GLAAD today released its two annual television reports– the 8th annual Network Responsibility Index (NRI) and the 19th annual Where We Are on TV report. These reports map the quantity, quality, and diversity of images of LGBT people on television. For the first time in the Network Responsibility Index, three different networks earned "Excellent" grades in the same year: ABC Family, HBO, and MTV.
While the NRI looks backward at the previous season and rates networks on LGBT-inclusive content between June 2013 and May 2014, the Where We Are on TV report is a character count and analysis of scripted characters in the upcoming 2014-2015 season.
"Television networks are playing a key role in promoting cultural understanding of LGBT lives around the world, and are now producing some of the best LGBT-inclusive programming we've yet seen," said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. "As they move forward with new programs and storylines, networks must also keep an eye towards diversity and strive to include significant transgender content comparable to those efforts being made by their online competitors, such as Netflix's Orange is the New Black and Amazon's Transparent."
In GLAAD's NRI, which grades LGBT content on networks during the 2013-2014 TV season that wrapped earlier this year, for the first time three different networks earned "Excellent" grades in the same year: ABC Family, HBO, and MTV. The grades of Excellent, Good, Adequate, or Failing are awarded based on the quality, diversity, and relative quantity of LGBT representations in each network's original programming. This is the second "Excellent" grade for both ABC Family and MTV. Three networks failed: A&E, History, and TNT.
GLAAD is officially announcing that, moving forward, networks must feature significant transgender content in their original programming in order to receive a grade of "Excellent" in the NRI.
In the Where We Are on TV report, which counts the number of LGBT characters in the 2014-2015 television season which just began, GLAAD found that 3.9% of primetime broadcast scripted series regulars will be LGBT characters. This is up from 3.3% last year but still down from the record high of 2012 when 4.4% of primetime broadcast scripted regular characters were LGBT. People of color will make up 27% of all regular characters, while just 1.4% will be depicted as people with disabilities. Between broadcast and cable, only one transgender character (Cole on The Fosters) was counted.
8th annual Network Responsibility Index (LGBT content from 2013-2014)
For the first time, three different networks earned "Excellent" grades in the same year: ABC Family, HBO, and MTV. The grades of Excellent, Good, Adequate, or Failing are awarded based on the quality, diversity, and relative quantity of LGBT representations in each network's original programming.
- Excellent: ABC Family, HBO, MTV
- Good: ABC, The CW, FOX, NBC, FX, Showtime
- Adequate: CBS, TLC, USA
- Failing: A&E, History, TNT
19th annual Where We Are on TV Report (LGBT content from 2014-2015)
The Where We Are on TV report analyzes the overall diversity of primetime scripted series regulars on broadcast networks and looks at the number of LGBT characters on cable networks for the upcoming 2014-2015 TV season.
- Out of 813 primetime broadcast scripted series regulars, 32 will be LGBT this year, or 3.9%. This is up from 3.3% last year but still down from the record high of 2012 when 4.4% of primetime broadcast scripted regular characters were LGBT. In addition, GLAAD found 33 recurring LGBT characters on primetime broadcast series.
- FOX showed an increase this year with 6.5% of primetime broadcast scripted regulars being lesbian, gay or bisexual, the highest percentage among broadcast nets. ABC, which tied with FOX for first place last year, has dropped to 4.5% of primetime regular characters on the network being LGBT. NBC is in third place at 3.8%, up from 1% last year. CBS is in fourth for the second year in a row with 3.2% of its regular characters being LGBT, up from 1.9% last year, while The CW will have no regular LGBT characters.
- Of the 813 overall regular characters on broadcast primetime, the percentage of female characters has declined to 40% from 43% last year. People of color will make up 27% of all regular characters, while just 1.4% will be depicted as people with disabilities.
- Of the 65 LGBT regular and recurring characters on broadcast networks, 43% (28) are women and 26% are people of color. While last year a transgender character was amongst the primetime broadcast series regulars (Unique on FOX's Glee), this year there are none.
- On cable, GLAAD counted 64 regular LGBT characters, up from 42 last season. An additional 41 recurring characters were counted. HBO will have the most characters with a total of 15 regular or recurring characters expected, followed by ABC Family and Showtime with 13 characters each. Of those LGBT characters, 44% are women and 34% are people of color. Only one transgender character, Cole on The Fosters, was counted.
GLAAD’s annual TV reports not only propel national conversations about LGBT representation, but inform GLAAD’s own advocacy within the television industry. GLAAD uses this yearly data to create a clearer picture of the stories and images being presented by television networks, and to encourage networks to include diverse LGBT representations within them. The next NRI and Where We Are on TV will be released in 2015.