As merger deals loom and the television industry ponders what the future holds for the small screen and its workforce, UCLA researchers for the Hollywood Diversity Report series have found that the ground keeps shifting when it comes to streaming.

Their latest release takes a comprehensive look at streaming television in 2024 and the diversity of its actors, creators and audience. The researchers found that in the period studied, most audiences left back catalogues behind and watched more current shows.

Last year's report, which covered 2023, saw "Suits" dominate in terms of total minutes viewed. In 2024, the legal drama, along with almost all other library titles, dropped out of the top spots among total households.

Among the few shows that did return to the top 10 by either household ratings, as calculated by Nielsen, or total minutes viewed was children's animation series "Bluey," which topped both charts in 2024. Other long-running current titles - "Grey's Anatomy," "Family Guy" and "NCIS" - made repeat appearances in terms of total minutes viewed, filling out the rest of the top 4, while the sole library title, "The Big Bang Theory," followed behind at No. 9.

"In 2023, streaming viewers heavily binged many shows that were no longer in production," said Ana-Christina Ramón, co-founder of the Hollywood Diversity Report, who directs UCLA's Entertainment and Media Research Initiative. "But nostalgia can only go so far. We're seeing a shift in 2024, where people are bingeing most heavily on long-running TV series that are still in production, probably so that they can catch up and watch new episodes with current storylines. Ultimately, people may want 'comfort' viewing at times, but not at the expense of current stories."

A rollback in diversity

The report found that the top shows were less diverse than the year before, with the researchers concluding that women and people of color continued to face limited opportunities behind the camera.

Among the 222 scripted series within the top 250 shows studied for the report, only 49 had a female creator. Creators of color were mostly excluded from scripted shows - both library and current - that were the most watched on streaming television, accounting for 8.3% of all show creators.

In contrast, white men accounted for almost 8 out of 10 (78.9%) show creators, a slight increase from their previous 77.3% share.

Nearly four-fifths of the leads in the most-watched streaming comedies and dramas were white actors. Overall, almost all other races and ethnicities were underrepresented as leads in the top shows.

"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."

When it came to gender, similar to the team's findings for film, women saw fewer lead roles, with their share falling to 34.3%, down from 39% the previous year. For women of color, this percentage was even lower: only 8.3% of these top shows featured them as leads.

People with disabilities also remained underrepresented, with only 14.4% of shows featuring a lead actor with a known disability.

The power of diverse audiences and the pull of underrepresented stories

Despite the advantage that library titles had in total minutes viewed, current titles, which made up 54% of the top 250 shows, still held their own in engaging streaming audiences.

Households of color and female audiences played a key role in this, as they continued to drive the rankings of top shows. They were overrepresented as viewers for the majority of the top 10 shows ranked by household ratings, including "The Gentleman" and "Nobody Wants This," both serialized dramas in their first seasons.

Overall, more limited-run series had a resurgence in the top 250, with offerings like "The Perfect Couple," starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Shrieber, and the Sofia Vergara-led "Griselda," having wide appeal.

Audiences 18-49 also drove ratings for 8 of the top 10 shows for ratings and total minutes viewed, watching shows like Shonda Rhimes' "Grey's Anatomy," the live action series "Avatar: the Last Airbender" and the adult animation "Bob's Burgers."

Researchers found that streaming shows benefited from expanding their storytelling and including underrepresented stories. Overall, these Asian, Black, Latino, Native, LGBTQ, disability and women-centered stories were popular among all household and viewer groups, posting higher median ratings than shows that did not, similar to 2023.

The share of shows featuring underrepresented stories, regardless of the lead's gender, increased in 2024, with several of the top comedies and dramas led by men, such as "Ted Lasso," including women-centered stories. Despite the drop in women-led shows, stories focused on women still made their way into top shows as the most common secondary story arena.

Report co-author Nico Garcia pointed to "The Penguin" and its focus on women characters, such as Sofia Falcone and the Penguin's mother, Francis Cobb.

"Even as diversity drops overall, we find that the stories are still there," said Garcia, a doctoral candidate in cinema and media studies. "When there are good and relatable stories, people watch regardless of who plays the lead."

The popularity of current streaming shows also demonstrated that people gravitate more toward current content that they can talk about online.

This was especially true of top streaming shows featuring underrepresented stories, such as "Bridgerton" and "House of the Dragon," which garnered high levels of social media engagement.

"If a show features some kind of underrepresented story, such as a women-centered story, the median total interactions for these shows were talked about on social media more than five times than shows without," said Michael Tran, co-author and sociologist.

"It's very simple - the industry loses out on becoming a part of conversations online if it only relies on outdated storylines," said Ramon. "Hollywood needs to invest in creatives from underrepresented communities, whose lived experiences may inspire them to produce relatable, yet original stories that audiences crave."

With people spending much of their time online and on their phones, the authors stressed that the industry needs to keep evolving.

"We know more and more people are watching social video and alternative forms of television like verticals and micro-dramas," said Jade Abston, a doctoral candidate in cinema media studies who also co-authored the report. "The industry needs to think deeply about how they can adapt and appeal to consumers."

The team examined the top 250 streaming TV series of 2024, both current and library titles, regardless of language, ranked by their Nielsen total minutes viewed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of that year on major streaming services, such as Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Netflix, Paramount+ and Peacock.