by Jazmin Goodwin, CNN
New York (CNN Business) - After languishing in relative obscurity on YouTube Red, the "Karate Kid" spinoff "Cobra Kai" has become one of the fastest-rising series on streaming. That's the power of Netflix.
The digital series, which stars much of the original cast of the 1980s "Karate Kid" movies, debuted three years ago on YouTube Red, the site's subscription service now known as YouTube Premium, and ran for two seasons.
It won critical acclaim, and even a couple of Emmy nominations, but it lacked a big audience.
Netflix announced in June that it scooped up the rights to "Cobra Kai" as YouTube Premium shifted away from scripted original content.
The first two seasons landed on Netflix on Friday, and quickly shot up to No. 1 on the platform's trending ranks.
Demand for the series grew by 110% during the week of August 23-29, according to Parrot Analytics. While the series only became available on Netflix on Friday, Parrot Analytics expects that number to grow further in the coming days. A third season, which will be released as a Netflix original series, is expected to arrive in 2021.
This isn't the first time Netflix has salvaged a show and made it a hit. In 2018, Netlfix picked up "Lucifer" as an original after Fox canceled the show after three seasons. The comic book drama has since risen to Netflix's Top 10 show list several times since arriving on the platform.
"Cobra Kai" has handily crane-kicked "Lucifer" out of the No. 1 spot on Netflix's Top 10 in a single weekend.
Production Designer: Ryan Berg
