UCLA Report Finds Diversity Declined in Streaming Films

Researchers found BIPOC creatives remained underrepresented among streaming film leads, directors and writers in 2025

KPop Demon Hunters was a cultural phenomenon last year, becoming Netflix’s most-watched movie with more than 500 million views and earning an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It even went on to hit theaters, jumping from the streamer platform to the big screen, for sing-along screenings and forthcoming one-year-anniversary showings. The film’s soundtrack also generated high streaming numbers and won awards at the Oscars and the Grammys. Viewers in the U.S. alone spent 20.5 billion minutes watching the film in 2025, according to end-of-year Nielsen data.

However, despite the massive success of a film centered around BIPOC characters, BIPOC creatives still remained underrepresented in key employment positions in the streaming industry last year. BIPOC actors faced a sharp decline in streaming film lead roles in 2025, dropping to 36% after reaching a high of 51% in 2024, according to UCLA’s newest Hollywood Diversity Report. 

“When you looked at streaming by itself in terms of original films that were premiering on these major streamers, we saw that it was doing pretty well in terms of having diversity,” Dr. Ana-Christina Ramón, director of the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative at UCLA, said. “And this past year that we looked at in 2025 was really the first time where we saw this decline.”

Credit: UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report 2026, Part 2: Streaming

First published in 2014, this bi-annual report explores relationships between diversity and the bottom line in the entertainment industry. Its researchers consider English-language films released directly on the major streaming services that were ranked among the top 100 among total households in a given year. There were only 89 English-language, streaming originals released in 2025, according to the report.

Researchers found BIPOC creatives lost ground relative to their white counterparts in terms of streaming film leads, directors, writers and total actors. People of color only represented about 3.2 out of 10 streaming film directors and 2.1 out of 10 streaming film writers last year. Among the eight streaming films with a budget of $100 million or more, only two were directed by a BIPOC filmmaker: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Maggie Kang’s KPop Demon Hunters.

In 2025, streaming films with casts that were 21% to 30% BIPOC made up the plurality of films, but for the past three years, films that were majority-BIPOC represented the largest share. Streaming films with casts that were 31% to 40% BIPOC had the most buzz across social media. These films included My Fault: London (Amazon), The Life List (Netflix), and A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (Disney+). 

Women also remain underrepresented in streaming film as directors, writers and total streaming film actors. Streaming films made by white women were the most likely to have the smallest budgets in 2025, with all of the films having budgets that fell under $20 million. White women were the least likely to be in the leading role among streaming films with the highest budgets of $100 million or more. The Electric State was the only film out of the eight films in this budget range that had a white female lead. In addition to Kang, only two other women of color directed a streaming film with a budget of more than $20 million: Patricia Riggen for G20 and Victoria Mahoney for The Old Guard 2.

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But, women continue to exceed proportionate representation as streaming film leads, making up about 58.4%.

Actors with disabilities also remained underrepresented in front of the camera. The share of lead actors with a known disability in streaming films was 14.6%, which is 11.4 percentage points below the estimated 26% of U.S. adults living with a disability. The majority of streaming films did not include any actors with a known disability in the main cast last year.

Despite this decline in diversity onscreen and a decrease in the number of original films available to stream, BIPOC households and women continued to be the drivers of high ratings of streaming original films in 2025.

“The viewers are there. They’re ready to go. They’re really giving their support, and they’re the ones that are getting shortchanged by the major streamers,” Ramón said. 

BIPOC households were overrepresented as household viewers for nine of the top 10 streaming films and 17 of the top 20 streaming films in 2025. Additionally, women represented the majority of viewers for six of the top 10 streaming films and 11 of the top 20 streaming films.

Credit: UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report 2026, Part 2: Streaming

Female viewers in Latino, Asian and Black households also helped drive the high ratings for the top streaming film, KPop Demon Hunters.

“[KPop Demon Hunters] broke through the zeitgeist. I think that oftentimes certain films have a connection with music, and they can definitely permeate right throughout the culture. I think that it just shows the power also of these stories that are very much in line with younger generations and what their interests are,” Ramón said.

As the market for original films narrows, Ramón said it is unclear if BIPOC representation will improve. “With the contraction comes this extreme diminishment of diversity overall, which I think is not going to help these major streamers in terms of maintaining subscribers, and creating brand loyalty with their audience.”