Black households were 25% more likely to watch the new season premiere of “Ginny & Georgia” on Netflix than the average U.S. household, new data from Samba TV showed, highlighting the appeal of shows with diverse casts.
“‘Ginny & Georgia’ is proving to be one of the more popular Netflix premieres among diverse audiences, over-indexing among Black households in its sophomore season premiere,” said Samba TV president Dallas Lawrence. “What we are seeing time and again is that shows that invest in cast members that look like their audience tend to perform well in today’s crowded streaming content marketplace.”
The first episode of the show’s second season scored over 1.1 million U.S. households in its first four days available to stream. Episode 1 outpaced the first episodes of “Emily in Paris” Season 3, “Dead to Me” Season 3, “Sins of Our Mother” Season 1, “1899” Season 1 — all also on Netflix — and Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” Season 5 within the same period of time.
The sophomore season of the Netflix show created by Sarah Lampert debuted Jan. 5. Ten hour-long episodes continue the stories of Georgia (Brianne Howey), a single mother with two kids, each from different fathers, and her daughter Ginny (Antonia Gentry), as well as their Wellsbury peers. The mother-daughter relationship centers the show, but a tension grows between Ginny, who has a white mother and Black father, and her mother Georgia, whose whiteness prevents her from fully understanding her mixed-race daughter.
And apparently, that’s not just on TV. Over a week after the latest season came out on Netflix, actress Keke Palmer tweeted about how her chauffeur wanted to watch the show to better understand his daughter.
“The show also resonated with a younger audience, as younger Millennial viewers ages 25-34 were more likely to watch than the average household by 15%,” Lawrence said. “Appealing to these younger, more diverse audiences creates new opportunities for streamers as they continue to fight for market share, find new growth opportunities, and continue to widen their subscriber bases.”
The show didn’t resonate as much with older generations like Gen X and Baby Boomers, which under-indexed in viewership.
Race and age only scratch the surface when it comes to the show’s diverse themes. Clint (Chris Kenopic), father of the Baker twins Max (Sara Waisglass) and Marcus (Felix Mallard), is deaf, and the family including mom Ellen (Jennifer Robertson) have scenes where they communicate in sign language.
According to showrunner Debra J. Fisher, celebrity therapist Taji Huang advised the creators on portraying mental health. They also worked with Mental Health America to inform their representation of the issue, one that’s important to younger viewers.
Five days following “Ginny”‘s sophomore season premiere, it notched 180.47 million hours viewed to land in the top spot on Netflix’s English TV list. Fans who needed a recap also landed Season 1 in the No. 5 slot with 44.37 million hours viewed leading up to Season 2’s launch.
