EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The audience research conducted in the Canadian Screen Media sector to date does not adequately represent the views of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour audiences. Systemic barriers to participation embedded in traditional audience research methodologies render these audiences largely invisible to broadcasters, and lead to an incomplete understanding of the “Canadian Screen Media Audience” upon which development and investment decisions are made.

This study centres the experiences, screen media preferences, and viewing habits of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour audiences – a first in Canadian audience research.

The findings and insights discussed in this report challenge assumptions about what ‘should’ be on screen and invite new narratives about which stories should be told, how, and by whom. These fresh insights offer new possibilities for ensuring Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour audiences are visible to broadcasters, that their perspectives drive the development of authentic and representative content, and that the related structural sector changes required for long-term, sustainable change are clear.

KEY FINDINGS

  • Streaming and movies watched on TV dominate preferences for all audiences, with most participants watching content in English or French.
  • Diversity and authentic representation are fundamental expectations of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour audiences, and meaningfully shape their viewing behaviours.
  • Diversity is not the same as representation. While ‘diversity’ refers to the total number and proportion of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour characters on screen, ‘representation’ focuses on accuracy and authenticity.
  • This is especially true for children’s content, for which there is an exceptional sense of urgency to ensure the availability of authentic and representative entertainment content.
  • The plethora of diverse, international entertainment content available through streaming services enables audiences to curate viewing experiences that align with their expectations about diversity and representation on screen, especially when these expectations are not met by Canadian content.
  • Most current content does not meet the expectations of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour audiences in terms of diversity and authentic representation, and can instead ‘other’ a large proportion of Canadian communities through the reinforcement of harmful stereotypes and messages of ‘not belonging’.
  • Systemic biases are embedded in traditional audience research methodologies, limiting the discovery of new and innovative insights, and instead rationalizes existing practices.
  • There is an undeniable link between what is on screen and who occupies decision-making and creative roles in the sector. Increased representation of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour producers and creators at all levels of the sector is essential for the development of truly authentic, representative content that reflects the experiences, preferences, and lives of Canadians.

KEY TAKE-AWAYS

  • There is an urgent need for representative content that has complex characters, especially as the volume of diverse entertainment content available on other platforms continues to increase. Addressing the need for authentic and representative content is critically important for children’s content.
  • The development of authentic, representative content is not possible without Black, Indigenous people, and People of Colour occupying critical decision-making and creative roles in the sector.
  • The experiences, preferences, and viewing behaviours of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour audiences must be disaggregated from typical audience research data in order to be visible to broadcasters. Accordingly, audience research methodologies and instruments must be updated to include Black and Indigenous people and People of Colour.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

The collection of credible data and insights into audience preferences will increase the visibility of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour audiences that have been historically underrepresented in audience research, discounted and in many ways invisible to broadcasters. This research establishes a foundation upon which to challenge assumptions made by Canadian screen industries about what ‘should’ be onscreen and invite new narratives about which stories should be told, how, and by whom. Additionally, these insights create new possibilities for direction and measures of accountability to inform and motivate sustainable industry change.

PROJECT AIMS

As the first Canadian race-based screen audience study, this project seeks to shed light on the screen media preferences and consumption habits of Black and Indigenous people, and People of Colour, and provide an understanding of who these audiences are, what they are consuming, on which platforms they are consuming, factors affecting consumption, and perceptions of screen content.

A key consideration of this research addresses how Black, Indigenous and People of Colour audiences value seeing their likeness and stories on the screen, and therefore provides a view into how matters of diversity and representation feature in the viewing habits and behaviours of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour audiences in Canada.

In the UK and other places, we don’t look at audience segmentation in this way around race or ethnicity and ethnic grouping, so to a large extent the content that is made doesn’t relate to that audience. So, looking at how to represent communities to themselves actually creates an enormous amount of validity and it’s actually quite pioneering. I would absolutely take it that [BSO’s Race-Based Audience Survey] is the pioneering edge of this work.

– Deborah Williams, CEO, Creative Diversity Network, UK