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VIRAL EXCLUSIVE
Aug. 8, 2023
How the Film Industry can Engage Female Audience?
Understanding the vital consumption shift towards classic TV shows and female-centric plots among female audiences. By: Toh Yan Yun
In recent years, the media landscape has witnessed a remarkable shift in content consumption patterns, with females constituting a significant portion of the audience. As Simon Hewlett, the London-based president of international marketing at Universal Pictures, has revealed, “The female audience, in nearly every market, is the most important cinemagoing audience.” Hence, understanding the content that drives females is increasingly crucial for content creators, broadcasters, and advertisers aiming to resonate with this demographic.
Among females aged 18-24, an unexpected trend in preference is surfacing. Besides the spade of new original content on streaming platforms, women in this age group are also resonating with a different type of programming – classic TV. For instance, Grey’s Anatomy, the sixth most-watched program among all adults in 2022, was found to be the favourite among 18 to 34-year-old women. This was followed by Gilmore Girls; both of which have origins that traced back to the early 2000s. While this demographic are avid consumers of newer shows from Stranger Things to Encanto to Bridgerton, the popularity of shows that premiered more than 20 years ago still remain staggering. Shows like The Simpsons, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Seinfeld were also among the top 25 most-streamed shows last year among this age group.
One possible reason for the appeal of this genre is the comfort it provides viewers. Many current programs are geared towards more raw, realistic storytelling than was prevalent in the 1990s and early 2000s. Brian Fuhrer, Nielsen’s television historian explains: “Some of these powerful programs can be emotionally draining to stream. It can be hard to binge content like that, especially when the world is already so complex today.” Hence, classics are often a welcome respite for women in this age group seeking lighter and more familiar narratives.
The demand for stronger female roles in movies has also been evidenced in recent box office performances. Movies that pass the Bechdel test, which evaluates whether two women discuss something other than a man in a film, tend to generate higher revenue at the domestic box office. An analysis conducted by Vocativ unveiled that movies with the most robust roles for women attracted the highest percentage of females: The Other Woman’s audience was 75% female; Maleficent’s 60%; and Neighbours’ 53%. “It’s clear from our survey that women want more female-driven stories told by female writers and directors on the big screen,” Alicia Malone, author of “Backwards & In Heels: The Past, Present and Future of Women Working in Film, said in a statement. “Contrary to the age-old Hollywood belief, women are not just looking for romance at the cinema.” As proven in her survey, 82% of females surveyed said they were more inclined to see a movie with dynamic female characters, 75% said they prefer to watch movies with diverse casts and 57% said they prefer female-driven stories to be told by female filmmakers/writers. With statistics such as these, it is no wonder that films and television shows which feature women-centric plots such as Lady Bird, Little Women, and Fleabag have attained critical and commercial success.
“Women have always been a very important part of the cinemagoing population, very influential over other audiences, especially male. What we’ve seen in the last year [is] a greater focus on films about women, for women, and I can only see that trend increasing because it’s a very strong, very viable audience,” Hewlett remarks. This shifting consumption preference thus highlights the importance of diverse storytelling and representation in both television and film to better connect with this crucial demographic.
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