A new study reports that several TV and cable television shows with predominately black casts, or storylines focusing on black characters, are drawing a large non-black audience.
While this is not the first time this has happened, what the Nielsen report is suggesting is that there are more black TV shows nowadays that are appealing to multiple cultures and audiences.
The biggest shows include Black-ish, Secrets and Lies, How to Get Away with Murder, Pitch, Rosewood, Insecure, and Atlanta. All of these shows have more than 50% non-black audience.
In fact, NBC’s This is Us starring Sterling K. Brown as a black businessman raised by white parents has an 89% non-black audience.
Also, ABC’s Black-ish has a 79% non-black audience.
Meanwhile, ABC’s Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder both have nearly 70% non-black audience.
“Much of the American narrative lately has focused on a growing cultural divide. But Nielsen’s data on television programming show something different,” says Andrew McCaskill, Senior Vice President, Communications and Multicultural Marketing, at Nielsen. “Storylines with a strong black character or identity are crossing cultural boundaries to grab diverse audiences and start conversations. That insight is important for culture and content creators, as well as manufacturers and retailers looking to create engaging high-impact advertising campaigns.”
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