation successful 2024. Thirty percent of apical streaming films had writers of color, portion 41% were helmed by directors of color. Women, connected the different hand, saw a driblet to 28% of directors and 37% of writers, from 31% and 41% successful 2023, respectively.

Read the afloat study here.