Our new global report, Gender & Age Diversity in Global Ad Creative, analyzes how gender and age are represented in 2 million ads over four years (2019-2022), by leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning models within publicly available video creative. The study reveals that global video ad creative is dominated by male actors and voices and that those ads are also more likely to showcase cast members under the age of 40. 

In December 2022, we released the first-ever, large-scale diversity and accessibility benchmarks for the ad industry in North America that analyzed 1 million TV and Video ads that were deployed in the US/Canada. It grew out of the expanding proprietary work we do with individual clients.

This new study is an expansion of the gender and age portion of the North American analysis, offering analysis across nine global regions, while also providing detailed breakdowns of diversity in ad creative for 16 individual countries. 

“The response to our first report revealed a thirst for this information and we’re pleased to expand our analysis of publicly available ad creative to a global level, starting first with a focus on gender and age. Of course, progress happens over time, so we look forward to tracking these benchmarks at regular intervals. Each unique business has its own diversity goals and efforts, and we’re proud of the proprietary work we do with our clients in this area,” said Melinda McLaughlin, CMO of Extreme Reach. 

So what do consumers see and hear today? Here are a few findings from the report: 

• Every region around the world skews male in cast member visual composition.
• Advertising in Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest male skew with 73% male cast members seen and heard.
• Every region exhibits a significant skew to 20-39 year old cast members. 
• Regions with the youngest cast member complexion are LATAM, East & South East Asia, and North Africa & Western Asia. 

We invite you to download the full report to see additional insights.  

Gender & Age Diversity in Global Ad Creative 

This is one of the many areas of insight made possible by our end-to-end creative-to-media supply chain. Reach out at any time to talk about what that would look like for you and your team.