This is an interesting one, because there has been a weird division in black and white television in the last couple decades. It used to be that whites watched The Cosby Show, and Good Times, and The Jeffersons, etc, and blacks watched All in the Family, Cheers, and Three's Company. But nowadays how many whites do you know that watch The Hugleys or that Daman Wayans show that I don't even know the name of (or, like, any of the 50 Tyler Perry movies that come out each year)? And Seinfeld was barely watched among blacks. It's totally bizarre that our cultures have gotten more separate in terms of the media we consume.There are more minority people in media but only portrayed in a certain manner.
Is it? Marketing and advertising seeks to sell as much product as it can, but not all products are inherently appealing to all people. Furthermore, marketing and advertising seeks to develop groups in such a way that a lot of product can be sold. If the TV viewing public are all watching one show, then that's a problem for other networks, who are also in the business of providing entertainment. It's also a problem for that network's sponsors, who run commercials they've crafted to appeal to the demographic watching the show at that time slot. However, it's easier to appeal to a niche market than it is to the public at large. Thus, we have a million channels and a million different things being sold on those channels. Of course, this is a gross oversimplification, but I definitely think that advertising and marketing has played a role in how people consume media and how media demographics are conceived of.It's totally bizarre that our cultures have gotten more separate in terms of the media we consume.