Fans are still waiting to see who will end up sitting on the Iron Throne once the dust settles, butGame of Thronesis already well on its way to reclaiming one of its most notorious titles: Themost pirated television showof the year.
TheGame of Thronesseason 8 premiere, which debuted on HBO on Sunday, waspirated 54 million timesin its first 24 hours, according to a report from digital-piracy tracking firm Muso. As a point of comparison, only 17 million people watched theGame of Thronesseason premiere legally, according to figures released byNielsen. That means that pirated views dwarfed official ones three-to-one, although the official broadcasts were still popular enough to makeGame of Thrones‘ season 8 launch the biggest one-day event in HBO history.
About 76.6% of pirates watchedGame of Throneson unlicensed streams, while web-based downloads accounted for another 12.2%.Torrentsfrom sites like The Pirate Bay and private trackers made up just over 10% of the final total.
Geographically, India was the biggest hub of illicitGame of Throneswatching, with 9.5 million views, followed by China with 5.2 million. Observers note thatGame of Thronesis hard to find in India and was censored in China, which could have helped to promote piracy. On the other hand, the United States came in third on the list with almost 4 million illegalGame of Thronesviews, so it seems that people don’t particularly want to pay for HBO if they can help it, either.
Widespread piracy is nothing new forGame of Thrones. HBO’s fantasy drama has topped lists of the most-pirated shows on TV for years. TheGame of Thronesseason 7 finale, which aired in 2017, was pirated 120 million times in its first 72 hours, according to Muso. Three-day piracy totals for the season 8 premiere aren’t available yet, but Muso claims thatGame of Throneswas among the 25 most-pirated shows in the month leading up to the debut as fans rushed to catch up or refresh their memories before the final season started.
Game of Thronesseason 8 is the final installment of HBO’s flagship series, and will finally wrap up the long-simmering conflict between Westeros’ various rulers and the undead army of White Walkers. Thankfully, if you want to see how it all ends, there are plenty ofstreaming optionsout there that will get you the latestGame of Thronesepisodes as soon as they air. Even better, they won’t get you in trouble with the law.
