Suits, which is available to stream on Netflix, has been revealed as the most-streamed programme of 2023 across all platforms in the United States.
The data has been unveiled by Nielsen, whose study discovered that Suits set a new record for most minutes watched in a single year, which was previously held by The Office US. In 2023, the legal drama accumulated a watch time of 57.7 billion minutes, after becoming a surprise hit on Netflix.
While the legal drama has been available to stream in its entirety for many years on Peacock, it wasn’t until Netflix acquired the license for Suits that the programme enjoyed a renaissance.
The success of Suits is part of a wider popular trend on streaming platforms of older programming enjoying a second lease of life after being purchased by sites such as Netflix. The top ten also features NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy, Supernatural, The Gilmore Girls, Friends, and Heartland.
Compared with the 2022 survey by Nielsen, streaming viewership rose by 21 per cent in 2023. The year prior, the figure grew 21.6 per cent. Throughout the entirety of 2023, 21 million years worth of content was consumed on streaming platforms in the US alone.
During an interview with TVLine in July, Suits executive producer Gene Klein reacted to the programme becoming increasingly popular. “I was surprised. I’m very proud of the show. I, obviously, had a sense when I found out it was coming to Netflix [that] it would probably get another burst of viewing and that kind of thing, but I did not think this would happen. … People are sticking with it. It’s lovely,” he remarked.
However, Klein revealed there’s currently no plans to revive the series, noting: “I’ve mentioned to [creator] Aaron [Korsh] that I keep, in this era of reboots and reunions and all this other stuff, that I’m expecting a call at some point. But I’m not aware of any serious conversations. It’s just one of those things where, in this day and age, you wouldn’t be surprised if somebody called you someday.”
See the full list of most-streamed shows of 2023 below.