Rip Empson, writing for TechCrunch:
In its letter to shareholders today, Netflix said that in spite of the fact that “some investors were worried that the House of Cards fans would take advantage of its free trial, watch the show and then cancel,” there was, in fact, very little “free-trial gaming” as the company calls it — fewer than 8,000 people signed up to watch it for free and then cancelled — out of what the company says were “millions of free trials in the quarter.”
That's great news for Netflix. There were many in the industry who were patting Netflix on the back far too early out of the gate. I took a 'wait and see' approach to the House of Cards experiment. Like the investors mentioned in the quote, I wasn't sure if new subscribers, drawn into free trials to watch House of Cards, would stick with Netflix after the free trial period was over. Based on Netflix's quarterly results, it is clear that the company has a winner on its hands. Kudos to Netflix for this bold attempt at reducing its dependence on the traditional content providers by creating original programming.
By the way, if you haven't seen House of Cards, you should absolutely check it out. The series will captivate you, and draw you into 'binge viewing' episodes.