On average, Asian Americans watch less than 15 hours of TV per week, the least of any racial group, reports USA Today.. In contrast, African Americans watch the most TV, hovering around 44 hours.
Nielsen data for the last year reveals that the popularity of TV programs differs along racial lines. Not one show overlapped in the top five rankings of Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanics, and whites. However, The Walking Dead and This Is Us both ranked in the top five TV series for Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Whites.
Preferences for dramas are more racially split than for for reality TV, which generally feature more diverse casts. America’s Got Talent and World of Dance are both popular across racial groups.
“The population has become much more diverse, so networks realize that and have targeted specific groups with shows they think they’ll watch,” says media consultant Brad Adgate.
Fresh Off the Boat, the first TV show to feature an Asian American ensemble since Margaret Cho’s All American Girl, was renewed on May, 12 for a fourth season, according to Variety.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which features Filipino American hunk Vincent Rodriguez III as the male lead, is also making strides in breaking stereotyped portrayals of Asians in TV, reports The New York Times.
While it is exciting to see more shows portraying a diverse range of Asian characters, it will be even more exciting when seeing an Asian face in the media is no longer such a novelty.
Most popular shows by race/ethnicity from Jan. 1 to June 16, 2017
Asian Americans
- America’s Got Talent
- World of Dance
- The Walking Dead
- This Is Us
- The Big Bang Theory
Hispanics
- The Walking Dead
- America’s Got Talent
- World of Dance
- This Is Us
- Empire
African Americans
- Empire
- Star
- Love & Hip Hop Atlanta
- The Have and Have-Nots
- How to Get Away With Murder
Whites
- NCIS
- This Is Us
- The Big Bang Theory
- America’s Got Talent
- The Walking Dead
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