While I think the USA Network was a great home for shows like Suits, White Collar and Monk in its day, I do wonder if, in retrospect, Suits would have done amazing on network television like NBC. It was glossy and fun, a breezy hour-long drama with attractive people and a diverse cast. In this sliding-doors situation, I have to think that NBC probably would have canceled it though, which is why USA was a better home – Suits was allowed the time and space to tell its story and pace itself the right way without NBC executives breathing down their necks. Still, I’d like to know if NBC does have any regrets about not picking up Suits back in 2010-11. Anyway, the story in 2023 is still that people are rediscovering Suits, so much so that the Suits Renaissance is practically responsible for fueling what Deadline refers to as a “grim milestone.”
It’s a streaming world, and we’re just living in it. It is no secret that streaming dominates the TV landscape, but Nielsen measured a new (and somewhat grim) milestone for broadcast and cable in July’s edition of the company’s monthly state of TV report, The Gauge. For the first time, linear TV viewership accounted for less than 50% of all TV usage in a measurement month.
According to Nielsen, broadcast and cable each represented record low shares at 20% and 29.6% of total TV usage, respectively, to combine for a linear television total of 49.6%. Compared to this time last year, broadcast viewing was down 5.4%, and cable viewing was down 12.5%.
On a month-over-month basis, broadcast viewing fell 3.6% in July and cable viewing was down 2.9%. Nielsen reports that dramas remained the top broadcast genre, but the top programs of the month were actually ABC World News Tonight and the MLB All Star Game on Fox. As for cable, sports took the cake as usual, with ESPN’s Home Run Derby and College World Series at the top.
Then, there was streaming. Viewing across streamers increase by 2.9% from June to July and has ballooned 25.3% in the past year. It now represents 38.7% of total TV usage, which is a new record-high for the second consecutive month.
Netflix was a major contributor to the increase in streaming viewership (with a 4.2% increase in its share of total TV usage), assisted by none other than Suits. The legal dramedy has taken over screens across the U.S. since it debuted on Netflix and Peacock simultaneously in June, breaking Nielsen records with nearly 4B minutes viewed in just one measurement week.
In July, Suits accounted for 18B viewing minutes. To put that into perspective, Nielsen says that Stranger Things also managed 18B viewing minutes last July with the conclusion of Season 4. Put more plainly, people are watching a lot of Suits.
Basically, people would rather watch Suits on Netflix or Peacock rather than whatever is scheduled on NBC, CBS and ABC. And for the first time, more people are opting out of network and cable television than opting in. I mean… my TV is almost always set on Tennis Channel, the Food Network or the Cooking Channel, but I get it. I also get why this has become the Summer of Suits – people enjoy watching completed, multi-season TV shows. Over 18 billion minutes of Suits watched on streaming… I can’t even comprehend those kinds of numbers. Definitely wish that Meghan, the cast and the writers were being paid residuals for it.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, ‘Suits’/Instagram.
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- Meghan Markle attends the NBCUniversal New York Summer Press Day on June 24, 2015 at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, New York, USA.,Image: 524926184, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Robin Platzer/Twin Images / Twin Images / Avalon
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- cast of Suits, Gabriel Macht, Sarah Rafferty, Rick Hoffman and Meghan Markle and attend the NBCUniversal New York Summer Press Day on June 24, 2015 at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, New York, USA.,Image: 524926353, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Robin Platzer/Twin Images / Twin Images / Avalon
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- cast of Suits, Sarah Rafferty and Meghan Markle and attend the NBCUniversal New York Summer Press Day on June 24, 2015 at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, New York, USA.,Image: 524926563, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Robin Platzer/Twin Images / Twin Images / Avalon
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- Meghan Markle at the NBC-Universal 2014 TCA Winter Press Tour, Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa, Pasadena, CA 01-19-14,Image: 551006412, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Martin Sloan / Avalon
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- Meghan Markle at the NBC-Universal 2014 TCA Winter Press Tour, Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa, Pasadena, CA 01-19-14,Image: 551006415, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Martin Sloan / Avalon
I watch my morning news live but everything else I stream. Even network television shows. That’s what my Hulu subscription is for. So I can catch my shows anytime I want.
ETA: Of the cast and writers aren’t getting residuals, I hope this translates into more opportunities for them.
USA Network is owned by NBC. And Suits was a top show for at least part of its run. Heck I liked the fake lawyer format so much I wound up checking out French fake lawyers “Family Business” DVDs from the library.
I love that it’s being watched so much and yes it’s sad about the residuals they receive but I will love that the land of make believe will be losing their💩 over this.
@susanCollins, oh they are Susan, you can bet your house on it, funny thought, wonder if that’s why kateykins was shipped of to the Hanbury residence, so that William could drool over suits and Megan in peace 🤔🙄
@susan Collins I live in the land of make believe. They are still losing their collective sh*t 😂
@Layla. When I say land of make believe I’m talking about the royal cult and tabloids. I hold no ill will towards the British people. I apologize if I offended anyone with my name for them. I see that you got a laugh out of it I’m just making sure I have not offended.
Suits performance on the streamers further vindicate the writers and actors strikes.
And, from what I understand, Meghan is not getting any residuals from Suits at all?
If that’s the case, it’s outrageous
Its minimal but I guess she got an upfront payment. Or the main cast members did. The residual checks are minimal compared to what they used to be.
I can’t help but thinking that part of the problem we’re seeing here is that these streaming services were never, never a commercially viable endeavor in that they simply do not create enough of a return to actually pay out the residuals that people should be getting, and they don’t create enough return to justify the cost of creating award winning television, and we’re absolutely seeing that bubble burst. I think this is why we see streamers like HBO/MAX making all of these seemingly insane choices like cancelling all the series that people actually watch, dismantling tent poles like WestWorld (their leading and most critically well received series, canceled so late into its literal last season that they still had to pay all of the actors for a season they never got to film). I absolutely support the strikes, and it’s clear that, like all industries, the top five percent of corporate positions were racking in enormous salaries and bonuses even though the businesses themselves are going under – I just wonder if this is functionally the end of prestige television. I’m not sure that the economy of even 20$-30$-50$ a month subscriptions (on any scale) can actually pay for multi-multi million new productions and/or residuals for hundreds of already existing series.
They will have to incorporate advertising. What company wouldn’t want 18 billion hours worth of eyeballs watching their products? I don’t think the streamers will just fold and disappear.
I worry that you’re right and this is the end of prestige television. I cut the cord so long ago I’m not sure I could ever go back. Other than Mad Men and the first couple seasons of GoT my entire relationship with prestige television has been through streaming. The premium cable channels have always existed in a subscription, ad free model, so why can’t that work for the streamers? Initially channels like HBO & Showtime were mostly film catalogs not original programming but they still managed to pay residuals.
The thing is I am rewatching Suits on Netflix (I think I first binged it n Amazon?) because I’m under a lot of stress right now and it’s mindless fun. It is not prestige writing, though. Suits is the type of show Ai is poised to write. Suits/Cheers/ER. Slick shows just edgy enough to keep us hooked but highly advertising friendly. And nothing new will ever surface again.
ER in it’s early days was premium show with incredible writing
By the standards of the 90s absolutely, and so was Cheers in its day. But both were only as edgy as mainstream advertisers would allow for. They were still largely episodic with most obstacles resolved quickly, not played out in multi season story arcs.
I tried some time ago to watch Suits, because of Meg, but couldn’t really get into it, maybe it’s time to try again!
Meghan Markle’s name alone is worth hundreds of millions. The Suits streaming hype is self-explanatory.
The Royal family contributed very little to nothing, to Meghan Markle’s world fame, charisma, and stamina. It is actually the other way round. Without them, Meghan would be a thriving B-list actress, married all the same and with children all the same. She was meant to be. Her destiny is so strong that her father once played her birth date numbers and won the jackpot.
Meghan is Diana-sent’s posthumous relief and reward to Harry for being genuine. Those petty royal parasites are fully aware that Miss Markle was a goddess long before they made her a princess, hence their heinous jealousy. Girl married down with those people.
I would LOVE to see Meghan act again. She’s very talented! She’s absolutely luminous every time she’s onscreen in Suits.
I would love to see her in a show, where she can really show her acting chops. I think the part of Rachel is nice, but not a really meaty role.
I think (the later seasons in particular) dropped so many f-bombs that it could not be shown on NBC. I am one that only recently picked up Suits and made it my summer project to watch. Just last week I completed all 9 seasons on Netflix. I loved the first 7 seasons more, but watched it through to the end. I was obsessed with this show and watched it every second that I could. The wardrobe, the cast, the music, the harveyisms, jessicaisms and donnaisms and also because it was litt up with prunies!
“Litt up with prunies!” 😂😂😂
IYKYK 😀
Meghan is such a star on this show. She’s beautiful but she’s also great with the comedy AND the drama. I love seeing her act because she really is so talented.
Astounding. Apart from people watching it because of Meghan, the show itself is appealing . I can imagine it would generate Suits like shows being produced .
I’m sure it’s a very good show but don’t think Meghan is getting enough credit for the incredible success of Suits- another testament to the ‘Meghan factor.’
She is not, for some reason everybody is scared to say it 😏 but if Suits had flopped it would be all Meghan.
That Stranger Things comparison is so insane. I know there are obviously a lot more episodes of Suits than Stranger Things but a show like Suits that’s been off the air for years having a streaming peak as high as Stranger Things, one of the biggest streaming shows of all time, is mind blowing. If it wasn’t for the strikes i think we’d be hearing about a possible reboot because no one is going to want to leave money like that on the table and i also think in the extremely unlike chance Meghan were decide to go back to acting her agent’s phone would be ringing off the hook.
William, Kate and the rota clowns don’t like this news. Anything to do with Sussexes success they hate. So the hate propaganda by the RF and the rota clowns is going to double down nonstop.
there’s an article somewhere floating around that Suits is the perfect just serious but not serious enough show to binge this summer and have on in the background. so sad the writers and actors get nothing from these streams. keep wondering if Meghan is gonna do some picketing with the actors, but i don’t think she’s a SAG member anymore. anyways, will have to try again with Suits…couldn’t get into it the first time.
Suits was the top 10 Most watched out of all tv shows yesterday. You know who are super upset about that, it raises their blood pressure.
Wow. Tinfoil tiara time:
I saw something on Twitter that said different ways to watch suits. They definitely didn’t look like links to Netflix and I wondered if someone was trying to deflate the impact suits has had on Netflix. Trying to drive traffic away from Netflix in advance of these numbers coming out.
@Kaiser Love your insight, your excellent writing and the Sliding Doors reference.