Was 'House of Cards' Brief Leak on Netflix a Brilliant Publicity Move?

If you are a House of Cards fan and you happened to be in the right place at the right time Wednesday, Feb. 11, then you were able to preview the third season of the hit series. For 30 minutes last night the first 10 episodes of the new season were available on Netflix, ahead of the scheduled Feb. 27 official release. Even when the mistake was realized and the season was pulled some lucky viewers were able to continue watching. Was this brief leak an honest mistake, or was it a brilliant publicity move?

While a Netflix representative claimed that a "technical glitch" allowed Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) fans to catch a preview of what is to come, many insiders are skeptical. Thirty minutes is an awfully long time to allow that kind of error to continue, isn't it?

Instead, many seem to think it was a brilliant promotional move to allow fans to get excited about the new season, only to have to wait a little bit longer before they can actually binge watch.

Sure, mistakes can happen, but it seems much more likely a real error would have only lasted for a handful of minutes rather than a full 30, don't you think?

Were you one of the many who decided to preview Season 3 last night? Did you see enough to have you counting down the days until House of Cards's new season really is available in its entirety? If this was a PR ploy, do you think it worked? Will it ultimately have helped to generate more buzz for the series? Will we spend the next two weeks discussing it more than we would have if that little glitch didn't occur last night?

Readers: Let us know your thoughts on the situation in the comments section below.

Tags
House of Cards, Netflix, Buzz, Kevin Spacey
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