Despite HBO’s continuing efforts to keep Game of Thrones fans happy, the hit show is still setting records when it comes to piracy. This week’s episode, Kill the Boy, became the most quickly illegally downloaded show in TV history.
What’s interesting is that the previous record was also held by Game of Thrones – the season four premiere amassed 1.86 million downloads in the first 24 hours of release. Kill the Boy, on the other hand, managed to rack up 2.2 million downloads in only twelve hours, according to Forbes. This was the first season five episode to debut outside the initial leak of the first four episodes, which occurred a month ago.
This is likely happening because viewers have few options when it comes to watching Game of Thrones live. In Australia, the series is only available live on Foxtel. If you’re not a fan of the service, subscribing only for access to Game of Thrones may seem wasteful, so piracy becomes a viable alternative. Moreover, Australians are widely known for their piracy tendencies – during the GoT leak, Australia had the most downloaders per capita.
Unfortunately, until more alternatives for Game of Thrones enthusiasts emerge, we are likely to witness more world record piracy numbers set by the beloved drama series.
