Netflix has refused to release any specific data on how many of its subscribers are watching their first foray into big-budget original content, House of Cards. Content Chief Ted Sarandos has said that the show is currently the most-watched thing on Netflix, but won’t go any further than that. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says (jokingly, perhaps) that even he can’t get Sarandos to give him any hard data.

But according to research from financial firm Cowen and Company, Netflix is hiding generally encouraging feedback.

According to the survey*, 10% of people had already watched at least one episode of House of Cards in its first couple of weeks of availability. Netflix has around 30 million global subscribers, so if we extrapolate the data we can unscientifically suggest that close to 3 million people have streamed the show. Of those people, the average number of episodes watched was 6 (there are a total of 13).

Streamers overwhelmingly approved of the show itself and Netflix’s all-at-once release strategy. 80% said the show was “good” or “exceptional” and 90% liked that Netflix dropped all 13 episodes at the same time.

For Netflix, jumping head-first into the original content game is all about grabbing new subscribers, and also keeping them. Good news on that front as 86% of those surveyed said that they were less likely to cancel their subscription after watching House of Cards.

This is more good news for Netflix on the House of Cards front. Last week we told you that the show is currently the most popular show in the world right now, at least according to IMDb.

Are you watching House of Cards?

*Cowen and Company’s survey sample size was 1,200 people – 28% of which pay for a Netflix subscription and 18% of which have some sort of access to a streaming account. So we’re looking at about 550 Netflix users as our true sample size.

[Cowen and Company via TechCrunch]