There are more than 56 million Latinos in the U.S. That means this group makes up 17.6% of the total population. It’s also one of the country’s fastest-growing demographics. In our latest Diverse Intelligence Series report on Latinx* consumers, Descubrimiento Digital: The Online Lives of Latinx Consumers, Latinos strongly expressed a desire to see themselves reflected more—and more accurately—in film and TV.
But it’s not just consumers who want greater representation. It’s a sentiment that’s gaining prominence across the U.S. media landscape. And Nielsen knows that proper representation of the Latinx community is crucial to accurately reflect the community’s influence on mainstream culture. For additional perspective on the topic, we recently asked four accomplished Latinos in media to share their thoughts on why representation matters, and we will be sharing their videos throughout Hispanic Heritage Month and the balance of the year on our dedicated hub for data, insights and engagement with the Latinx community:
- Univision’s Ilia Calderon, the first Afro-Latina to anchor a news desk on a major network in the U.S.
- Carlos Ponce, a Puerto Rican actor, singer, composer and Telemundo television personality
- Pamela Silva Conde, a Peruvian Emmy award-winning journalist and co-anchor of weekday news magazine, “Primer Impacto”
- Angela Sustaita-Ruiz, Mexican American co-founder and partner of Hispanicize Media Group, a multi-platform media company that specializes in programming for multicultural Millennials and Generation Z consumers
“As the Hispanic community continues to flourish in the U.S., it’s more important than ever to acknowledge and understand their impact on American mainstream culture, media and the economy,” said Andrew McCaskill, Nielsen’s SVP Global Communications and Multicultural Marketing. “The video series aims to give voice to that while also showcasing diversity within the Latinx community. We’re sharing the videos over the course of a few months because it’s important to engage multicultural consumers 365 days a year—and not just during heritage, history and pride months.”
These four videos will contribute to the industry dialogue about diversity, representation and the future of Hollywood in an increasingly multicultural consumer landscape. In looking at the composition of the actors across TV and film in the U.S., Latinx actors make up only 5.8% of speaking roles.
*Nielsen uses the term Latinx to connote unspecified gender. The decision is a nod toward greater inclusion of women, LGBT+ and non-binary Hispanics and the growing popularity of the term in social media and academic writing.
