The men and women who work inside the Netflix war room are responsible for streaming out the hottest show in the world right now, “House of Cards,” to 44 million people in 41 countries.
Thursday night was a really big night for Netflix: House of Cards, season 2, a premiere so big even President Barack Obama tweeted about it, a 13-episode merger of technology and entertainment that one year ago seemed like a crazy idea.
When the first season of House of Cards came out, skeptics said it was a bad idea to put a whole season of programming online at once. A year later, how and where we watch programs has changed.
"You know, there was a lot of, Will it work out? Are they crazy? I think it's worked out well, and I think it's what people nowadays expect,” the company’s Maxine Cheung said.
MORE: Obama Endorses "House of Cards"
With the countdown to season 2 on Thursday night, everyone in the war room was checking the feed, but no one was doubting the success of the company's all-you-can-watch model.
"They know exactly how their viewers want to watch their shows,” said Santa Clara University’s Professor Mark Whalen. “And they're giving them exactly what they want. My guess is there's gonna be House of Cards parties."
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When midnight hit at Netflix headquarters, and the streaming started all over the world, concern gave way to a party.
"When you think about House of Cards, you can think about traditional TV, episodes you turn on Thursday night at 8 p.m., or you can tell a story the user consumes any way they want,” said Chris Jaffe, Netflix's vice president of product innovation.
Since the release of the first season of House Of cards, Netflix has released several other shows the same way, binge-watching has become a well-known term, and shares of Netflix stock have jumped by $270 a share.
Netflix announced earlier this month that the acclaimed drama will get a third season.