Women’s Share of Streaming Series Creators Fell to 24% in One Season

Women made up 24% of creators on streaming series in the 2025-26 season, according to the Boxed In report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. That is down from 36% a year earlier and below the 27% of 2023-24. NYWIFT’s summary of the report gives its release date as September 1, 2026.

The 12-point fall in the streaming creator share is the largest of the three streaming changes the report gives for the season. The same report covers broadcast television and gives shares for directors and major characters, so the creator figure is one part of a wider set of results. This article sets out those numbers, how they compare with earlier seasons, and what the study says it covers.

A Twelve-Point Fall in Streaming Creator Share

The streaming figure moved in both directions over three seasons. It was 27% in 2023-24, rose to 36% in 2024-25 and fell back to 24% in 2025-26. The latest figure is 12 percentage points below the prior season and three points below the level of two seasons earlier.

Compared with the prior season, the streaming creator share has dropped by a third of its previous level. That is a larger move than either of the other two streaming changes the report gives for 2025-26, and it leaves women at roughly one in four of the creators on streaming series.

The fall is also the largest of the three streaming changes for the season. Women’s share of streaming directors dropped 10 points over the same year, and their share of major characters fell five points. In each of the three measures, the decline on streaming is larger than the one on broadcast, although broadcast figures started from lower or similar levels.

The SDSU research page says women’s streaming creator and director shares “plummeted” in 2025-26. It describes the earlier rise as a momentary surge rather than a positive trend. The 2025-26 streaming creator share of 24% is the lowest of the three streaming creator readings cited here.

Streaming Creator Share, 2025-26
Women made up 24% of streaming series creators in the 2025-26 season, down from 36% in 2024-25, according to the Boxed In report. The figure was 27% in 2023-24.

Broadcast Creators Dip Less, Narrowing the Platform Gap

On broadcast programs, women made up 19% of creators in 2025-26, down from 20% in 2024-25. The change is one point, far smaller than the streaming decline.

The gap between the two platforms has narrowed. In 2024-25, streaming was 16 points ahead of broadcast on women creators, at 36% against 20%. In 2025-26 it is five points ahead, at 24% against 19%. Streaming still has the higher share, but the lead has shrunk to less than a third of its former size.

Broadcast had smaller changes than streaming on all three measures in 2025-26: one point on creators, two points on directors and one point on major characters. Streaming moved more on each of them, and the streaming creator figure moved the most.

NYWIFT’s summary and the SDSU research page both say women’s creator figures on each platform are now lower than in 2017-18.

On directors, the broadcast share of 16% is also lower than the streaming share of 22% in the same season. On creators, the broadcast share of 19% is lower than streaming’s 24%.

Directors and Major Characters Also Decline

The SDSU center reports that women made up 22% of directors on streaming programs in 2025-26, down from 32% the year before. On broadcast, the director share was 16%, down from 18%. Streaming had the larger drop here as well.

The streaming director share was 23% in 2023-24, 32% in 2024-25 and 22% in 2025-26, so the 2024-25 figure is the highest of the three seasons.

Female characters made up 44% of major characters on streaming series, down from 49%. On broadcast the figure was 46%, down from 47%. In 2024-25, streaming led broadcast on major characters by two points. In 2025-26 it trails broadcast by two points, which reverses the order of the two platforms.

Major character shares are reported separately from creator and director shares. The 44% figure describes on-screen roles, not the people who developed or directed the shows.

Taken together, the three measures fall on streaming, and the broadcast declines are smaller in each case.

The 2025-26 figures for the three measures are 24% and 19% for creators, 22% and 16% for directors, and 44% and 46% for major characters, with streaming first in each pair.

Women made up 24% of creators on streaming series in the 2025-26 season, down from 36% a year earlier.

How the Study Counts and What It Covers

The report covers the 2025-26 television year. Cynopsis, in its summary of the study, says it tracked more than 2,500 characters and 3,600 credits. Those counts indicate the scale of the study behind the percentages, though they do not show how many series were counted within it.

NYWIFT’s summary says the streaming creator and director figures cover original U.S. streaming programs. It also says the report contains breakdowns for age and gender.

NYWIFT’s summary describes the Boxed In series as tracking women’s representation in prime-time television, across dramas, comedies and reality programs on broadcast networks, cable channels and streaming services.

A Cynopsis article on the study, dated September 2, 2026, says women are less represented in television than before, both on screen and behind the camera.

Because the report publishes percentages, the comparisons in this article are made from its own season-to-season figures. The point differences are simple subtractions of the published percentages.

The release date of September 1, 2026 comes from NYWIFT’s summary.

What the Figures Mean for Women Developing Series

For women creating streaming series, the 2025-26 creator figure is 24%. That is below the 27% of 2023-24 and well below the 36% recorded the season before. The same season shows a lower share of women directing streaming programs, at 22%, and a lower share of major female characters, at 44%.

The published figures are percentages. They describe the share of creator and director roles held by women, and the share of major characters.

The 2024-25 season is the comparison point for the report’s latest changes, and its 36% reading is the highest of the three streaming creator figures cited here. For women creating shows, the 2025-26 numbers place streaming back below its 2023-24 creator share.

Readers following the story will also want the broadcast figures, because the broadcast creator share moved by only one point in the same year.

NYWIFT’s summary also gives figures from an earlier edition of the series: women held 26% of creator roles and 25% of executive producer roles in 2011-12, which the series described as new historical highs.

Photo: Chicken4War · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons