15826: ANA Report Cards Grade A Bullshit…?

 

Advertising Age reported on report cards—the first Cultural Inclusion Accelerator Report Card issued by ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing. The evaluating event graded top networks in terms of multicultural programming. Receiving ‘A’ ratings were Univision, Telemundo and BET. On the other end of the scale, networks landing ‘D’ marks were AppleTV and Showtime. For how long will ANA continue to acknowledge the underrepresentation, underspending and underwhelming divershitty performances of its membership? An Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing executive stated, “We see more progress in Hollywood than we are seeing among advertisers.” Somebody please ask Will Smith to visit Adland…

 

Inclusive Programming Has Made Small But Hopeful Progress, ANA Finds

 

ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing releases its first Cultural Inclusion Accelerator Report Card

 

By Parker Herren

 

In tandem with this year’s Upfronts presentations, ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing released its first Cultural Inclusion Accelerator Report Card, scoring multicultural sentiment for top networks’ programming.

 

The report card scores each network with a letter grade based on survey responses from over 68,000 viewers across six demographic segments—Asian, Black, Hispanic, LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities and White Non-Hispanic—evaluating 700 titles based on their inclusivity of cultural values, representation and celebrations, pride, respect, identification, authenticity, unbiased, respect, positive role models for each group.

 

Multicultural representation has been a front-of-mind issue for the media and marketing industry, especially since the rise of movements including Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate over the past years.

 

As audiences grow to expect on-screen representation beyond stereotypical tropes, the report serves in part to rank networks, streamers and content with the greatest reach among diverse consumers, with top-scored shows upping viewer preference for brands 1.6 times that of those at the bottom, said Carlos Santiago, co-founder of AIMM and partner in Cultural Inclusion Accelerator.

 

“It is important to advertisers because they are interested in matching highly relevant content with their highly culturally relevant and accurate portrayals in their ads,” Santiago said.

 

The Cultural Inclusion Accelerator Report Card found that while progress has been made in inclusive programming, it has been slow overall. The report’s entire “A” tier is made up of networks such as Univision, Telemundo and BET, which cater specifically to underrepresented audiences, while many traditional linear channels—CBS, ABC, NBC—lie in the “B” grade. Besides Peacock and Disney+, which reside in the “B” tier, a majority of top streamers including Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+ and Amazon received “C” ratings. The lowest score, “D,” was given to just AppleTV and Showtime.

 

“The grades give us a sense of how well those networks are curating creators’ content,” said Santiago, specifying that the measure includes upcoming programming and the cultural relevance of current shows. CBS represents a highlight case study from the list. The channel progressed from a “C-” rating in 2021 to a “B+” on the current list.

 

CBS is an example that “general networks have the ability to really transform themselves to more accurately bring in and embrace all consumers in the U.S.—not only diverse consumers, but all consumers,” Santiago said. While the numbers still aren’t in step with cultural desire for diverse representation, averaging a small increase of 3 points since last spring on average, he said any growth is still a cause for hope, even for the lowest ranking networks.

 

Santiago noted that AppleTV and Showtime have had successes in representation before, such as “Ted Lasso” and “The L Word,” and to bring up their scores, they should “bring that same sense of very intentional curation of what is available from creators ... They can do it. They’ve done it before.”

 

The Cultural Inclusion Accelerator Report Card listed specific shows that ranked highest among individual demographics for cultural relevance. Hulu’s “Killing Eve” ranked highest for Asian audiences, “Abbott Elementary” on ABC for Black viewers and Netflix’s “House of Flowers” among English-speaking Hispanic watchers. LGBTQ+ audiences gave top scores to HBO Max’s “Legendary,” while People with Disabilities chose “Deaf U” on Netflix and White Non-Hispanic people went with “Ghosts” on CBS. The winner among the general population was “All Rise,” which was canceled by CBS after two seasons and will continue on OWN this summer.

 

Despite the small progress from the entertainment industry, Santiago offered a reality check for marketers: “We see more progress in Hollywood than we are seeing among advertisers,” he said. “The fact that at a time when consumers’ expectations are rising, even though we saw just 3 points [growth], that signals that there is progress, that there is movement in the right direction.”

14422: Channing Dungey Streams To Netflix.

Adweek reported former ABC President Channing Dungey is heading to Netflix, where Shonda Rhimes and Kenya Barris also reside. Hopefully, Roseanne Barr wasn’t pitching any Netflix projects.

Former ABC President Channing Dungey Follows Shonda Rhimes and Kenya Barris to Netflix

She’s the latest to ditch broadcast TV for streaming

By Jason Lynch

Not too long ago, the most coveted TV jobs were in broadcasting. Now they increasingly seem to be at streaming services—specifically, at Netflix.

Former ABC president Channing Dungey is the latest to ditch broadcast for streaming. A month after announcing her exit from ABC, she found her new gig at Netflix, where she will be vp of original content.

Dungey, who is expected to start in February, will report to Cindy Holland, who also has the vp of original content title. She’ll help set the strategic direction for original programming at Netflix, which the company spent $8 billion on in 2018, and will oversee the company’s robust deals with creators like Shonda Rhimes, Kenya Barris, Marti Noxon and Jenji Kohan.

Dungey already has years of experience working with Rhimes and Barris, who she collaborated with at ABC before they each departed for Netflix during the past year. Rhimes’ ABC output included Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy and How to Get Away With Murder while Barris created Black-ish.

“Channing is a creative force whose taste and talent have earned her the admiration of her peers across the industry. She’s a risk taker and ground-breaker, and talent loves working with her. I couldn’t be happier to welcome her to Netflix,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer, in a statement.

Holland added, “We’re delighted to be adding Channing’s expertise, leadership and deep experience to Netflix, and I look forward to partnering with her as we continue to grow and evolve our global network.”

In her own statement, Dungey said, “I’m drawn to the forward-thinking, risk-taking and creative culture at Netflix and the deeply talented people there, especially Ted and Cindy, with whom I’m excited to partner on setting the strategy for original content. Given that ABC, the place I’ve called home for nearly 15 years, represents the gold standard of traditional broadcast, it feels like the perfect next step for me to join Netflix, the unparalleled leader in streaming. I’m invigorated by the challenges ahead and the opportunity to forge new relationships and excited for the very welcome reunion with incredible talent.”

Last month, Dungey decided to leave ABC, where she had been president of entertainment for the past three years, ahead of the Disney-Fox merger, which is expected to close early in 2019. She was replaced by Karey Burke, who had been head of Freeform original programming development.

In addition to talent like Rhimes, Barris and Ryan Murphy departing broadcast for streaming, broadcast execs are started to migrate there as well. Jennifer Salke, who had been NBC Entertainment president, left in February to run Amazon Studios.

14384: ABC Changing Channels And Channing Dungey.

From Advertising Age…

Channing Dungey out at ABC

By Jeanine Poggi

Channing Dungey is stepping down as president of entertainment at ABC just two years after she assumed the role.

Dungey, who has spent 14 years at the company, will be replaced by Karey Burke, who currently leads original programming at ABC sibling channel Freeform.

This comes as ABC parent Walt Disney nears its acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets, including the cable channels FX Networks and National Geographic. Dungey will remain at ABC until the transaction closes.

Dungey’s departure is the latest executive shuffle inside the Mouse House amid the acquisition. Ben Sherwood, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC TV Group, will also depart the company once the deal is closed.

When Dungey was appointed in 2016, she became the first African-American to lead a major broadcast TV network. But her tenure has been filled with several controversial decisions, including the cancellation of the Tim Allen comedy “Last Man Standing,” which now airs on Fox; the decision not to air an episode of “Black-ish” that included athletes kneeling and white supremacist violence; and of course, the cancellation of “Roseanne” following a racist tweet by Roseanne Barr. Dungey also oversaw the much-hyped revival of “American Idol,” which averaged just a 1.6 rating last season.

The past two years have also seen the departure of showrunner Shonda Rhimes, whose shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “How to Get Away With Murder” own the Thursday night block, and “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, to Netflix.

ABC is in last place among the Big Four broadcasters in the commercial ratings in the three days after a show airs, an industry standard known as C3. The network is averaging a 1.0 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, trailing Fox, which is averaging a 2.0, NBC with a 1.9 and CBS with a 1.2. ABC is down 18 percent year-over-year and has lost one-third of its gross ratings points in the last two seasons.

Contributing: Anthony Crupi

13361: Changing Channels With Channing.

From Adweek…

ABC’s New President Is Making History, and She’s Focused on Making Waves This Fall

Channing Dungey on her first 7 months

By Jason Lynch

The year 2016 has been a whirlwind for Channing Dungey, who was promoted to ABC Entertainment president in February, succeeding Paul Lee. Thrust into the job as pilot season was in full swing, Dungey responded by fielding a new lineup for the 2016-17 season that includes two of the most acclaimed new fall shows, Designated Survivor and Speechless, which she hopes will jolt ABC out of fourth place in the 18-49 demo. As she put the finishing touches on the new season, Dungey sat down with Adweek to talk about her first seven months on the job, making history as the first African-American woman to run a broadcast network, and what’s next.

Adweek: You started this job in the midst of pilot season, in February. Have you had a chance to take a breath yet?

Channing Dungey: I feel like you have go through the whole cycle one time in a new role to really feel like you understand all of it. The television business has ebbs and flows, so I did get away for a week with my family and my parents and my sister, to have a little beach vacation. But for the most part, I’ve been really boots on the ground, wanting to take everything in as I go through this first cycle.

What have these seven months on the job been like for you?

They’ve been good. I have a fantastic team of people with whom I work. I’m very excited about that. We had some nice momentum coming off the May sweep. Summer has been very good to us and I am truly happy with the quality of our offerings for the new season. I feel very, very good about our fall slate.

You had been responsible for ABC’s drama development, but not on the comedy side. How have you been able to make the new schedule and shows your own, given the work that had already been done before you came on board?

I was certainly intimately involved in the development of all of the dramas and was part of the advocacy process in getting those picked up. So on that side of the fence, all good. With the comedies, I did not order the pilots, but because we were early enough in the pilot season process, so much goes into making these pilots, and so you really do find yourself very quickly up to your elbows in it. So I can say with great confidence that by the time we were making selections in May, I did feel ownership of the pilots that we’d made, and then I was able to feel really good about those choices.

Designated Survivor was the highlight of your upfront presentation in May. As you go into your first season as head of the network, what does it mean to have a show like this, with a star like Kiefer Sutherland, in your arsenal?

It makes me feel excited and hopeful. Each script is stronger than the last, so I feel positive and optimistic about the future of the show, and that makes me happy.

You had worked under Paul Lee for so long. What was something you learned from him about the job that you’re going to take with you going forward?

I think that Paul set a tone that we were all very much a part of, which was diversity and inclusion, and reflecting America in all of its diversity. In the six years that we worked together, I feel like we transformed the schedule in drama and comedy, all of us together. So that’s a legacy that I am extremely proud of and one that I look forward to carrying forward.

And what’s something that was important for you to bring to the job yourself that maybe wasn’t there before?

I like to try new things and I’m not afraid to try new things, and I want to take those risks when it feels appropriate, so that’s something that I hope I bring to the role.

Advertisers are all about the 18-49 demo. ABC slipped to fourth last season. How do you regain some momentum?

Look, there are a lot of metrics. There are places where we’re a little bit ahead and a little bit behind, which is not to say that we don’t have work to do. I think at the end of the day it’s about the quality of the programming. That’s why I’m feeling so optimistic about where we’re headed, because I feel like we do have the goods. Now the question is getting people to know that they’re there, and show up and see them.

You’re the first woman of color to head up a broadcast network, and currently the only solo female head of a broadcast network. A lot of other people have talked about the importance of that and how groundbreaking it is, but what does it mean to you personally to have this role?

It’s interesting, because of course you don’t go about your life thinking, I’m making history, and things like that. It’s very flattering, and what I think most about it is that if me being in this job opens up a window of opportunity for women—for any woman, or women of color—to come behind me, then that for me is the greatest thing. Because we are all where we are because we stood on someone’s shoulders to get here. So I’m happy that if I’m now paving the way for somebody who, like my almost 4-year-old, that she can look up and say, “Someday I could be a network president,” then that makes me feel good.

You were thrown into this midstream, but once you are able to focus more on long-term strategy, what are your plans for the network?

The interesting conversation for all of us right now is, we live in a universe in a broadcast world where you do still have to pay close attention to what’s happening on your linear platform, but it’s also a multiplatform universe. So in terms of balancing various different needs and thinking about what the best way is to do that and still serve the consumers in the best way, that’s the biggest ongoing conversation.

13080: Leading In The Black.

Adweek reported on two Black History Month moments:

1. Channing Dungey was named President of ABC, becoming the first Black woman to lead a broadcast network, according to Adweek. Although doesn’t BET Chairman and CEO Debra L. Lee qualify as a Black woman leading a broadcast network?

2. Michael Houston was named Global President of Grey, promoted from his role as CEO of Grey North America. No word if the agency will change its name from Grey to Black.

12668: Multicultural Talent Surging…?

Adweek published a piece titled, “Multicultural Talent Is Surging on TV and Winning Mainstream Audiences.” Wonder how long it will take before the trade journal can present a report titled, “Multicultural Talent Is Surging on Madison Avenue and Winning Mainstream Accounts.” Probably not for another 66 years at least.

12602: Watching Color TV.

From Adweek…

Multicultural TV’s Success Isn’t About Whites Getting Less, It’s About Everyone Getting More

Advertisers applaud the increase in diverse casting

By Michelle Castillo

After the success of multicultural shows like Fox’s Empire, CW’s Jane the Virgin and ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat, Deadline reported this week that some white actors and their agents are feeling victimized by the TV industry’s growing interest in diverse casting.

But you know who doesn’t mind this trend? Advertisers.

Like most things in this world, TV exists to sell itself. And, with network shows featuring diverse casts among today’s biggest hits, it makes sense that brands are seeking to put their dollars behind multicultural shows.

“What we’re seeing is the audience is responding to the content being put forth that is inspired by a different lens, different stories and different perspectives,” said Esther “E.T.” Franklin, evp and head of Americas Experience Strategy for SMG Multicultural, part of the Starcom MediaVest Group. “It’s providing more nuanced stories, and the market is hungry.”

Deadline’s story, titled Pilots 2015: The Year Of Ethnic Castings, suggested that white actors were being discriminated against because of the upcoming 2015-16 slate, much of which will feature multicultural casts. The article sparked considerable backlash, thanks in part to the original headline asking if “ethnic casting” was “about time or too much of a good thing?” The site later cut the question from its headline and reorganized some pieces of the article.

Central to the debate raised by the article is the allegation that the TV industry is creating racial quotas for shows:

“But, as is the case with any sea change, the pendulum might have swung a bit too far in the opposite direction. Instead of opening the field for actors of any race to compete for any role in a color-blind manner, there has been a significant number of parts designated as ethnic this year, making them off-limits for Caucasian actors, some agents signal. Many pilot characters this year were listed as open to all ethnicities, but when reps would call to inquire about an actor submission, they frequently have been told that only non-Caucasian actors would be considered. ‘Basically 50% of the roles in a pilot have to be ethnic, and the mandate goes all the way down to guest parts,’ one talent representative said.”

For brands looking to advertise on TV, the racial makeup of a show is often less important than its overall success, and right now, many of the most successful shows on networks (Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, for example) and even cable (The Walking Dead) are diverse.

What we should be focusing on, Franklin says, is that the mainstream audience for TV is changing—and that’s a good thing. The fact that a primetime network show featuring African-American leads or an Asian-American family can resonate with audiences regardless of race shows that America wants to see more than the typical white protagonist.

Tim Hill, svp and group partner of integrated investment at Universal McCann, said advertisers simply gravitate to successful programming. Historically, networks base their upcoming slates on what worked the season before, so it makes sense we’ll see more multicultural casts this year.

“Everything doesn’t need to be bucketed in the way it was before,” Hill said. “I think that’s a good thing. It’s not, ‘Hey, this is only for a multicultural kind of audience or segment.’ It can be a mainstream show.”

In addition, Franklin said casting more diverse actors on television allows SMG’s clients like Walmart, Honda and Kraft to reach new audiences that haven’t traditionally been watching network TV. For example, Fox’s Empire grew from 9.9 million to 17.62 million viewers in just 12 episodes. More interestingly, Franklin points out that the audience has remained 60 percent African American throughout that period, meaning more black viewers are tuning in.

“The full potential of American-American viewers hasn’t been realized,” she said. “There is an even bigger upside.”

As for the idea, much mocked since Deadline’s article debuted, that there’s not enough programming for white people, Hill couldn’t help but laugh.

“I don’t think there’s any problem in our world of finding media for that audience,” he said, “and, quite frankly, I don’t think we necessarily need to isolate a white Caucasian audience.”

12451: Tweet By An Asshat.

Based on this scenario, ABC needs to review the ABCs of engaging on Twitter.

12400: The ABCs Of Diversity.

From Adweek…

ABC’s Success With Diversity Comes From Focusing on Creators, Not Just Stars

‘It’s our job to reflect America’

By Jason Lynch

ABC has changed mainstream television’s diversity makeup more than any of its broadcast counterparts in recent years, and executives say the commitment is paying off not just in ratings, but also in quality.

Already seeing success with shows like Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Black-ish and Cristela, which star a variety of minority actors and have brought underrepresented perspectives to prime-time, the network will soon add midseason series Fresh off the Boat (prime time’s first Asian-American sitcom since Margaret Cho’s All American Girl in 1994) and American Crime (created by 12 Years a Slave scriptwriter John Ridley).

“I think it’s our job to reflect America,” said ABC entertainment president Paul Lee at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour this week. “I really believed from the beginning that the demographic changes in America were just as important to our revolution as the technological changes.”

(A skeptic could still point to ABC’s dating competition shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, which remain predominantly lily white. “You are going to see diversity as we go through that,” vowed Lee, though this wasn’t the first year he’d made that promise.)

Creating content that appeals to underserved audiences has helped propel ABC to wins among the vital 18-49 demographic on Wednesdays, Fridays and, most notably, Thursdays, thanks to its TGIT block of Shonda Rhimes-produced shows. It is also the only network with three shows that average more than a 3 rating among those 18-49 (Modern Family, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder).

“We didn’t pick up these shows because they were diverse, we picked them up because they were great,” Lee told reporters. “Going to storytellers who come from different groups will unleash a creativity that is really going to resonate. … I’m not going to pick up a show that will help me make a bullet point as I sit in front of you guys.”

Lee pointed to American Crime, from 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley, which he called “one of the most powerful pieces of television I’ve been associated with in my whole career.” Both American Crime (just 11 episodes) and Secrets and Lies (10 episodes) “are in the True Detective mold,” said Lee, meaning that they are anthology-style shows that would feature new stories and a largely new cast if they are renewed for a second season.

And even though his job as a broadcast network president is to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, Lee said that can no longer mean programming shows that are aimed at the lowest common denominator. “’Least objectionable television’ is dead,” said Lee. “We’re in a world where passion rules, where social conversation is so important, and where people can watch what they want to watch, where they want to watch it, so they’re only going to watch the shows that they really love.”

One genre where ABC has found little audience passion is in music competitions, where its shows have drawn only a fraction of the audiences that have flocked to The Voice and American Idol (neither of which is doing as well this season as in the past).

“We have in the glint of our eye, some really cool reality shows for the summer, but they’re not singing competitions,” said Lee, whose most recent stab at the genre, last summer’s Rising Star, averaged a 1.06 rating, even lower than Duets fared two summers earlier (1.2). “I don’t think we’ll try that for a little bit. I’m sure we’ll come back to that in the future.”

Unlike some of his broadcast counterparts, Lee has no problem with audiences binge-watching TV content, noting that viewers who binged Scandal on Netflix after its first season “helped turn Scandal into the powerhouse that it is.” A decade ago, he pointed out, audiences had a tougher time jumping into prime-time soaps mid-run because there was no way for them to catch up from the beginning; services like Netflix and Amazon Prime now make that possible.

Another key to ABC’s resurgence: the fact that so many of its hit shows are produced in-house by ABC Studios (one notable exception being Modern Family, from 20th Century Fox Television). “That’s a tremendously important growth engine for us and allows us to really control how we use those shows on multiple platforms and around the world,” said Lee. “So that’s been critical.”

12394: Viewing Vixen.

From Paste Magazine…

DC Spinoff Vixen Coming to CW Seed

By Danielle Ryan

The CW revealed Sunday that they will be adding a little diversity to their DC-heavy lineup with an animated Flash and Arrow spinoff, Vixen.

Vixen is a female superhero with African roots who uses ties to a Tantu Totem to wield her powers. The animated format will allow creators to show off all kinds of magic tricks without requiring a massive budget. Because Arrow focuses heavily on vigilante justice, and Flash focuses on science, the focus on magic will be something new for writers and viewers alike.

The series will be a six-part origin story set in Detroit, but will be set in the same continuity as the two live-action shows. Plotlines from the other two shows will be touched upon in the series, and creator Marc Guggenheim promises closure for one very important fan question.

“There’s actually a question I’ve been getting on Twitter a lot, ‘Is Oliver going to find out that Felicity kissed Barry?’ That’s actually going to happen in the Vixen cartoon. Part of the fun is that close cohesion,” he said in an interview with CBR News.

Vixen will air on CW Seed, the network’s digital-only streaming service.

12204: Predictions And Safe Bets.

Advertising Age reported on the latest Forrester prediction that spending for digital advertising will overtake spending for TV advertising in two years. It’s also safe to predict that by 2016 the Publicis Groupe Digital Empire will still be struggling to make sense of its management layers and turn a profit—despite the increased advertiser spending. Plus, diversity will remain a dream deferred.

Digital to Overtake TV Ad Spending in Two Years, Says Forrester

Digital to Represent 36% of All U.S. Ad Spending by 2019

By Tim Peterson

U.S. advertisers’ spending on digital advertising will overtake TV in 2016 and hit $103 billion in 2019 to represent 36% of all ad spending, according to Forrester’s latest estimates based on its ForecastView model. U.S. advertisers will spend $85.8 billion on TV ads in 2019, which will equal 30% of overall ad spending that year, according to Forrester.

But digital won’t usurp TV because of big brand advertisers taking their commercial money and redirecting it toward YouTube and Facebook. There will be some cannibalization of TV budgets, but the bigger contributing factor will be an influx of new money dedicated to digital because marketers are able to prove that digital works, said Forrester analyst Shar VanBoskirk.

Marketers aren’t upping their digital budgets because of bright shiny objects like so-called native ads or computer-automated programmatic buying processes. They’re doing so because the economy has recovered. Advertisers have more money to spend now than in recent years and the oversupply of ad inventory online gives them a lot of places to put that money. And they’re comfortable spending their money online because years of testing and learning has shown those digital dollars are well spent.

“We’ve landed at a more mature state with digital than we were even in our last forecast where people were still wildly experimental. Now for the same reason [marketers] have proven data to grow their budgets, they also have proven data to not overspend,” Ms. VanBoskirk said.

There will still be experimentation, but it will be more measured. For example, more experienced digital marketers will move around their online budgets. They are beginning to cap their proven search budgets and put any additional money to digital’s emerging areas like mobile and inventory that can be bought programmatically, Ms. VanBoskirk said. And new-to-digital advertisers, like b-to-b brands, are limiting their money initially to more cost-efficient channels like search.

As a result of the care marketers will take with their digital budgets, Forrester expects the overall growth in digital ad spending will start to slow slightly.

The ability to measure digital ads’ effectiveness is why the hierarchy of digital ad channels won’t change in the next five years, even with an increase in mobile ad spending. Forrester expects advertisers to spend $46 billion on mobile ads in 2019, but spread that amount among digital’s umbrella channels so that a mobile banner buy counts as display, for example. Mobile will drive 66% of the growth in digital ad spending over the next five years, but those smaller-screen dollars will be largely going to the same digital channels as desktop dollars.

Search still king

Search advertising will remain the biggest benefactor because advertisers are able to measure its benefits most directly. Display advertising, which includes digital video ads, will follow close behind because it appeals to brand advertisers. Spending on social advertising, like Facebook’s and Twitter’s in-stream ads, will grow more than any other digital channel over the next five years, but Forrester doesn’t see it overtaking search or display in that span because social ad measurement still has to mature.

“Marketers are deliberately choosing tools that are more measurable [than social], that they have more experience with and that have a more obvious direct-response value. And they’re still trying to get to the place where they can measure how social media is going to pay off for them,” Ms. VanBoskirk said. Conversely email marketing is considered more measurable than social and “the workhorse of most marketers’ toolkits,” she added, but is so cheap that “it is never going to be the lion’s share of a budget.”

While digital ad spending surpassing $100 billion would be a milestone, the mark could have been bigger if it weren’t for the category cannibalizing itself. Brands will be putting more money toward digital advertising, but they’ll also be shelling out to create content, a cost that Forrester does not include in its estimates. And some brands will find a way to hang on to their money by distributing that content for free on digital channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as well as on the brands’ own properties.

“This is a $100 billion forecast, not a $150 billion forecast, because companies are starting to realize that paid media is not always the best investment for the comprehensive customer experiences they want to create,” Ms. VanBoskirk said.

12042: Channeling Diversity On TV.

From The New York Times…

Diversity in Action, as Well as in Words

ABC Aims for Diversity with Shows Like ‘Black-ish’ and ‘Fresh Off the Boat’

By Bill Carter

It seems like a parody put together by a coalition of the activist groups that have dogged television networks for years about their halfhearted (or less) commitment to presenting a range of racial and ethnic groups among their series:

On Wednesday, a black family comedy; on Friday, a Hispanic family comedy; in midseason, an Asian family comedy; on Thursday, an anticipated new drama starring a standout black actress; and all the way through, an assortment of show creators just as diverse as the casts.

This is ABC’s actual new-season plan, and it is not one of those developments that seem to sweep over television all at the same time. The other new-season entries are hardly a festival of nonwhite faces. (One notable exception: the critical favorite “Jane the Virgin” on CW.) CBS, for example, pressed for evidence of diversity among its continuing lead roles, could come up with only one name: Lucy Liu, a star of “Elementary.”

“We did go out with a mission this year to reflect America,” said Paul Lee, the head of programming for ABC. The network sent a message to show creators in every shade and range of ethnicity: Bring us a personal story about people like you.

The result is that medley of comedies: “Black-ish,” created by Kenya Barris and its star, Anthony Anderson, about a successful African-American dad trying to ensure that his increasingly homogenized kids don’t forget their heritage, a story straight from Mr. Barris’s own experience; “Cristela,” created by the comic Cristela Alonzo, about a Latino family that does not always celebrate a young woman’s ambitions, exactly what happened in the star’s own life; and “Fresh Off the Boat,” based on the chef Eddie Huang’s memoir about his Taiwanese family’s experiences after emigrating to the United States.

ABC’s big drama for fall, “How to Get Away With Murder” will look to duplicate the success of “Scandal” with another black female lead, Viola Davis. Shonda Rhimes, the network’s prolific show creator known for her diverse casts (starting with “Grey’s Anatomy”) is an executive producer of this one as well. And John Ridley, the Oscar-winning writer of “12 Years a Slave,” has created the midseason drama “American Crime,” which will be deeply immersed in a racially charged murder case.

Mr. Lee said ABC was doubling down on what has already been working. “We’ve championed faces like Sofia Vergara on ‘Modern Family’ and Kerry Washington on ‘Scandal’ for a long time,” he said. “But here we really made a concerted effort to bring in these show runners. It’s an exciting plate. It’s not just diverse, it’s extremely authentic.”

He referred to the emphasis the creators, especially of the comedies, are putting on stories from their own experiences. “The specificity is everything,” Mr. Lee said.

Often, shows with ethnic casts have pronounced themselves generic at heart. Mr. Barris of “Black-ish” said: “I didn’t want to tell a story about a family that happened to be black, but about a family that was actually black. I felt like race was being talked about less than ever, when I feel it should be talked about more.”

Not in confrontational ways, he said, but in the way it takes place in his own home, with his children and wife, who is a doctor like the wife on the show, played by Tracee Ellis Ross. Mr. Barris and Mr. Anderson, who were joined in the production by Larry Wilmore of “The Daily Show” (and soon “The Minority Report,” the coming successor on Comedy Central to “The Colbert Report”), pitched the show to many networks. Mr. Lee won them over “by convincing us that what he wanted was complete honesty,” Mr. Barris said.

Ms. Alonzo’s script was turned down at first, but she wound up making a presentation tape instead of a full pilot, one that demonstrated how the comedy could match her experience. Mr. Lee noted how moved he was to hear Ms. Alonzo’s family spent eight years as squatters in an abandoned Texas diner. “Her comedy is so completely in the moment,” he said. “That’s what we were looking for.”

The question is why ABC alone seemed to be comprehensive in seeking material like this. Mr. Barris noted that black Americans are among the heaviest media consumers in the country, and the demographic inroads by the Hispanic population are well known.

Robert Thompson, who teaches courses in television at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, said: “It is amazing it has taken so long for television to figure some of these things out. Look at some of the biggest shows of all time: ‘Cosby’ and ‘Roots.’ Then it takes Shonda Rhimes to convince the networks that diversity might be a good business model.”

Ms. Alonzo echoed the sentiment. “It feels weird to say ABC is being so edgy by trying to show an accurate representation of our country,” she said. “They’ve been edgy by not being edgy, by being realistic.”

What could account for the apparent reluctance by some networks to make this kind of commitment? A former network program executive told a story about “The Bernie Mac Show,” a trenchant black comedy that ended its run on Fox in 2006. (Mr. Wilmore created it.) The executive, who has since left the network and asked not to be identified because he still works in TV, said the show’s run was curtailed because advertisers would not pay high rates for the lower-income viewers who were a part of its audience.

Mr. Lee dismissed that example as irrelevant to ABC. “Look at how valuable our shows like ‘Scandal’ are,” he said. “They sell all over the world.”

Mr. Barris noted that ABC could hardly have concerns about selling the “Black-ish” audience to advertisers, because “they put us on the schedule after the show with the top rates on television.” (“Black-ish” will play Wednesdays after “Modern Family.”) He added: “Hollywood is not about black and white. It’s about green. They know there is money to be made with this show.”

Not that ad rates are the only risk involved. Both Mr. Barris and Ms. Alonzo conceded they felt some pressure to reflect their ethnic groups accurately.

Ms. Alonzo said, “Nobody wants to fail and have people say: ‘Oh remember when they tried to do those shows about real people, and they didn’t work?’”

And Mr. Barris said, “I don’t want to let my people down, or comedy, down.”

The key to avoiding that is, of course, being funny. “The better the show, the better the chance of succeeding,” Mr. Lee said. “But if you can be lucky enough to reflect America when you do succeed, all the better.”

Reflecting America could impose other challenges. For any Hispanic series, Mr. Thompson said, the contentious issue of immigration is an unavoidable topic. “To not reference that issue would make the show look like a throwback to days when Gomer Pyle could be in the Marines in the 1960s and not mention Vietnam,” he said. (Ms. Alonzo said her show would cover all the topics a family might encounter.)

And then there is the seemingly intractable issue of racial conflict that played like ominous theme music to the summer. Mr. Barris said his show, for all its emphasis on being funny, could probably not ignore the undercurrents from events. “Look at what’s gone on in Ferguson and with Donald Sterling,” he said, referring to the protests after a policeman shot an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., and to the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, who was forced to sell the team following his racially charged comments.

“We’re trying to be a comedy that is funny,” Mr. Barris said, “but if while doing that, we can actually make people think about some things, that’s not something bad.” He added: “It’s a time when we really need to start looking at our country and saying as a country we are a lot of different parts but it’s the sum that makes us strong. That’s why diversity is such a perfect thing.”

12012: Black-ish History.

From USA TODAY…

Being “Black-ish”: Column

A post-racial society may have benefits, but people risk losing their culture on the way.

By Richard Pierce

Do you ever feel as if you are swimming upstream in a river? How about the feeling that you are running into the wind, uphill? Perhaps you could provide some other cliché that implies that one is working harder than one might and against the prevailing opinion of the crowd.

I often feel that way. I do so because I continue to teach African American history at the university level when there are so many cultural clues that many don’t feel it is important. I was reminded of my predicament when I learned of a television show, “Black-ish” starring Anthony Anderson, which will air for the first time in Fall 2014 on ABC.

The Hollywood Reporter described the show as an “upper-middle class black man who struggles to raise his children with a sense of cultural identity despite constant contradictions and obstacles coming from his liberal wife, old-school father and his own assimilated, color-blind kids.” Anderson plays a successful executive with all the trappings; an enviable address, an expensive automobile, and, perhaps most importantly, a closet reserved solely for his shoes. Yet he wonders what elements of African-American cultural his children must give up in order to “fit in.”

Left unsaid is the dilemma in defining the difference between culture and history or, in fact, if they are one in the same. If so, how does one decide what of their historical past must be forgotten? There is a prevailing pressure to homogenize education, especially history; to round the protruding edges and smooth them into a more aesthetically pleasing whole. Periodically, I hear that there is no need to teach African American history because the teaching of United States history should suffice.

Of course, such a viewpoint brings memories of W.E.B. DuBois’ now seemingly perpetual question of twoness, “One ever feels his two-ness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled [sic] strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body.”

Teaching African American history, evidently, reminds students that the country’s history was not seamless, without conflict or differing results. But understanding that struggle would be helpful in the present day. Helping students understand the long fight for equal access to the ballot box would enable them to appreciate why African Americans are suspicious of efforts to restrict access to the polls today. How does one round that edge?

America seems to wish to rush to the status of a color-blind society. The Roberts court’s recent decision in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action is just the latest evidence that America refuses to accept policies that address historical inequalities when those remedies are based on race. So we find African American families with a 21st Century dilemma that DuBois would hardly recognize: how to preserve a distinct culture when all about you seem to urge a forgetting. The dilemma is most poignantly found when one is involved in raising children and it starts early.

What name do you provide your child when studies have found that ethnic-sounding names can doom your child to the ranks of the unemployed or under-employed. Where do you educate them? How do you explain racial difference to a kindergartner? Elder relatives encountered many of these questions, but with legal constraints removed and political remedies abandoned, what now? Do we sanction the effort of the color-blind advocates by failing to provide any cultural identifiers or historical information?

I do not know the answers to the slew of questions that abound. I do not know how I would have aided Anderson’s mythical character when his son asked for a bar mitzvah even though the family is not Jewish. But I know that I will continue to teach African American history to people of all cultures because I believe in history. I believe that history continues to instruct. I believe that history is constructed. I believe that history has meaning and that the journey of history will always have contours that befuddle and confuse, but that the lessons are no less meaningful. And I believe that whatever artifacts and accouterments adorn my children, they will not be well-dressed if I have failed to share with them their history.

Richard Pierce is the John Cardinal O’Hara Associate Professor of History in the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

11891: Shonda Rhimes Rules.

From Adweek…

The Next Aaron Spelling? Showrunner Shonda Rhimes Is ABC’s Queen of Prime Time

Taking charge of ABC’s full Thursday night lineup

By T.L. Stanley

The pilot of then-unknown hospital drama Grey’s Anatomy was nearly complete in early 2005, but some real heavy lifting remained. Shonda Rhimes, a screenwriter who was taking her first stab at creating a television series, needed to put together synopses of the next eight episodes, telling executives at ABC just where the soapy, hospital-based drama intended to go in the near future. James Parriott, a veteran showrunner who’d been brought in to help steer the ship, offered to take half the workload. They only had a weekend to finish, he remembers, which would’ve been a tall order even for a seasoned TV writer.

Rhimes politely said thanks but no thanks to her colleague, whose credits include hit cable and broadcast programs like Covert Affairs, Sons of Anarchy, Ugly Betty and Dark Skies. Parriott didn’t force the issue with Rhimes, but he says he awaited a frantic Sunday afternoon call asking for a bailout. It would’ve been completely understandable coming from a TV novice under that kind of pressure. While the 11th hour plea never came, Monday morning did, along with rapid recaps of Episodes 2 through 9 for a series that would become a massive prime-time success.

“In that small amount of time, she had written these brilliant, witty, wonderful one-page summations—and not just fast, but good, really superb,” Parriott recalls. “I knew right then that she had it.”

His heavy oversight—network-mandated for an unproven showrunner—became mostly a light touch after that, even though Rhimes had only a single TV credit at that point, as co-writer of HBO’s Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. “It’s always difficult to know,” Parriott muses. “Some feature writers never adjust to TV because the format and pacing are so different, but she learned it so quickly. By Season 2, she was running the show without me.”

And hence, a legendary TV producer was born. From Grey’s Anatomy, Rhimes launched hit spinoff Private Practice, which ran for six seasons, overlapping with her current watercooler smash, the Washington, D.C.-set Scandal, which just ended its third season with its best ratings ever in total viewers and the coveted 18-49-year-old demographic.

Come fall, she’ll launch another hour-long drama, How to Get Away With Murder, which ABC describes as a “sexy, suspense-driven legal thriller” starring Viola Davis, making up a three-hour Thursday block with Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal. It’s little wonder that ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee dubbed Rhimes “the Charles Dickens of the 21st century” during the net’s recent upfront presentation, a nod to her prolific output and stature in the industry. He added the caveat: “… if Charles Dickens was black and a woman.”

Lee tells Adweek: “Shonda is one of the great storytellers of our time. No one delivers the emotional power and roller-coaster ride of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal like Shonda. She’s at the very top of her game, and we have no doubt that she’s setting a standard on ABC that others will be trying to emulate for years to come. We’re thrilled to be in business with her.”

It’s a huge bet for the third-place broadcast network, stacking up Rhimes’ shows on the most valuable night of the week for big-spending marketers like the movie studios, retailers and automakers. Meanwhile, ABC Studios just renewed a deal reportedly valued at eight figures with Rhimes’ production company, Shondaland. The extension will keep Rhimes, a Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee, in the ABC/Disney fold through mid-2018.

That should give Rhimes some talking points next week when she’s due to give the commencement address at her alma mater, Dartmouth College, where she majored in English literature and creative writing. (Who knows? There may be a few budding Hollywood players—aspiring to Rhimes’ lofty position in Tinseltown—in the graduating class.)

None of Rhimes’ successes surprise Parriott, who says she has “become more confident” and developed “a certain executive quality” while remaining the friendly, down-to-earth person she was when she was new to the medium, fresh off writing teen-targeted movies like Princess Diaries 2 and Crossroads.

In addition to her being decisive, another of Rhimes’ strengths, Parriott says, is that she surrounds herself with talented people, like great writers and her producing partner and right-hand exec Betsy Beers. Having those in place help her balance her heavy work responsibilities with time with her young daughters.

Read the full story here.

11556: The Crazy Ones Is Shameful.

Didn’t catch the latest episode of CBS series The Crazy Ones, but viewing the online preview video showed enough to confirm the miss was no loss.

Although it took a few seasons, AMC series Mad Men at least attempts to accurately depict the industry. In contrast, The Crazy Ones is to advertising agencies what Hogan’s Heroes was to Nazi POW camps. Exaggerating reality is standard for TV sitcoms; however, The Crazy Ones has yet to deliver a situation or comedy worth watching.

The program claims to be based on the experiences of a real creative director from Leo Burnett. Delusional experiences would be a more precise term. Like TNT series Trust Me—which was also spawned by Leo Burnett employees—The Crazy Ones is an embarrassment to the field. Actually, it embarrasses two fields: advertising and network television. Guess it’s a good thing that neither field has ever shown a sense of self-respect.

The Crazy Ones is shameful. Its creators are shameless.

9544: The Post-Racial, Post-Cosby Era…?

From The Los Angeles Times…

After ‘Cosby,’ less sitcom diversity

BET’s family comedy ‘Reed Between the Lines’ is one of the few TV shows featuring families of color.

By Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times

In most respects, BET’s “Reed Between the Lines” fits snugly within the safe cookie-cutter mold of the traditional family sitcom — successful, attractive parents with adorable kids tackle the daily challenges of life and resolve them in less than 30 minutes.

The upbeat comedy, starring Tracee Ellis Ross (“Girlfriends”) and Malcolm-Jamal Warner (“The Cosby Show”) as the heads of a loving family, recalls the subject matter and tone of “The Cosby Show” — the 1980s program also built around an African American family that helped revive the sitcom genre 25 years ago with a smart and gentle mix of humor and poignancy. (Jamal-Warner starred as Theo, Bill Cosby’s son, in the Emmy-winning series, which ran for eight seasons on NBC.)


But “Reed Between the Lines” is also an unexpected pioneer these days — it is one of a handful of prime-time shows centered on a family of color. Despite hundreds of new TV channels and the popularity of “The Cosby Show,” and subsequent series featuring minority families such as “My Wife and Kids,” “George Lopez” and “Ugly Betty,” ethnic families are still a rarity on the small screen today.

Family comedies once dominated the networks decades ago, but now these programs have had been a tougher time breaking into prime time as audiences have gravitated toward edgier fare with more mature content. Of course, there are still family comedies on the air, but of those almost all of them focus primarily on white families — “The Middle, “Up All Night,” “Raising Hope” and “Last Man Standing,” for example. TBS’ “Are We There Yet?” and Fox’s animated “The Cleveland Show” are the only other family-oriented comedies starring African American families. And mixed-race or ethnic families, such as on ABC’s “Modern Family,” are also scarce.

“I’ve seen this movie before,” Bill Cosby said in a recent interview. “How is it that there are people of color who are CEOs of companies, that are presidents of universities, but there is no reflection of that on the networks? It is arrogance and it is narcissism. Even the commercials have more black people than the programs.”

Network honchos, particularly at the four major networks, continue to stress they consider diversity to be a priority both in front of and behind the camera. But progress has been slow in both places. A survey conducted by the Directors Guild of America of more than 2,600 television episodes from 170 scripted TV series for the 2010-11 season found that white males directed 77% of all episodes, and white females directed 11% of all episodes. Minority males directed 11% of all episodes and minority females directed just 1% of the shows, according to the DGA survey.

“Look at the huge number of comedies. There is no black presence,” said Doug Alligood, a senior vice president at BBDO, a New York-based ad agency. “We’re back to where we were in the ‘80s.”

The new slate of mid-season shows and next year’s development season seems to hold the promise of more diversity, according to media analyst Brad Adgate. NBC said it was moving ahead with a pilot for a family comedy starring rapper Snoop Dogg. Meanwhile, CBS announced earlier this month that the comedy “¡ROB!,” starring Rob Schneider as a lifelong bachelor who marries into a tight-knit Mexican American family, will air in early 2012.

“I really do think that the absence of minority comedies is cyclical,” Adgate said. “It’s so hard to get a hit comedy no matter what, and ethnicity doesn’t really matter as opposed to how good the casts are.”

But, depending on their ultimate content, the shows with Schneider and Snoop Dogg have the potential of raising more concerns if they are bogged down by old stereotypes. Schneider, the star of movies like “The Hot Chick” and “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” is famous for broad comedy, not nuanced character studies. And Snoop Dogg, whose music career has glamorized violence and drug use, appears to be an awkward fit with NBC’s stable of well-scrubbed stars like Tina Fey, Christina Applegate, Whitney Cummings and Will Arnett.

The creative team at “Reed Between the Lines” hopes to emulate “The Cosby Show” in its positive depiction of a family of color. And despite being on a channel that targets a primarily African American audience, they want to reach a mainstream audience with their message.

“We were clear that there had not been a show like ‘Cosby’ since ‘Cosby,’” Warner said. “We are in no way looking to re-create that show, but we did want to re-create that universality and positive family values that ‘Cosby’ represented. Neither Tracee or I were interested in a ‘black show.’ We are telling family stories as opposed to black stories.”

9164: How Would We Survive Without Adweek?

Adweek continues to demonstrate its relevance to advertising professionals via the latest Readers’ Poll, which probes visitors on whether or not CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men will be better with Ashton Kutcher replacing Charlie Sheen.

8636: Wonder Woman for Wonderbra…?

Somebody should organize a tie-in with the babe and bra brand now.

8425: Oprah’s OWN Needs Diversity…?

From Newsweek…

Is Oprah’s Network Too White?

By Allison Samuels

Farah J. Griffin’s 82-year-old mother, Wilhelmenia, hasn’t missed an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show since it debuted nearly 20 years ago. So when Winfrey’s 24-hour Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) debuted on Jan. 1, Griffin upgraded her mother’s cable package so she could watch from her Philadelphia home. Only now, Griffin wants more for her money. “I know it’s still early in the process,” says Griffin, a professor of English and African-American studies at Columbia University. “That said, I really want to see more variation. I’m not saying she should just focus on black shows or black programming. But I’d like it to have shows that are interesting to women of all ages, backgrounds, and races, not just white women.”

Does Oprah’s network need more diversity? Many African-American women seem to think so, including Black Entertainment cofounder Sheila Johnson, who says that Winfrey should “open her circle a bit more,” and blogs such as Hello Beautiful and Clutch, which have complained bitterly about the absence of black faces and voices on the fledging network. Winfrey’s friend Gayle King, who is African-American, hosts a talk show, as does Lisa Ling, an Asian-American, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Turkish-American. Oprah’s own show, Master Class, has also featured Jay-Z and Condoleezza Rice. But most of the high-profile programs are lead by white people: Dr. Phil McGraw, Suze Orman, Peter Walsh, Cristina Ferrare, Dr. Laura Berman, Randall Sullivan, Dr. Indre Viskontas, along with shows starring Shania Twain, Rosie O’Donnell, and Sarah Ferguson, scheduled to debut later this year. What gives? “Oprah is the network’s diversity,” says Todd Boyd, a professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. “And that’s been the way she’s operated from the beginning of her career, so I’m not sure why there is even a question about more diversity. That’s really not who she is or who she ever was.”

That may be true, but it no longer appears to be enough. While OWN averaged 1.1 million viewers in primetime in its first week, that number was down to 287,000 last week. Viewership among women over 25, the network’s core demographic, has fallen 20 percent each week since the debut. With the African-American drama The Game having pulled in a record 7.3 million viewers on BET, it’s hard not to wonder if OWN’s troubles stem from the network’s failure to give black audiences what’s sorely lacking elsewhere. “It’s so upsetting to see what’s on TV today and to see the way most shows still depict blacks, and particularly black women, in a negative light,” says Mora Johns, a Chicago high-school teacher. “So I do look to OWN for more of a balance to show who we really are. I hope that’s coming.” Not everyone thinks it’s fair to saddle Oprah with singlehandedly diversifying TV. “When does she just get to be Oprah?” asks Salim Akil, executive producer of The Game. “If Oprah was purposely denying anyone the opportunity to present themselves to her for employment, then that’s a problem. But if she’s doing her thing the best way she knows how, then we should just applaud her and keep moving.” The folks at OWN don’t see a problem, either. “Our job is to reflect the entire audience that is a part of the world vision Oprah has, and that includes blacks, whites, men, women, and everyone,” says Christina Norman, CEO or OWN. “One show and one network cannot do it all.” Fair enough. But the question is: can one woman—Oprah—do more?

With Joshua Alston

7365: Broadcasting Bias.

From Time…

Study: TV May Perpetuate Race Bias

By Alice Park

Most people regard watching television as a passive activity. You sit, you watch. Occasionally, you change the channel. But a new study reveals that even this passive diversion may lead to actively damaging effects, particularly when it comes to issues of race.

In a series of intricately designed experiments, psychologists at Tufts University demonstrate that subtle racial biases are often expressed by characters on popular television shows, and that viewers not only pick up these attitudes but allow them to shape their own outlooks on race. The most insidious part of this cultural traffic, the researchers found, is that the transmission of race bias appears to occur subconsciously, unbeknownst to the viewer.

Led by Max Weisbuch, a postdoctoral student in the lab of Tufts psychology professor Nalini Ambady, researchers designed the multipart study to examine the communication of race bias on television to white college-age volunteers. Weisbuch and his team were intrigued by the fact that despite a significant reduction in overt expressions of racism in modern American society — the country has, after all, just elected its first black president — studies consistently find that many people still show biased or negative attitudes toward African-Americans, primarily through nonverbal means such as facial expressions, crossed arms and averted gazes. The psychologists wondered how such biases could persist in a society in which racism is socially unacceptable and indeed publicly denounced.

So the group decided to examine the medium of television, which connects the vast majority of Americans, and through which many people predominantly receive their social and cultural cues. The study looked at 11 popular prime-time TV shows, such as Heroes, Scrubs, House, CSI: Miami and Grey’s Anatomy, whose casts include both white and black recurring characters of equal status.

In the first of a series of four studies, researchers showed participants TV clips in which a white character and black character interact — but the segments were stripped of sound and the black character was digitally deleted. The idea was to ensure that neither race nor dialogue would color viewers’ analysis. The exercise was repeated with the white character deleted. Researchers then asked the viewers, white college students, to evaluate in each circumstance, whether the unseen character appeared to be treated positively or negatively by the seen character, and how well liked he or she appeared to be. In the end, across the majority of TV shows, viewers consistently said that the white characters had received more positive treatment and were better liked than their black counterparts.

What fascinated Weisbuch was that the viewers’ judgment of the characters was based purely on nonverbal cues, from facial expressions to body language. In fact, when participants were given transcripts of the verbal content of the clips, they saw no difference in the way black or white target characters were treated by speaking characters. These expressions may have been scripted into the show by writers, or by productions editors or the director, but nevertheless, researchers say they demonstrate unfavorably biased attitudes toward black characters.

Next, researchers tried to figure out whether this nonverbal bias was being communicated to people watching the show. Researchers created two sets of short, silent clips, one pro-white and the other pro-black. In the pro-white set, white characters were treated positively and black characters were treated negatively; in the pro-black clips, the reverse was true. A separate group of students was asked to view either the pro-white or pro-black TV clips. Afterward, the students completed a questionnaire that was presented as a different study, but actually served as a measure of their racial bias. The results suggested that students who viewed the pro-white clips were much more likely to demonstrate racial bias than those watching the pro-black clips. “That suggests that exposure to the nonverbal behaviors affects bias,” says Prof. Ambady.

The scientists went on to demonstrate that the viewers were unaware of the clips’ effect. In another part of the study, students were asked to watch the same pro-white and pro-black clips, but this time they were also instructed to be on the look- out for evidence of subtle biased behavior. Afterward, viewers were asked to determine whether white characters or black characters were treated better.

Because each set of clips was created to favor one group or the other, there was only one right answer to the question. The students had a 50-50 chance of responding correctly — and that’s exactly how well they did, no better than chance. In other words, the patterns of bias expressed in the characters’ nonverbal behavior were not obvious to the viewers. “The effect [television has] on viewers might be something less than conscious,” says Weisbuch.

The findings suggest that despite the progress that has been made in addressing racism in the America, we may still be perpetuating prejudice in subtle ways — and, if Weisbuch’s findings are validated, in ways that we may not even realize. “Human beings are thinking, cognizant, conscious beings who can be strategic and intentional,” says John Dovidio, a professor of psychology at Yale University who wrote an editorial accompanying Weisbuch’s study, published Thursday in Science. “But we are also kind of emotional and we do a lot of things without full conscious awareness. What this research suggests is that although our minds are in the right places, and we may truly believe we are not prejudiced, our hearts aren’t quite there yet.”

Acknowledging the disconnect may be the first step in bridging the gap between our hearts and minds, says Ambady. Figuring out exactly where and how subtle biases creep into our culture would be a start. To do that, we may have to start watching television more actively, and astutely, instead of passively absorbing everything we see.