Netflix boss reveals surprising reason why Baby Reindeer was so successful

Every now and then there's a show that really does capture people's attention and has them hooked from start to finish.

Recently that's been Baby Reindeer, the harrowing account of how comedian Richard Gadd was stalked by someone who developed a nickname for him.

The show has been incredibly successful, though there have been some consequences to that success as a legion of Baby Reindeer fans have sought out the people the show was based on, despite Gadd asking them not to.

The series creator has the lead role in his show, though his name is switched to Donny for Baby Reindeer.

In the fallout from the show the 'real Martha' has reportedly hired lawyers and plans to pursue cases against both Gadd and Netflix.

There's no doubting that Baby Reindeer has become a massive hit, in part thanks to it being an engaging and at times harrowing watch that stays with you and compels you to keep watching.

However, there's another reason the show has been so successful.

Richard Gadd created the highly regarded Baby Reindeer. (Netflix)

Speaking to the New York Times, Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos was asked whether people's ability to stick to the content they wanted on the streaming platform meant they'd just 'get fed more of the same' and we would miss out on communal watching experiences.

It perhaps is true that you don't get as many 'watercooler moments' with TV these days as there's so much of it on, but the Netflix man was insistent that certain shows could still reach a point where they were popular enough to be seen by a huge amount of people.

Sarandos gave Baby Reindeer as his example, and laid out the reason why the show had become so successful all around the world.

He said: "When you see something like Baby Reindeer there was a time when something like Baby Reindeer would not even be seen in the United States.

The audience in the UK made Baby Reindeer a hit around the world. (Netflix)

"And if it did, it’d be on PBS once. It’s very, very big in the UK, and in that way that Netflix does, it gets picked up in the algorithm and starts getting more and more presented.

"Because when something gets that big in one country, it’s likely there’s a lot of audience for it outside of that country. And it’s been an enormous hit around the world."

So there you have it folks, so many Brits watching Baby Reindeer appears to have shunted it to the top of Netflix's algorithm around the world and meant it had a cascading success.

Sarandos was asked if that meant there were 'international audiences pushing American audiences to broaden their horizons', and he responded in the affirmative.

Baby Reindeer did so well in the UK that it caught on in the US, and the rest is pretty much history.