On Tuesday, Netflix released its first biannual engagement report, detailing the number of hours a program was viewed in the first six months of the year.
Six of the top 25 — out of more than 18,000 titles — feature a Latino lead or co-lead: “Wednesday,” “La Reina del Sur,” “FUBAR,” “Manifest,” “The Mother,” and “Fake Profile.”
According to the recent report from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at USC, Latino representation in Hollywood has not shown any meaningful growth in the last 16 years.
Jenna Ortega, Kate del Castillo, Jennifer Lopez, Gabriel Luna, J.R. Ramirez, and Carolina Miranda are among the actors who have starring and serious roles in these top shows and films.
For Ana-Christina Ramón, one of the authors of UCLA’s annual Hollywood Diversity Report, Netflix’s new viewership data reveal makes one thing clear: “Audiences want to see programming featuring Latinx creatives.”
Ramón also points to the high viewership of individual seasons of licensed TV shows featuring Latino actors.
“Suits,” starring Gina Torres, came in at No. 67, with its first season totaling 129,100,000 hours viewed. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” with Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Fumero, was No. 235, with its first season amassing 57,500,000 hours. “Jane the Virgin,” starring Gina Rodriguez, has been on Netflix for several years now, and is continuing to attract strong viewership numbers, Ramón noted. It came in at No. 254 for its first season that totaled 55,200,000 viewed hours.
Nominations for the 2024 Golden Globe Awards were released today, which included three Latino actor nominations, and three nominations for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
Although these titles are not original to Netflix, Ramón said these shows are enticing audiences to keep their subscriptions to the platform.
“Having Latinx representation is something that, when you translate [it] into the economic aspects, it’s something that’s profitable because it does provide content that viewers want to see,” Ramón said.
With more than 18,000 titles, shows and films that make it to the top 300 are still in the top 2%. “It’s very high viewership,” she added.
It’s telling for a show like “Jane the Virgin” to continue to attract that kind of viewership, Ramón said. “This quality content that was nonstereotypical about a Latinx family is something that people really enjoy, and that they want to see.”
The 2023 UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report focusing on representation in the 2021-22 TV season found that only 6.1% of Latinos were leads in broadcast scripted shows. Additionally, only 3.6% of Latinos were leads in cable scripted shows, and 4.3% in digital scripted shows.
A recent report from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at USC, which examined 1,600 popular movies, found that only 4.4% of actors in lead or co-lead roles were Latino, and less than 1% were Afro Latino.
To Ramón, when people are made aware of new films and TV shows with Latino representation, “they watch those titles as well.” The art produced by Latino creatives is marketable and in demand, she said.
“When done right and made known, audiences will watch,” Ramón said. “The investment in Latinx creatives is worth it. It pays off.”
