‘Game of Thrones’ yet again owns a much unwanted throne. The show has been as the numero uno in the most pirated shows list this year. The makers have been trying to get rid of this title but all the efforts seem to go in vain. In spite of so many options available to stream the shows legally, piracy remains an issue. The issue is at an all time rise and makers are absolutely in a dilemma on how to deal with it. The list is compiled by TorrentFreak at the end of every year and it says that the Game of Thrones episodes were downloaded 14.4 million times on an average this year. The statistics have almost doubled from the past year. Last year, Game of Thrones topped the list with 8 million downloads.
Game of Thrones deserves all the love thanks to the leaks
The news though won’t shock anyone as it was kind of unavoidable. Game of Thrones broke an all-time piracy record with 258,131 peers sharing a single file of an episode. Also, the first four episodes of the show were leaked online this year, even before they were telecasted on TV. The huge rise in downloads was quite expected. Placed second on the list is The Walking Dead and considering the popularity of the show, it seems quite obvious. Though in terms of statistics, it lags far behind Game of Thrones. The Walking Dead stands with 6.9 million downloads. The rest of the shows on the list are – The Big Bang Theory (4.4 million downloads), Arrow (3.9 million downloads), The Flash (3.6 million downloads), Mr. Robot (3.5 million downloads), Vikings (3.3 million downloads), Supergirl (3 million downloads),The Blacklist (2.9 million downloads), and Suits (2.6 million downloads).
Networks making friends with piracy
Owing to the trend, most of the networks treat piracy as a medal of triumph. They have accepted the fact that there is not much they can do about it. They have tried refining streaming services but that doesn’t help much. Though, HBO is a little bit tensed up and irritated that even after rollout of long-requested standalone streaming options, piracy keeps reaching new heights for Game of Thrones. Also, there is nothing much HBO can say because the show fuels network’s popularity. Another reason that HBO is ignoring the piracy issues with Game of Thrones is that the show has only three years or so left. HBO feels it would be better to ignore it for the rest of the seasons as it has been doing it till now.
This year, the increase in piracy numbers was maybe due to the earlier leaked episodes. The leak added to the average piracy numbers. If there is no such similar situation this year then HBO can expect that the piracy numbers will decline. Another problem is that most of the networks have given up on dealing with privacy. They have made peace with the fact that it will be omnipresent. The only possible way to deal is to connect with customers and make sure that their services are as cheap as they can be. Piracy seems to stay and HBO can rejoice the fact that Game of Thrones is receiving the love it deserves, though not in a way HBO would like.
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