House of Cards will cement its status as Netflix’s biggest original series when season 3 debuts in February.
The next batch of episodes will arrive on February 27, according to House of Cards’ official Twitter account. A brief teaser video shows Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and his wife Claire (Robin Wright) boarding a plane, but it reveals nothing about the upcoming plot.
Netflix doesn’t reveal viewership numbers for its original series, but an unofficial estimate from Procera claimed that 5% to 15% of Netflix subscribers watched at least one episode of House of Cards Season 2 on its opening weekend. We may get a better sense of viewership soon, as Nielsen will start measuring streaming services starting this month.
In any case, House of Cards has been a critical success, earning 22 Emmy nominations in the last two years. Though it has won only four minor Emmys, the nods have helped validate Netflix’s push into expensive original series. Netflix is now planning to expand that approach to feature films, with a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel and four Adam Sandler movies in the pipeline.
While we already knew another season of House of Cards was coming, at least fans of Frank Underwood’s schemes can now mark their calendars. It’s also a big milestone for Netflix, as House of Cards will extend its lead as the service’s largest original series in terms of total episodes. The uncontested lead won’t last long, though, as Netflix’s Orange is the New Black is expected to get a third season in 2015. Both series have 26 episodes in the bank already.
Netflix also won the respect of Longmire fans after it picked up the contemporary western detective series for a fourth season after it was dropped by network A&E. Despite being its most-watched drama ever, pulling in up to 4 million viewers per episode, A&E said Longmire’s older demographic was not attractive to sponsors. Whether Netflix will benefit from what could be considered a new frontier for their service remains to be seen.
IDG News Service
Ltd
