On Wednesday, UCLA’s Institute for Entertainment & Media Research Initiative published the second part of its annual Hollywood Diversity Report, looking at representation in films made specifically for streaming services. The report found that in 2025, the share of women and people of color in leading roles and key behind-the-scenes jobs like directors and writers declined by a significant margin. The report’s co-authors also warn that things could get worse amid President Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The change comes as streaming has taken hold as one of the primary ways for Americans to watch TV and movies. In 2025, 96.4 million households had a TV connected to a streaming device or service. Nielsen also reported that in March, streaming accounted for about 48% of TV viewing in the US, compared to about 20% for broadcast TV and 21% for cable.
For this year’s survey, UCLA analyzed 89 English-language streaming original films released last year on major platforms including Netflix, Prime Video and Hulu.
The report found that the share of BIPOC prominent actors is expected to fall to 36% in 2025, from 51% in 2024. Behind the scenes, things weren’t much better. The share of BIPOC directors dropped from 41% to 31.5%. For BIPOC writers, the share dropped from 30% to 21.3%.
Women also suffered losses to some extent. The share of women in lead roles is set to fall to 58% in 2025, from 61% a year earlier. The share of women directors fell from 28% to 23.6%, while the share of women writers remained roughly stable at 37%.
Ana-Christina Ramon, co-author of the Hollywood Diversity Report, told Bloomberg that she expects films to become less diverse in the coming year as more projects produced during Trump’s second term are released. He said many of the films included in this year’s report were already in development before Trump returned to office, but the early wave of conservative backlash against so-called DEI initiatives was still underway.
One of the first executive orders Trump signed on the first day of his second term called for ending “radical and wasteful” DEI programs across the federal government. The next day, Trump signed another order targeting DEI programs at federal contractors and in the private sector. Earlier this year, he signed a separate order directing federal contractors and subcontractors not to engage in “racially discriminatory DEI activities.”
Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Brendan Carr, has also taken aim at the company’s DEI initiatives and hinted that the company’s merger plans could face trouble over its DEI practices.
In response, many corporations, including media companies like Disney, have reconsidered or reduced their DEI efforts.
This new report is an early look at how political pressure against DEI programs could shape the face of media in the years to come.
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