​Months of fan anticipation boiled over this weekend as the arrival of House of Cards season three saw a huge leap in fan numbers on the show’s social media platforms.

The third season surge breaks from the normal pattern of social media fandom, where series typically see their social activity slow as a show ages.

House of Cards doubled its number of social media fans ahead of Friday’s premiere on the streaming platform, with the series picking up a combined 334,000 new Facebook and Twitter fans in the last six weeks, according to Variety. Last year that number was 165,000 for the same time period.

Lead actor Kevin Spacey’s Golden Globe win in January helped goose interest in the series, but it was a temporary glitch (or was it?) that leaked the third season online on February 11 that really piqued viewers’ interest.

The arrival of the series’ third season also brought confirmation that although Netflix doesn’t run commercial advertising, brands can still find a way to play in the Netflix environment.

Anheuser-Busch InBev secured a deal to be the exclusive beer of the third season of House of Cards, with the brewer’s beverage brands appearing on-screen in episodes.

Samsung has a similar agreement, AdAge reported Friday.

Read More Variety, AdAge

Brief Take: House of Cards’ social performance shows that age doesn’t have to mean slowing down.

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