Thank you for the post, you raise an interesting question. Before I launch into my own thoughts on the topic, just a quick Go Hawkeyes! since I too am an alum. The use of viewer data in Netflix's own production decisions is interesting, and definitely worthy of additional investigation. And I think your questions at the end are solid. In some sense, I think it will do both. On the one hand, Netflix's use of data to produce House of Cards seems like simply a new version of the same formula that film and TV production companies have been employing for years. I remember being an intern for film and commercial director Simon West during preproduction for Tomb Raider: The Movie. Most of what I did actually involved script coverage--reading scripts that were submitted to the director and reporting on whether they seemed worthy of landing on the desk of someone who was actually being paid for their time. A key convention of script coverage is the tag line summary, which must convey the essence of the film script using only other films or TV shows as references. In other words, one might say that film script A is a horror version of Singing in the Rain, or that film script B is like Twilight meets Happy Gilmore told like it was Memento. What I was told at the time was that films are expensive ventures, so as a rule, producers want to know that a film is sufficiently like an already successful film to itself be successful, while also being just different enough to seem fresh and original to viewers. This is why so many films fit neatly into genres, why there are so many sequels, and why it seems like we are currently seeing a lot of remakes. To me, what Netflix has done is simply take this to a new level by using user data to (potentially) more accurately distill the past successes into characteristics that can be translated into ingredients for new productions. Just as there have always been original films made by people interested in taking risks, breaking with conventions, and who are just plain tired of seeing the same derivative stuff get made over and over, there will continue to be people who will make new materials. What's more, the commercial model of Netflix--a subscription rather than pay-per-view model--makes it possible for Netflix to distribute its risk on producing more original content in a way that a conventional film or TV production company cannot. While having original programming like House of Cards, Arrested Development (reprise), and Orange is the New Black are certainly draws for Netflix, their economic model does net (yet) rely entirely on the individual success of these programs in the way that the success of Hunger Games relies on ticket sales for the actual film. Probably 12 or more years ago, one of my college professors, Alex Juhasz, once mentioned in class that she thought premium cable channels like Showtime and HBO were going to be in the avant gard of Tv production because of their ability to disperse risk in the production of original content while keeping subscription as their main revenue stream. I think she was right (insert the long list of critically and popularly acclaimed HBO and Showtime original series) and I think that extends to Netflix. It is much more likely that people will subscribe to Netflix because they want to see one of these new original series than it is that they will discontinue their subscription because they don't like it.