UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report Releases Streaming Movie Results for 2024

“You People” (Netflix) and “Red White and Royal Blue” (Prime Video) were two of the top streaming movies of 2023, both with diverse casts.

Tyler Adams/Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection; Jonathan Prime/Amazon Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection

For the first time since UCLA began releasing its annual Hollywood Diversity Report a decade ago, the percentage of white people in the U.S. population (56.4 percent in 2023) is reflected, according to the latest edition of the university's study released today correctly reflected in their representation on the screen – at least when it comes to streaming films (51.7 percent). The Hollywood Reporter presents the racial/ethnic breakdown of film roles (720 total last year) this way because the disaggregated BIPOC racial groups vary in their proportional representation, with Latinos again experiencing the largest discrepancy between representation on screen (8.9 percent) and in real life (about 19 percent).

The gender and racial diversity of lead characters on streaming reached new highs in 2023 (51 percent women, 45 percent POC), but most white women (77.5 percent) and BIPOC lead characters (58.6 percent) appeared in films produced for less than $20 million, while the majority of white male leads (57.2 percent) were found in films budgeted above that threshold.

There was a similar ceiling behind the camera. Although female and BIPOC directors had more opportunities in streaming (31 percent of streaming films were directed by women and/or a person of color) than in theaters (14.7 percent and 22.9 percent, respectively), it was they are less likely to get a shot at one of the few big-budget jobs (only 3.2 percent of streaming films were made for $100 million or more, all by white men). No woman has directed a streaming film that grossed more than $50 million.

“Creators from diverse backgrounds face a mixed situation,” study co-author and UCLA graduate student Michael Tran said in a statement. “On the one hand, they have the opportunity to lead or participate in these streaming projects, but then the studios step on the brakes financially and there is less room for success.”

Despite having fewer resources on average, films that reflected accurate proportional representation – 41 to 50 percent color cast – achieved the highest ratings across all audience groups and the greatest engagement on social media. Additionally, the streaming audience was majority women and/or people of color (which was the case for nine of the top 10 films across all platforms).

“Women and people of color are an important audience that Hollywood simply cannot ignore,” said Ana-Christina Ramón, co-founder of the report and director of the UCLA Entertainment and Media Research Initiative, in a statement. “We found again that successful streaming films are catapulted to the top by households of color. And for the highest-rated films, women make up the majority of viewers.”

However, like the rest of Hollywood, the streaming film industry still has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to disability inclusion. Actors with known disabilities played fewer than 5 percent of all film roles in the 100 most popular English-language streaming films, and none of them were lead roles.

“Diversity is not an obstacle. It is an incentive,” report co-founder and UCLA Associate Provost and Provost Darnell Hunt said in a statement. “It should be viewed as a strategic business imperative if Hollywood wants to survive.”