Study: Older Titles Like ‘Suits’ Are Gaining in Popularity; Is Netflix Vetting Potential Acquisition Targets?

Netflix’s decision to license “Suits” from Peacock was not guaranteed to be a success, let alone a record-breaking one. Licensing deals happen all the time, and there’s no way to be sure that a particular title will do any better or worse on its new streaming home than it did on its old one; but when a licensed title becomes a breakout hit on its acquiring platform, it can significant impacts for its new home.

• New data released by Hub Research shows that 64% of streaming audiences say their new favorite show is one that has several seasons available, as opposed to being a brand-new release.
• Many respondents identified “Suits” as their top new title, which was only available on Peacock until Netflix licensed its streaming rights earlier this year.
• “Suits” exploded in popularity on Netflix, which may be licensing content from providers to see which shows do well enough to consider buying the outlet they came from.

The ‘Suits’ Effect

Turns out, licensing “Suits” was one of Netflix’s best decisions of 2023. The show has remained near or at the top of global streaming charts ever since this summer, and its momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing down one iota.

That assertion is re-confirmed by data released this week by Hub Research. Its numbers indicate that of streaming users between 16-74 years of age who discovered a new favorite show in the past year, 64% say their chosen title is an older series with several seasons currently available; many who picked an established show as their favorite identified “Suits” by name. Only 36% said their favorite streaming show of the past year was a brand-new title.

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The data from Hub reinforces numbers from Whip Media that came out this week, which show that free ad-supported streaming platform users are also gravitating toward reruns of older titles at a higher rate than in years past. Strikes by Hollywood writers’ and actors’ unions have likely accelerated the rush toward older titles as the steady stream of new content releases has slowed down, but as Hub’s data shows, they’ve been gaining in popularity over recent years.

Does Netflix Intend to Make a Serious Pursuit of Peacock or Max?

The licensing deal between Netflix and NBCU to show “Suits” on both Peacock and Netflix is likely not a harbinger of any bigger business dealings between the two as of now. But Netflix could use its internal viewership data for the show as part of its calculations if it looks to become acquisition-minded in the next few years.

Indeed as streaming services begin to aggregate with each other, Netflix could be one of the last few streamers left standing in the next 10 years. The world’s largest streamer could be using its licensing deals with other outlets as a way to gather intelligence for a day when smaller streaming platforms begin looking for a buyer.

Warner Bros. Discovery also has a licensing deal with Netflix currently, encompassing several HBO originals like “Band of Brothers” as well as “True Blood,” which executives have confirmed will debut on Netflix soon. WBD’s flagship service Max has seen rising engagement for titles licensed to Netflix, which is enjoying very healthy viewership numbers for those shows.

We are still several years away from streaming services with huge companies like WBD and Comcast behind them trying to sell themselves to Netflix, but it would hardly be surprising to see Netflix hold into its data from these licensing agreements to use in future negotiations. One thing is certain: users are gobbling up older, newly-discovered series these days, and the lack of content caused by strikes is only part of the reason.