Netflix’s Arrested Development launch ‘beats’ House of Cards

Internet traffic data for Netflix users suggests that 10% of Netflix viewers that started watching its new version of Arrested Development at launch had made it to the final, fifteenth, episode by May 27, a day after launch.

Netflix does not release any viewing numbers for its content, but the analytics division of US technology company Procera measures Internet traffic across several US broadband networks, giving, in the absence of official data, the best indication of how series have performed.

Procera is keen to note its data is just an early sample, however, the early numbers suggest that Arrested Development generated more traffic and viewing than another high-profile Netflix original, House of Cards.

In a blog post the company’s vice president, global marketing, Cam Cullen analysed the traffic for Arrested Development a day after launch.

“It seems as if the launch was a success by our metrics, especially when comparing to the subscriber counts to the House Of Cards,” Cullen noted. “We did see a noticeable increase in Netflix traffic this weekend (and even though it was a holiday weekend, the traffic we can attribute to Arrested Development made a difference).”

It said that 2-7% of all Netflix traffic was attributable to Arrested Development across the first two days of its launch, with one network reporting a 8% jump in week-on-week Netflix traffic.

Xbox and PS3s generated the most traffic for Arrested Development on fixed line networks ahead of Macs.

On another network over a thirds of Netflix subs watched at least one episode of Arrested Development, three times the number that tuned to House of Cards.

In his posting, Cullen concluded: “With 10% of subscribers completing the binge watch over the weekend, I would call that a numbers success, regardless of critical acclaim.”