Game of Thrones Already Most Pirated Show of 2015

Well, that doesn’t bode well for HBO’s anti piracy measures.

Despite not actually airing any new episodes yet, Game of Thrones has already been downloaded 7 million times in the last three months. This figure was pulled by The Hollywood Reporter from rights management and piracy protection firm Irdeto. That figure is surprising, and–if accurate–a huge jump for the program, as TorrentFreak’s end-of-the-year report naming Game of Thrones the most pirated series for 2014 claimed that it had been downloaded 8.1 million times over 12 months.

During a three-month period this year, episodes of Game of Thrones were illegally downloaded more than 7 million times, according to rights management and piracy protection firm Irdeto. That’s a 45 percent jump from the 4.9 million illegal downloads that Irdeto reported for the same period in 2014. 

Those numbers make Game of Thrones the most pirated show from Feb. 5 to April 6 this year ahead of The Walking Dead (5.7 million downloads), Breaking Bad (3.8 million), Vikings (3.4 million) and House of Cards (2.7 million), according to Irdeto’s research.

This means Game of Thrones was downloaded almost as much in the last three months as it was all last year. Not to mention that the record set in 2014 nearly doubled the one set by the show in 2013: 5.2 million downloads. To be clear, this is not just downloads of Season 4 episodes. This number includes any episode from any season of the show.

A spike was expected ahead of the new season as people got caught up. But the number nearly doubling suggests that new fans are coming on board. The question is: are they catching up so they can start watching the show legally, or will they keep on pirating?

What’s most striking about this is how it highlights the extent of the issue for HBO. Though producers have insisted that the Most Pirated title is an honor, to have the show ripped off in such numbers cannot be good for the network’s bottom line. And they’re fighting this from a serious deficit position. Even if HBO’s planned anti-piracy measures of simulcast airing, which start this weekend, or the recent debut of HBO Now cut down on the illegal downloading, the show has a massive head start in the race for the piracy crown for 2015. Game of Thrones is already on track to not only win Most Pirated TV Show of 2015, but smash the record they set last year flat.

• Published on 04/10/2015 at 9:30 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT