'Game of Thrones' season premiere sets new piracy record

[Shawn Knight]

Game of Thrones was the second most downloaded show in 2011 behind Dexter before earning the top spot last year. And if preliminary figures from last night’s season three premiere are any indication, HBO’s hit series could very well earn the title again for 2013.

The season premiere has been downloaded more than a million times via BitTorrent in less than a day, breaking a number of records in the process according to TorrentFreak. The publication notes that there has never been a torrent with so many people sharing a file at the same time – more than 160,000 simultaneous peers at last count. The previous record was held by the season premiere of the hit television show Heroes with 144,663 peers.

Data shows that international viewers are among the most popular pirates. One of the main reasons for this has to do with the fact that people outside of the US often have to wait up to a week to see “new” content. It’s a problem that HBO is trying to rectify but many diehard fans just aren’t willing to wait.

Furthermore, it doesn’t help that HBO is a premium pay channel in many regions, including the US. But according to HBO programming president Michael Lombardo, piracy isn’t exactly hurting the show – it’s a compliment. He went on to note that demand is still there and piracy hasn’t negatively impacted DVD sales. These same sentiments were echoed by Game of Thrones director David Petrarca back in February.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/52125-game-of-thrones-season-premiere-sets-new-piracy-record.html

 

[Jad Chaar]

Doesn't surprise me.

 

[Tangfastics2012]

That doesn't shock me one bit, it's a great show!

 

[yRaz]

Good thing the producer doesn't think much of piracy. Heck, I'd be proud of myself for that one.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

That doesn't shock me one bit, it's a great show!

So is the super bowl... but Game of Thrones isn't for sale. And since they're not showing it on demand, I'm guessing it's bringing in more via HBO subscriptions than it would if they sold it by itself. In fact, they might even lose subscriptions if they sold it on demand.

 

[fimbles]

No doubt it will be a goldmine anyhow.

 

[Guest]

Piracy or no piracy... If something is good, its gonna sell...

 

[Littleczr]

I would just sell the torrent seed on the HBO website for a fair price. That will solve that problem.

 

[VitalyT]

If they keep it as boring as the 3rd season's opening, they will likely lose some fans. IMDB shows the lowest rating received by the opening episode.

 

[Fernando GC]

Boxsets will sell like CRAZY, you dont show up on Christmass with pirated stuff. So Im sure theyll be fine.

 

[mrcavooter]

If they keep it as boring as the 3rd season's opening, they will likely lose some fans. IMDB shows the lowest rating received by the opening episode.

The third book was the most action packed of them all so I am going to predict this season will follow suit. Otherwise lets organize a lynch mob.

 

[TS-56336]

As the director says: "It matters."

 

[Guest]

8,8 rating is low? Season 2 first episode have 8,6

 

[VitalyT]

8,8 rating is low? Season 2 first episode have 8,6

For a movie that averages 9.4 - yes, it is a yawn.

 

[KiwiCant]

We pay 70 bucks per month (which is a lot - Movies/Entertainment + Sport) for our "comprehensive Foxtel TV package" here in Aussie but still cant get GoH.
Even tho the show is fast tracked (we get it 2 hrs after you guys) to us to help stop piracy.... good move you'd think! Then they moved it to another package to get us to pay more.... peps out here not happy.... hurray for the internet I say!!

 

[VitalyT]

Ok, Episode 4 was really the best so far, getting 9.6 rating, the highest in the series. It should have been called "The biatch fights back".

 

[Vilandra]

Daenerys has never been my favorite character, but that scene was awesome. No Jon Snow this week though

Why doesn't HBO just sell HBOGo as separate from an HBO subscription?

 

[VitalyT]

Daenerys has never been my favorite character

That's what I hear from women. Guys dig her though

No Jon Snow this week though

Must be chilling in Costa Rica or something, after having done the previous episodes in Iceland. I don't think that going by Snow helped him at all

 

[Vilandra]

I don't really mind Dany as a character, but in the books and show those parts just bored me and I couldn't wait to get back to the other characters.

 

[mrcavooter]

Stormborn is a BAMF. I will say she becomes a little lackadaisical after this season.

 

[VitalyT]

Stormborn is a BAMF. I will say she becomes a little lackadaisical after this season.

She just spent many days talking to an a$$hole who kept calling her a biatch and all the bad things, thinking she didn't understand any of that. Now how would you react to that?

Burning that guy was the most humane thing she could have done!

It was fun watching her two war councils going to the trade without a clue it'l turn into a BBQ party

I like her character, good grit!