Today, storytelling is happening on streaming. Streaming TV captured more viewers than both cable and broadcast TV for the first time in July 2022.¹ Being at the forefront of entertainment means that streaming platforms have an opportunity and a responsibility to tell more inclusive and equitable stories.
One way we are pursuing this goal on Roku's platform is by elevating the place women and girls hold in our content, an area where our industry has made steady progress. In fact, in 2021-2022, women represented 50% of major characters on streaming programs.²
At the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Roku's Alison Levin joined Kelly Campbell of Peacock on stage at the #EqualityLounge hosted by The Female Quotient. Their session, titled Stream Queens: Women Shaping the TV Streaming Landscape, explored how women in streaming can empower a winning combination of content, data, and tech to help creators and brands alike tell better and more inclusive stories.
To help streamers discover content focused on and created by diverse communities, Roku has introduced curated Inclusion Zones. These include a Women’s Voices Zone that puts women front and center. These are curated in partnership across Roku’s Merchandising and Inclusion teams, and internal employee resource groups.
“As part of our mission to create a better TV experience for everyone, we aim to help our 70M+ streamers discover content that showcases women’s voices," said Levin.
Our mission with Roku Originals is to create shows with heart and hope that mirror the diversity of our audience. Our first-party audience data shows that households with women are more likely to search for titles with strong female leads, demonstrating that female Roku streamers want to see themselves in the content they watch.³
This insight inspired us to develop more content with women at the helm — on both sides of the camera. Here are just a few of the projects that we’re proud to feature on The Roku Channel:
Honest Renovations (Coming soon to The Roku Channel) – Best friends Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis, the founder and editor of The Cool Mom Co., reflect on the beauty and challenges of parenthood as they help deserving families complete life-changing home renovations.
Mamas – This short-form docuseries follows the animal kingdom’s formidable matriarchs as they protect their young in the wild. The series, narrated by Connie Britton and Zoë Saldaña, is available in both English and Spanish.
Meet Me In Paris – This first-of-its-kind reality “rom-com” movie, from executive producers Reese Witherspoon and Zoë Saldaña, follows the journeys of three women who travel to Paris in search of love.
Slip – In this female-led comedy created by Zoey Lister-Jones, a woman travels through parallel universes trying to find her way back to her partner and herself. Lister-Jones is one of the few women to have written, directed, produced, and starred in a show.
By creating and amplifying authentic, real-life portrayals of women in streaming content, we can help create a better TV experience for everyone. “We think there is so much more we can do in this space, and we’d love to see other women innovating around how we can amplify their voices through our platform,” Levin said.
Watch the full video recording of Stream Queens: Women in Streaming, presented by The Female Quotient.
1 Nielsen
2 Lauzen, Martha, M. (October 2022). “Boxed In: Women On Screen and Behind the Scenes on Broadcast and Streaming Television in 2021-22.”
3 Roku internal data, 2023 | Female household is a household that includes 1 or more females.