Photo: #This image released by Netflix shows Robin Wright as Claire Underwood, left, and Kevin Spacey as U.S. Rep. Frank Underwood in a scene from the Netflix original series, "House of Cards." The new original series arrived in one big helping -- all 13 episodes of its first season -- on the subscription streaming service on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, for viewers to enjoy at their leisure. Netflix gambled on the series basing their knowledge of exactly what their millions of customers were watching; they knew precisely how popular the works of Fincher were, and how many of their customers were fans of Kevin Spacey, and how many people were streaming the British House of Cards.
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This image released by Netflix shows Robin Wright as Claire Underwood, left, and Kevin Spacey as U.S. Rep. Frank Underwood in a scene from the Netflix original series, "House of Cards." The new original series arrived in one big helping -- all 13 episodes of its first season -- on the subscription streaming service on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, for viewers to enjoy at their leisure. Netflix gambled on the series basing their knowledge of exactly what their millions of customers were watching; they knew precisely how popular the works of Fincher were, and how many of their customers were fans of Kevin Spacey, and how many people were streaming the British House of Cards. (AP Photo/Netflix, Melinda Sue Gordon)

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The 'big data' revolution: How number crunchers can predict our lives


When the streaming video service Netflix decided to begin producing its own TV content, it chose House of Cards as its first project. Based on a BBC series, the show stars Kevin Spacey and is directed by David Fincher, and it has quickly become the most watched series ever on Netflix.

The success of House of Cards is no accident. Netflix executives knew exactly what their millions of customers were watching; they knew precisely how popular the works of Fincher were, and how many of their customers were fans of Kevin Spacey, and how many people were streaming the British House of Cards. Sifting through that mountain of data, Netflix executives were able to predict that House of Cards would be just what Netflix viewers would want to watch.

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