• A new report from the World Economic Forum, in partnership with Accenture, analyzes industry progress.
• Here's how companies can maximize their efforts and earn rewards for diverse, equitable and inclusive employees and audiences.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) has recently become one of the leading topics in the media and entertainment industry. But embracing diversity is not just about doing the right thing.
Analysis shows that ethics and profit are two sides of the same coin. There is a financial sense to ensure that the content — and those who create it — truly represent today's society truly and completely.
For example, movies that lack real representation and engage in less than 20% of their budget at an open box office over the weekend. In advertising, 64% of consumers in Google surveys think about buying or buying after seeing an ad they consider to be unique or inclusive. Similarly, some sectors have great potential that have not been exploited since the growth of diversity and inclusion.
A new report from the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Accenture, "Reflecting Society: State of Diverse Representation in Media and Entertainment" shows where the industry is making progress and what else needs to be done. The scope of this comprehensive report, the first to look at industry-wide and patented sectors, is international although it is important to note that much of the available research and data available today comes from the US.
By better dealing with these poorly represented consumers, media businesses should be able to open up new markets.
In sports, for example, only 11% of the awards nominated for the 2020 award had significant LGBTQ + news lines. This is a missed opportunity: research shows that LGBTQ + consumers are more likely to have a gaming system and spend more money on games. Similarly, only 3% of titles have a main character in color, only 23% allow players to choose the race of their characters, and only 18% of games introduced in 2020 feature female characters.
Or take the world of sports. About half (47%) of the world's most enthusiastic fans in 13 major sports are women. But women's sports are gaining only 4% of the attention of the sports media today.
In the news and publishing, little progress has been made in terms of racial diversity, as non-white publishers have increased in number by only 3% since 2015. Despite this, 34% of media executives disagree that women and people of color face barriers to advancing their careers. .
Embracing the great diversity of races can also translate into a wider audience. For example, the popular P&G ad, “The Talk” has portrayed Black mothers as biased towards their children in the US. It has been viewed 7 million times online, and has been broadcast on television.
DE & I 's strong emphasis not only on well-being for consumers, but also on increasing the diversity of talent, which can lead to greater news coverage.
Increasing the diversity of those working in these industries is very important because the entertainment and media industry has had an impact since its infancy. Young people take their cues and develop their worldviews on what they see and read. But a study by the Cooperative Children's Book Center found that less than 4% of youth books have significant LGBTQ + content, and representation of various content or characters was only 11% African-American, 1.5% Native American, 9% Asian / Pacific. and 7% Latinx.
Not only do certain groups not see themselves reflected in the available content, but they also do not see the path to the task of creating that content. Job opportunities are no longer evenly distributed, for example, in accessing apprenticeships on television and films.
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