Arrested Development illegally downloaded 100,000 times in first day

Dave LeClair

Posts: 75   +1

arrested development netflix torrent piracy tv show

Netflix recently launched another exclusive on its video streaming service, this time bringing back a classic from the early 2000s, the critically acclaimed sitcom Arrested Development. Fifteen new episodes launched on May 26 and they are already quite popular on torrents, having been downloaded 100,000 times in the first 24 hours of availability, according to PaidContent.

For paying Netflix users, there is no reason to pirate the show, as it is available with the subscription just like all other video content on the service. As with the company's previous exclusive, House of Cards, every episode of Arrested Development was released in one shot, which also allowed the entire season to be pirated at once. 

As it stands, this is actually the only gauge we have for how Arrested Development is doing in terms of popularity. While 100,000 is no where near the staggering million downloads Game of Thrones generated on torrents after its first episode aired, for a cult show that has been off the air for close to 10 years, it seems like a pretty large amount of people is interested in watching. Netflix has not released official viewership numbers in the past, so we might not get to learn exactly how popular the show is with users paying a subscription.

The numbers only cover the first 24 hours after release. The show has been available for three days now, so it's likely that the piracy numbers have grown ever more, though most of the hype came immediately after release. 

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Publicity stunt?

Pirate bay says Arrested Development seasons 1,2,and 3 only has 191 seeds at the moment.

In comparison game of thrones episode 8 has 29302.
 
Just a number...what is the ratio? If 100,000 compared to 3,457,653,234, I would say "so what".

True, but there's only about 100 million households in the US, so 3 billion downloads would be quite an achievement. :) Also, this was in the first day, not total.

What I want to know is if the show is any good. It's front and center when you log into Netflix, but the commercials I've seen look really dumb to me. Anyone watched it?
 
Just a number...what is the ratio? If 100,000 compared to 3,457,653,234, I would say "so what".

True, but there's only about 100 million households in the US, so 3 billion downloads would be quite an achievement. :) Also, this was in the first day, not total.

What I want to know is if the show is any good. It's front and center when you log into Netflix, but the commercials I've seen look really dumb to me. Anyone watched it?
Start from the beginning. It's hilarious. Of course, the humor may not be for everyone.
 
What I want to know is if the show is any good. It's front and center when you log into Netflix, but the commercials I've seen look really dumb to me. Anyone watched it?

I loved seasons 1-3, but season 4 really isn't doing it for me in the same way. Enjoyable, certainly, but a little disappointing after waiting so long. I'd still highly recommend the whole series though.
 
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