For the first time, the French audiovisual and digital regulator has extended its study on this question to the streaming giants.
More people “perceived as non-white” on screen, a better representation of women… Streaming platforms are good students by giving “to see a great diversity” in their most popular fiction, according to an annual report by Arcom, published Thursday, July 13. The French audiovisual and digital regulator has for the first time extended its study on this question to the streaming giants, by analyzing the thirty episodes of the most watched series and films from Netflix, Disney + and Amazon Prime video.
Among these people “perceived as non-white”Arcom identifies those that are “black”, “Arab”, “Asian”as well as a category “others” which is not made explicit. Of Stranger Things To Grey’s Anatomy Passing by The lord of the rings: the rings of power, the people “perceived as non-white” thus represent almost half of the individuals present on the screen (43%), notes Arcom.
If they reflect “more social realities of the United States”these contents show that highlighting “very important” of one “diversity linked to origins” does not affect their popularity, insists to AFP Laurence Pécaut-Rivolier, member of Arcom in charge of diversity issues. The representation of women reaches 44% of the characters on the screen, with however an under-representation of 50-64 year olds.
Little progress on television
On the French audiovisual side, where the programs of 19 channels (Free TNT and Canal+) were scrutinized for two weeks, in March and October 2022, Arcom noted that the presence of people “perceived as non-white” “stagnant on television”with a share reaching 15% (+1 point compared to 2021).
She nevertheless remains “particularly low on continuous news channels”, where it fell by one point over one year to stand at 9%. When people “perceived as non-white” are present on the screen, sometimes in leading roles, they are “overrepresented in roles with a negative connotation (20%) and underrepresented in roles with a positive connotation” (10%, a decrease of 8 points over one year), underlines Arcom.
Similarly, the presence of women is stagnating on French TV (39%), although they represent nearly 52% of the French population. That television is representative of society is “a democratic issue”underlined Arcom, inviting French audiovisual players to “grasp more” of these issues. For her part, Laurence Pécaut-Rivolier even points “a risk of diversion from conventional screens to go to social networks”. In 2024, Arcom announced that it will integrate “a new criterion within the barometer relating to corpulence”.