
The audience for filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s 2016 documentary “13th,” about mass incarceration that disproportionately affects black people, surged 4,665% over the past three weeks, streaming service Netflix Inc said on Tuesday. Millions of people watched, the company said, although it did not give a specific figure.
Streaming networks have highlighted programming by black creators as protests swelled following the death of African- American George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
AT&T Inc’s HBO Max featured a slate of shows and movies under the heading “Celebrating Black Voices,” while Walt Disney Co’s Hulu included a link to “Black Stories.”
“Dear White People,” a Netflix comedy about black Ivy League college students, enjoyed a 331% boost in demand in the United States over the past 30 days, according to Parrot Analytics, which measures downloads, social-media mentions and other data.
DuVernay’s Netflix series “When They See Us,” about five men wrongly accused of raping a jogger in New York’s Central Park in 1989, saw demand jump 83% in that time.
On the Apple TV app, which featured sections called “Confronting Systemic Racism” and “Black in America,” 2014 Oscar-winning drama “12 Years a Slave” climbed to No. 8 on the list of top independent films for the week ending June 14.
That was just behind documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” and “Loving,” a biographical film about an interracial couple who prompted a landmark anti-discrimination ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967.