Last week, while I was in London, I caught up with Netflix analyst Kasey Moore, who relayed an eye-popping fact: The recently released miniseries Baby Reindeer grew its viewership from 10.4 million hours viewed to nearly 53 million, or more than 400 percent from its first week to its second—one of the largest jumps in Netflix history.
Kasey had a few theories about Baby Reindeer’s massive growth, crediting the show’s buzz on TikTok (like many hits these days) and Netflix’s move to capitalize on the early momentum by elevating it to the main carousel in several countries. I don’t disagree with any of that. But I’d go back a step and argue that Baby Reindeer broke out in large part simply because it was on Netflix, and the streamer binge-released it.
