How TikTok launched cable series ‘Suits’ into streaming history

“Suits” is shattering streaming records — but series creator Aaron Korsh said it’s not all due to curiosity about cast member Meghan Markle, aka The Duchess of Sussex.

“I think it’s a multi-tiered effect,” Korsh, 56, told The Post.

“About a month before [‘Suits’] showed up on Netflix I started hearing from many people … saying that their teenage son or daughter saw the [‘Suits’] interview scene with Mike [Patrick J. Adams] and Harvey [Gabriel Macht] on TikTok and started watching the series — and now all their friends are addicted to it … like seniors in high school and freshmen in college.”

“Suits” aired on USA Network from 2011-2019 (nine seasons) and Markle — who played paralegal-turned-lawyer Rachel Zane — met and married Prince Harry toward the latter part of its run. (She did not return for the series finale due to obvious reasons.)

All nine seasons of “Suits” have streamed on Peacock for several years — Season 9 is also available on Prime Video — but it wasn’t until early July, when it debuted on Netflix in the US, that it really took off. It snared 3.1 billion viewing minutes in its opening week on Netflix and Peacock and 3.7 billion viewing minutes the following week — a new streaming record for an acquired series (as opposed to an original show).

It’s now spent seven weeks in the Top 10 streaming series on Netflix.

“Somehow it got hot on TikTok and then, when it got on Netflix, they will suggest/push a show on you and that was a huge thing,” Korsh said. “And, obviously, there’s some component of people being fascinated to see what Meghan was like before she was married to Harry. I think it’s sort of a combination of those three things.

“Look, I love the fact that Meghan is now helping us,” Korsh said. “I think she did an amazing job on the show and I love that people can see her. The reason I don’t think that’s the only reason [for the viewership spike] is that she’s been married to Harry for many years and ‘Suits’ has been out there for many years — and, for whatever reason, people started watching it this summer.

“To me, whatever gets people to watch, I’ll take it.”

As the series creator, Korsh is a “profit participant” in “Suits” but said he’s not consulted regarding its streaming options. “They have to, sort of sometime after the fact, show me who they sold it to and what it sold for,” he said. “My understanding at the time we sold it to Amazon was that the studio, UCP, had a choice whether to sell to Netflix or Amazon because Peacock didn’t exist then.

“I believe Amazon was offering way more money, but on Netflix there was the possibility we would explode in the ratings like we are doing now,” he said. “I was not upset at the time that it went to Amazon because they were paying a ton of money and it helped us keep the show on the air and ultimately helped me make more money — and now it feels like we’re getting the best of both worlds.”

Korsh pooh-poohed the idea of a “Suits” reunion movie or followup series and agreed with executive producer Gene Klein that Markle could never return in any iteration.

“To my knowledge, there’s been no talk from the studio or any network in our direction,” he said. “When ‘Suits’ was over, I was incredibly satisfied with the run we had and I wasn’t wishing we had more [seasons]. I wasn’t yearning to do more. It’s not my creative goal to do a ‘Suits’ movie; I think it would be fun but I have other projects I would like to do.

“I will concur with Gene Klein that [if the scenario presented itself] I would love to have Meghan back, like I said when we were doing the [series] finale,” he said. “But I cannot see a realistic world where she would be able to do that and I would not want to put her in the position of having to pass on it.”