'Suits' and the return of older TV shows dominate streaming trends
A new report is laying out the most streamed shows of 2023. However, the results aren't what you'd expect.
"Suits" is the most popular streamed TV show of 2023 with 57.7 billion streaming minutes, marking a change in streaming trends that caught many by surprise.
SUITS -- Season 1 -- Pictured: (l-r) Gina Torres as Jessica Pearson, Rick Hoffmann as Louis Litt, Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane, Gabriel Macht as Harvey Specter, Patrick Adams as Mike Ross -- (Photo by: Frank Ockenfels/USA/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal
The show featuring Gabriel Macht, Patrick Adams, and Meghan Markle flipped the office right out of that top spot since Neilson began releasing its top 10 charts.
"It’s hard to necessarily explain why it is. Is there a fascination about Megan Markle? Is it really just the comfort of the structure of the show" questioned Daniel Fienberg, a chief television critic at Hollywood Reporter.
Millennials and Gen Zers in control of the remote found a new comfort in the old comfort TV that kept their parents and grandparents on the couch during primetime.
"They don’t necessarily have the upbringing with the syndicated market that Gen X and Baby boomers where you knew there was going to be a random repeat of the A Team or Hogans Hero’s or Andy Griffith Show," added Fienberg.
"Suits" wasn’t alone in older shows revived as TV chart toppers.
Shows like "NCIS," "Grey's Anatomy" and "The Big Bang Theory" also cracked the top 10, something no streaming service original series did, which begs the question will older syndicated shows become the new wave of 2024?
"The syndicated marketplace, it worked people liked syndication. People liked knowing there were 2 episodes of Simpsons that were going to be on every night that you could eat your dinner with and watch," Feinberg added.
Even without a guide to your primetime lineup, it’s the viewers who'll define what shows will soar in streaming this year.
"People discovered; you can make your own syndicated world. You can have your repeats on whenever you want and I think that’s a pleasant thing to discover have come out of nowhere," Fienberg told FOX 5.
Fienberg has his own bold guess.