When Lifetime premiered the series You in September 2018, the response to the stalker-thriller looked far from favorable. The average viewership for each episode stood at a mere 650,000 – a performance dismal enough for the network to announce that the show would not return for a second season.

But when Netflix picked the series up in late December, You saw a sharp reversal of fortune. The New York Times reported that the show’s viewership over its first four weeks on the streaming service was on pace to reach 40 million. The show’s newfound popularity led Netflix to renew the once-doomed series for a second season – a dramatic turnaround that in many ways illustrates the ascendance of online video and the decline of traditional cable TV.