Winter is coming HBO… where are you going to stand?
There were nearly 4 million downloads per episode of the HBO hit series, “Game of Thrones” and with that it has become the most pirated TV show of the season giving those HBO bigwigs another reason to create an online HBO subscription (that they will surely ignore).
“Game of Thrones,” which just ended its second season with high viewership for every episode among those who pay for the service. It is not a surprise that its popularity reaches past those who pay to those who pirate.
Restricted availability is one of the top reasons fans pirate the show to staggering amounts. While it isn’t a surprise that the show is the top pirated, but what is surprising is that HBO advocates against piracy but doesn’t have online subscription. I am sure if they offered the service for a measly $15 per month, that 4 million would decrease by at least half if not more and effectively making money for HBO.
HBO plays the exclusivity game and much like the game of thrones, when they play the game of exclusivity they win and we lose.
However, with that comes angry fans who don’t want to buy the expensive costs of adding the channel to their already expensive cable package and instead become pirates or use their friends/families accounts on HBOGo.
For a company that makes money they are surely missing out on some almost guaranteed revenue.
You can see a full list of the top pirated shows below provided by TorrentFreak:
| rank | show | downloads | est. US TV viewers |
|---|---|---|---|
| torrentfreak.com | |||
| 1 | Game of Thrones | 3,900,000 | 4,200,000 |
| 2 | How I Met Your Mother | 2,830,000 | 8,870,000 |
| 3 | The Big Bang Theory | 2,750,000 | 15,040,000 |
| 4 | House | 2,310,000 | 8,720,000 |
| 5 | Mad Men | 1,870,000 | 9,780,000 |
| 6 | Modern Family | 1,800,000 | 10,600,000 |
| 7 | Revenge | 1,730,000 | 7,850,000 |
| 8 | Desperate Housewives | 1,660,000 | 11,120,000 |
| 9 | Family Guy | 1,600,000 | 5,740,000 |
| 10 | Supernatural | 1,540,000 | 1,780,000 |