Netflix viewers love Latino-led shows like ‘Wednesday’ and ‘La Reina del Sur,’ report finds

Latin artists Jenna Ortega, Kate del Castillo, Jennifer Lopez, Gabriel Luna, J.R. Ramirez, and Carolina Miranda star in Netflix’s top shows and films.

Audiences want to see more shows that feature Latino artists, according to new data from Netflix. 

Last week, the streaming service released its first biannual engagement report, detailing the number of hours a program was viewed in the first six months of the year.

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With more than 18,000 titles, including tv shows and films, six of the top 25 most-watched programs feature a Latino lead or co-lead.

Those shows were “Wednesday,” “La Reina del Sur,” “FUBAR,” “Manifest,” “The Mother,” and “Fake Profile.”

Latin artists Jenna Ortega, Kate del Castillo, Jennifer Lopez, Gabriel Luna, J.R. Ramirez, and Carolina Miranda star in these top shows and films.

Among the top 25 are new shows like “Wednesday” as well as shows from years ago such as “La Reina del Sur.”

Other not-so-new favorites include  “Jane the Virgin”, starring the actress of Puerto Rican origin Gina Rodríguez.

The 2014 drama has been on Netflix for several years now, but it continues to attract strong viewership numbers. Its first season came in at No. 254 place, totaling 55,200,000 viewed hours.

“Wednesday,” starring another actress of Puerto Rican origin, got fourth place with 507,700,000 viewed hours.

According to data from the 2023 UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report from the 2021-22 TV season, only 6.1% of the leads were Latino in broadcast scripted shows, only 3.6% of the leads were Latino in cable scripted shows, and only 4.3% in digital scripted shows.

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A recent report by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California, which examined 1,600 popular movies, found that only 4.4% of actors in lead or co-lead roles were Latino, and less than 1% were Afro Latino.

“Having Latinx representation is something that, when you translate [it] into the economic aspects, it’s something that’s profitable because it does provide content that viewers want to see,” Ana-Christina Ramón, one of the authors of the UCLA’s report, told Los Angeles Times.