Top-streaming TV shows and movies in the US last year

Courtroom drama ‘Suits’ racked up an astonishing 57.7 bil viewing minutes last year. (USA Network pic)

There are cult shows that never see their popularity wane, even when they go off the air. In a recent report, Nielsen recapped the shows and movies most watched by American viewers via streaming in 2023. And it seems that one show stands out far ahead of its rivals: “Suits”, the series that brought Meghan Markle to the small screen, tops the list of the most-streamed acquired programmes in the US.

The courtroom drama racked up 57.7 billion viewing minutes last year, far outstripping all other streamed content, whether acquired series, originals or films. “Suits” even held the No. 1 spot on Nielsen’s top 10 TV streaming list for a record 12 consecutive weeks last year, thanks in part to the fact that it was broadcast on both Peacock and Netflix, boosting its reach.

The current success of “Suits” is hardly surprising – for some years now, the top 10 has been dominated by series that have been running for a long time, or even by shows that have come to an end altogether.

In 2020, cult favorite “The Office” won over audiences, racking up 57.1 billion viewing minutes in the midst of the pandemic. Similarly, “The Big Bang Theory”, “Friends”, “Gilmore Girls” and “Supernatural” are also long-gone series, but all round out the top 10 most-streamed acquired series of 2023.

Also noteworthy is the popularity of “NCIS”: the series launched in 2003 and is still in production, remaining among the most-watched shows. In fact, it gained 1.3 million more viewing minutes than in 2022, to reach 39.4 billion minutes.

For Nielsen, the writers’ strike in the US last year had a direct impact on audiences, particularly for live-action shows. This situation benefited the animated series “Bluey” (2018), which Nielsen says “doubled its viewing time from 2022 to 43.9 billion viewing minutes, and was strong enough for it to overtake ‘Cocomelon’, which was the top programme for kids in 2021 and 2022”.

‘Moana’ was streamed for close to 80 bil minutes last year – the equivalent of watching the full movie 775 mil times! (Disney pic)

As for streamed movies, “Moana”, the Disney film released in cinemas in 2016, reached an all-time high with 11.6 billion minutes viewed last year. “Since Nielsen began measuring streaming, audiences have watched nearly 80 billion minutes of ‘Moana’, which translates to watching the full movie 775 million times,” the report stated.

In total, original shows scored more than 133 billion viewing minutes in 2023, with Americans streaming the equivalent of 21 million years of video content. This represents 21% growth compared with 2022.

2023 top 10 acquired streaming programmes (minutes viewed in billions)