The study, which the streaming giant commissioned, looked at films and TV series from 2018 and 2019.
Fifty-two percent of Netflix films and series in 2018 and 2019 had girls or women in starring roles. And 35.7 percent of all Netflix leads during that span came from underrepresented groups, compared with 28 percent in the top 100 grossing theatrical films. Those findings were released on Friday by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which Netflix commissioned to look at its own U.S.-based scripted original films and series. The study analyzed 126 movies and 180 series released during 2018 and 2019. “Notably, across 19 of 22 indicators we included in this study, Netflix demonstrated improvement across films and series from 2018 to 2019,” said Stacy L. Smith, who is the head of the initiative and has been studying representation in film and television since 2005, during an online symposium the company held to discuss the survey. She said Netflix had also increased the percentage of women onscreen and working as directors, screenwriters and producers; for Black cast and crew; and for women of color in leading roles.
