Bloomberg Línea — English-language broadcast television in the United States is still in debt to the Latino community, given that the representation through actors, directors and other talent is only 5.8%, according to a study by the consulting firm Nielsen.
This contradicts the claim that “Latino-led content is good business,” which the study highlights.
The fact is that the Latino community in that country already represents 19% of the population, something that the entertainment industry does not seem to take note of. In Hollywood, for example, eight out of 10 filmmakers are white, while the remaining 2% have Latino roots.
The figure is even lower than in broadcast television if we include cable TV. There, Latino representation drops to 3.6%. However, where they do make a difference is in subscription and streaming services, where Latino participation is 8.6%.
Nielsen cites ‘The Lincoln Lawyer,’ the Netflix series starring Mexican-born actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, as a concrete example.
The series tells the story of an iconoclastic idealist who practices law from the back seat of his Lincoln, taking on cases of all shapes and sizes in Los Angeles, according to Netflix’s description of the series.
The series brought 114,000 new viewers to the Netflix platform in the weeks leading up to its release. In total, 24% of viewers who watched ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ were new to Netflix, Nielsen said.
“Forty-two percent of the most engaging content in 2022 had Latino talent behind or in front of the camera,” said the analysis, which also included Spanish-language broadcast television in the United States, which has 86.6% Latino representation in its content.
Nielsen cita como ejemplo concreto lo ocurrido con “The Lincoln Lawyer”, la serie de Netflix protagonizada por el actor de ascendesia mexicana Manuel García-Rulfo.
La serie cuenta la historia de un idealista iconoclasta que ejerce la abogacía en el asiento trasero de su Lincoln, aceptando casos de toda clase y envergadura en Los Ángeles, describe Netflix.
Su historia traccionó 114.000 nuevos espectadores a la plataforma de Netflix en las semanas previas a su lanzamiento. En total, el 24 % de los espectadores que “The Lincoln Lawyer” eran nuevos en Netflix, dio a conocer Nielsen.
“El 42% del contenido más atractivo en 2022 tuvo talento latino detrás o ante la cámara”, indicó el análisis que también incluyó a la televisión abierta en español en Estados Unidos, que tienen 86,6% de representación latina en sus contenidos.