Game of Thrones was, by far, the most torrented show on the internet last year, with a staggering 14.4 million illegal downloads for the season five finale alone. (In second place: The Walking Dead with 6.9 million.) The mega-hit has held this distinction since season two, when it replaced Dexter in the number-one spot, leading to HBO sending out notices to anyone who took a peak at the leaked episodes. But according to piracy analysts Muso, there might be a new most illegally downloaded television show… in history.
The Independent reports that Amazon Video’s The Grand Tour — presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s first series since being fired from Top Gear for an “unprovoked physical and verbal attack” on a member of the car show’s production team — was downloaded 7.9 million times for the first episode, “the second 6.4 million times, and the third 4.6 million times; with British viewers making up the largest percentage (13.7%) of the illegal downloads.”
Muso’s CCO, Chris Elkins, called The Grand Tour “the most illegally downloaded [program] ever,” saying it “is off the scale in terms of volume. It has overtaken every big show, including Game of Thrones, for the totals across different platforms. We monitor thousands of campaigns and this one really stands out.” That’s bad news for Amazon, which spent $201 million on the show’s budget, including $13 million for Clarkson — the streaming service may have lost over $4 million from torrenting on the pilot alone.
You’d think all that illegal downloading would kill The Grand Tour‘s ratings, but just like Game of Thrones, which continually reaches new viewership heights, the first episode is “the biggest show premiere ever on Amazon Prime Video, breaking records around the world,” according to an Amazon spokesperson.
People love dragons and cars, so by that logic, a Wacky Races-type series about driving dragons would shatter all kinds of records. Get on it, Netflix.
(Via the Independent)
