I think there's fairly strong evidence that the answer would be "yes" to that question.

I doubt that. Netflix didn't start with original content. They had to spend many years acquiring their substantial member-base before they started experimenting with the original content. If the company literally launched with House of Cards with no existing members to speak of, it would have been much tougher for them to convince people to pay them money and watch their as yet unproven original content.