Report: Warner Bros. Animation And Cartoon Network Are Leading The Way In Warnermedia’s Onscreen Diversity Push

• Across Cartoon Network shows in development, 54% of protagonists are female. The number for Warner Bros. Animation is 52%.
• Of the protagonists of color in development at Cartoon Network, 58% are women.
• Warnermedia doesn’t give figures for animated characters currently onscreen. But across all its scripted shows, it says 36% of characters are women (up from 34% in 2019).
• Cartoon Network has featured 96 LGBTQ+ characters in its shows and has aired 19 LGBTQ+-inclusive shows. This puts it ahead of all other surveyed platforms, according to Insider.com, whose report is cited by Warnermedia.
• Warnermedia’s global workforce is 54% male — unchanged from 2018. Men occupy 54% of senior leadership positions and 52% of management roles.
• The data presents gender as binary, with women accounting for the remaining 46% of the workforce. The report notes that Warnermedia is working to reframe how it captures gender.
• The workforce is 58% white, down from 61% in 2018. Senior leadership is 72% white, management 62%.
• Asian Americans make up 12% of the company, as do Black staff. Hispanic/Latinx workers account for 11%.

The report also contains a profile of Colombia’s Silvia Prietov and Luisa Velásquez, winners of 2020’s Girl Power: Pitch Me the Future pitching competition (which Cartoon Network Latin America runs with Pixelatl). “Beside education, the macho attitude can make it difficult [for women to advance in Colombia’s animation industry],” says Prietov. “I had one director tell me he’d never let me direct.”

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Image at top: Cartoon Network’s “Steven Universe,” which has promoted diversity and inclusivity in various ways