
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.”