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ViacomCBS rolls out No Diversity, No Commission worldwide

Increased diversity both on & off-screen will become mandatory for 10, MTV commissions.

10 shows will be evolving to even more diversity as parent company ViacomCBS expands a “No Diversity, No Commission” strategy to 180 countries.

Designed to help promote diversity both on-screen and behind the scenes, the strategy was announced for the UK in July. It will also cover MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central titles in Australia / New Zealand.

Production companies must adhere to diversity guidelines before budgets are signed off and productions are approved to begin.

ViacomCBS Networks International CEO David Lynn said. “ViacomCBS Networks International creates and distributes content to audiences all over the world. This approach will ensure that we are both reflecting our audience, as well as elevating new diverse creative voices.

“Change requires thorough research, careful planning, and immense care, and we’re looking forward to creating impactful, sustainable change through the power of our networks, partnerships, platforms and brands.”

In Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, 30% of ViacomCBS Networks International’s 2021 budget will be focused on producing stories about underrepresented groups and issues.

Source: Deadline

7 Responses

  1. Whether it be drama, news or reality, on the whole diversity on Australian commercial television is woeful. I applaud whatever steps are taken to improve that.

    1. Except that a lot of Reality can be very good at diversity. Shows like MasterChef, Ninja, The Voice, AGT, most cooking / singing / dancing shows are particularly strong. Children’s TV has also done quite a bit in this area in recent years.

  2. Forcing the diversity is weird, uncreative, uninspiring, and can be disempowering for underrepresented and minority demographics when not based on merit. Ways to have diversity without tokenism and force is to promote and market to diverse cultural backgrounds in auditioning and recruitment, and to have programming and stories which are inherently from or related to existing diverse groups or cultures in society and from the foreign markets themselves, meaning that the casting and recruitment would naturally end up being diverse without having to force it. An example would be MasterChef naturally appealing to a broad range of cultures for casting as foods and produce are of global origins. Or titles and movies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding that would naturally appeal for Greek casting roles.

  3. I am all for a bit of diversity in my shows – but I feel with enforced rules as this, we will now see shows where you can mark off the obligatory stereotypes on a bingo card

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