At the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, the Representation in Hollywood panel at the Latinx House — sponsored by Nielsen and Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino at the Sundance Film Festival — shared some of the most relevant results from Nielsen's 2022 Be Seen on Screen report.

The new report still showed a long way to go for Latinos to get proper representation on TV.

Key findings

Seeking to raise awareness about the lack of diversity, Nielsen joined Latinx House at Sundance to publish the highlights of the latest report:

• While the Latino community accounts for 19% of the population, their representation on English language broadcast TV is just 5.8%, 3.6% in cable programming, and 8.6% in SVOD
• Variety, soap operas, news magazines, and sports-related programs are the genres with the most Latino representation.
• Airing Latino-led content is good business. For example, season 1 of The Lincoln Lawyer, starring Mexican-American actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, attracted 114,000 new viewers who did not watch any content on Netflix in the weeks before the release date.
• 24% of the new viewers who came to watch The Lincoln Lawyer were new to Netflix
• 42% of the most-bingeable content in 2022 featured Latino talent either behind or in front of the camera
• Top themes for Latino content include persecution, tyranny, artistic integrity, dignity, gratitude, and faith.

DAY 3 RECAP
To close out The Latinx House at The 2023 Sundance Film Festival, Latinx creators, leaders, and organizers came together to showcase their work, passion, and commitment to creative collaboration. #SundanceFilmFestival #Sundance2023 #TheLatinxHouse pic.twitter.com/tkNQksv4om

— The Latinx House (@thelatinxhouse) January 24, 2023

Slow steps

Highlighting some slight progress, Nielsen pointed out that by advocating for representation, it is possible to achieve more opportunities for all Latino creative and technical talent, including actors, writers, directors, and other industry professionals.

"When there are more Latino characters on television, there are more roles for Latino actors to play, which can also help to increase the visibility of Latino talent in the industry. Representation is not just limited to having Latino actors playing Latino characters, but also includes Latino writers, directors, and producers that can ensure that the portrayal of Latino characters, culture, and stories are authentic and respectful,” said Nielsen.

For Nielsen's full Be Seen on Screen report on the state of diverse representation on television, click here.