Suits dominates 2023 streaming ranking – but one show is missing

All anyone could talk about in the summer of 2023 was Suits’s grand resurgence into the spotlight as it dominated streaming numbers for weeks. The series continues its success, but one popular series was left out.

The USA Network legal drama was a smashing success during its original run on cable television. After its last season on the air, fans had always hoped for more despite its somewhat successful spinoff. In 2023, Netflix released the first eight seasons of Suits, having acquired the rights to stream it.

It became the series of the summer, outwinning Netflix originals and keeping its place on the throne for months. Suits generated billions in watch time, a feat no other acquired series has done before.

Now into 2023, Suits still reigns supreme as the official numbers from Nielsen prove it. But another hit series that dethroned Suits isn’t included – here’s why.

Suits is still the top winner against a popular spinoff

Despite Young Sheldon having taken the number one spot from both Suits and Amazon Prime’s Reacher Season 2, Suits was announced as the most streamed show of the year in 2023.

According to Variety, Suits generated “57.7B viewing minutes in 2023, spending 12 consecutive weeks at the top of Nielsen’s charts after it landed on Netflix in June.”

The series was in for the long haul, beating out Netflix newcomers, but there was a reason behind its success. Nielsen SVP Brian Fuhrer explained the reason why the original series can’t keep up is simply because of “real estate.” Netflix acquired the first eight seasons of Suits with multiple episodes, each having a 40-minute run time.

“Originals are sprinters, like Usain Bolt getting that quick run, and the acquired titles are more distance runners,” explained Fuhrer. Die-hard and new fans spent more time on Netflix watching eight seasons of Suits than they did, for example, binge-watching one season of The Fall of the House of Usher.

The renewed interest in Suits has even led fans to hope for Season 10 as the cast are back in the spotlight and have given their two cents on returning.

While Suits was an outright shiny gem for the streaming platform, so was Young Sheldon. Not only did Netflix acquire the rights to all seasons, but the show is set to premiere its final seventh season. The Big Bang Theory spinoff knocked Suits right off its throne but wasn’t included as one of the series that generated the most numbers in 2023, according to Nielsen.

Why? The answer is simple. Young Sheldon’s addition to Netflix came too late to generate the same numbers as Suits. It arrived in late November of 2023. Despite its impressive growth in numbers, Suits had already amassed more since last summer.