Turns out it was a great move by Netflix because according to the data from SensorTower (via 9to5Mac), it seems that Netflix has managed to become the top grossing app for iOS devices in the US. This is the first time that the app has managed to achieve this status and it has been suggested that the offline playback functionality helped launch the app into that number one spot.
We suppose it is possible that many users were resisting subscribing to the service as it did not offer the feature when other services did. Of course it is also possible that there are other reasons why the app managed to hit the number one spot, such as its original programming and the upcoming launch of new original TV series. In fact Netflix recently announced their plans to double the number of original programming come 2017.