Suits - which shot Meghan Markle to fame — is setting new streaming records.
Nielsen reported that the legal drama, which aired on the USA Network between 2011 and 2019, has set a new record as the most viewed acquired streaming title nearly four years after its series finale.
The show starring Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Sarah Rafferty and Markle hit 3 billion viewing minutes between its two streaming platforms Peacock and Netflix for the week of June 26 to July 2.
On Netflix, which has the show’s first eight seasons available for streaming, Suits’ first season accumulated more than 26 million hours viewed during that week alone, according to Netflix’s Top Ten list. The show has remained in Netflix’s Top 10 Series for at least 4 weeks.
Nielsen also noted that the series is garnering interest from younger generations as the median viewing age for the series is trending younger than the series’ first run.
Suits follows the character of Mike Ross (Adams), who find himself working at a law firm alongside some of New York City’s best lawyers including Harvey Specter (Macht), Donna Paulson (Rafferty) and Rachel Zane (Markle).
Shortly after Markle and Prince Harry announced their engagement in November 2017, the cable channel announced the actress — who was stepping away from show business entirely — was leaving the show after season 7.
Despite Markle and her costar Adams both leaving their roles after the series’ seventh season, Suits carried on for two more seasons, concluding in 2019.
The show debuted on Netflix in June, six months after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s docuseries Harry & Meghan dropped on Netflix, making history as the platform’s biggest documentary debut ever with 81.55 million viewing hours.
Markle and Prince Harry, 38, first signed a multi-year deal with Netflix in September 2020. At the time, The New York Times reported that the couple’s production hub, later named Archewell Productions, would exclusively make documentaries, docuseries, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming for the platform.
So far, Harry & Meghan and Live to Lead — a documentary series inspired by Nelson Mandela and highlighting the work of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Greta Thunberg, Gloria Steinem and more — are their projects available to stream.
All nine seasons of Suits and Harry & Megan can be streamed in full on Netflix.
