Following its December study that found women and people of color are underrepresented on television compared to their real-word population numbers, Nielsen has unveiled a new tool that will better allow content creators, distributors and advertisers to quantify their progress in diversifying the small screen.
Gracenote Inclusion Analytics provides new proprietary metrics for measuring how the screentime of various identity groups (such as people from a specific gender identity, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity) stack up against certain benchmarks. These points of comparison include the overall recurring talent in a program (Share of Screen), that identity group’s proportion of the real-world population (Inclusion Opportunity Index), and its share of the program’s viewers (Inclusion Audience Index).
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“Audiences today actively seek out programs that highlight people who resemble them and experiences that reflect their own,” Nielsen head of analytics Tina Wilson said in a statement. “Together, Nielsen and Gracenote are uniquely positioned to help the industry seize upon this opportunity by way of new data analytics solutions ensuring meaningful connections between content and audiences.”
The new tool works by blending Nielsen subsidiary Gracenote’s Global Video program metadata, talent race and ethnicity information from Gracenote’s Studio System database and data from Nielsen Television Ratings and Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings. Gracenote Inclusion Analytics, the first product to launch from the new Gracenote Content Analytics suite, currently measures onscreen talent in broadcast, cable and streaming TV programs, but plans to expand its service to cover theatrical movies and key behind-the-camera positions, such as directors, writers and producers.
“The entertainment industry has a massive challenge ahead—to ensure the talent associated with popular TV programming mirrors today’s increasingly diverse viewing audiences,” Nielsen senior vp of diversity, equity and inclusion Sandra Sims-Williams said in a statement. “By democratizing information around representation in content, Gracenote Inclusion Analytics holds the power to push the industry toward better balance and a more equitable future.”
