Game of Thrones The Lion and the Rose Breaks Torrent Records

StewShearerOld

Geekdad News Writer
Jan 5, 2013
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Game of Thrones The Lion and the Rose Breaks Torrent Records



More than 193,000 people were tracked sharing the same torrent for the latest Game of Thrones shocker.

Game of Thrones recently stunned fans with yet another a big twist in its most recent episode The Lion and the Rose. The show's many fans, in turn, expressed their appreciation by illegally downloading the episode 1.5 million times in the 24 hours following.

That being the case, the truly impressive numbers came from trackers who revealed that a whopping 193,418 people were, at one point, sharing a single torrent. This rare instance of mass sharing blew previous records (also held by Game of Thrones) out the water by more than 20,000 people.

Not that the show is a stranger to such high numbers. Just a week ago, the season four premiere was downloaded more than a million times in the first <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133567-Game-of-Thrones-Premiere-Piracy-A-Million-Downloads-in-Half-A-Day>12 hours following its airing. At the peak of that piracy fest more than 300,000 people were sharing one of three popular torrents. The season three finale, likewise, dominated TV show torrents back in 2013 when it was downloaded <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130859-Game-of-Thrones-is-Most-Pirated-TV-Show-For-Second-Year>5.9 million times.

The real question now, of course, is just how long this record will stand. With the show's popularity ever rising and season four already looking as though it will be especially eventful, it might be safe to assume that the series will be knocking its own records over more than once in the coming months.

Source: TorrentFreak


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Saulkar

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You know, one would think HBO would take the hint and release the episode for free on their website and collect the ad revenue.
 

Cartographer

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You'd also imagine they'd be in more of a rush to actually get money from people by releasing the blu-ray in a timely manner rather than waiting a year, until just before the next season comes out...
 

ricree

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Saulkar said:
You know, one would think HBO would take the hint and release the episode for free on their website and collect the ad revenue.
I imagine their paying customers might have something to say about that.
 

vdrandom

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Dec 18, 2013
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Suprise! A great show with low availability being pirated. :)

HBO could as well take a hint and start providing VODs worldwide, but apparently they don't want the money.
 

JaceArveduin

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ricree said:
Saulkar said:
You know, one would think HBO would take the hint and release the episode for free on their website and collect the ad revenue.
I imagine their paying customers might have something to say about that.
I haven't really followed the show, just watching it when my friends by a season, but where exactly can you find episodes before it hits DVD?
 

Clive Howlitzer

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If you could buy access to single episodes or the series on a streaming service without ads and without having to own cable AND HBO, that'd be fine. As it is, it is a huge pain in the ass to watch GoT on HBO. Since a lot of people don't bother owning cable anymore.
I should also add that it has to be available the same time it airs. GoT fans foam at the mouth and aren't going to wait even an extra few hours.
 

IceForce

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Dec 11, 2012
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Clive Howlitzer said:
I should also add that it has to be available the same time it airs. GoT fans foam at the mouth and aren't going to wait even an extra few hours.
There's a reason for that, it's because of spoilers.
Because the internet is full of assholes who take great joy in spoiling things for other people, even things that have just recently aired.
 

Fsyco

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It's fascinating how backwards HBO's thinking is. Their CEO once said that he thought online video was just a fad, so they refuse to have a decent VoD service. I'd get HBO GO if I didn't also have to pay for a cable service AND a cable HBO subscription. Aforementioned backwards thinking combined with the nature of the show's plot and intrigue make it a perfect storm for pirates. There's alot of pressure to be up to date on it because that's what everyone is going to be talking about. Especially since a certain website I frequent has picked up on a comedic recap of the latest episode that 'airs' every Wednesday >.>
 

Ferisar

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JaceArveduin said:
ricree said:
Saulkar said:
You know, one would think HBO would take the hint and release the episode for free on their website and collect the ad revenue.
I imagine their paying customers might have something to say about that.
I haven't really followed the show, just watching it when my friends by a season, but where exactly can you find episodes before it hits DVD?
HBOGO.
EDIT: That is, assuming you're fine with paying for the service and its prerequisites.

OT:
And no one was surprised, yet again! I'm lucky in that a friend of mine has the service, although I'm still grumbly when using it because I also have another friend's Netflix.

...

Damn it...
 

Exterminas

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ricree said:
Saulkar said:
You know, one would think HBO would take the hint and release the episode for free on their website and collect the ad revenue.
I imagine their paying customers might have something to say about that.
There are no paying HBO-Customers outside the united states.
They could just block IPs from the states and run with the ad money or charge people from the rest of the world 50 cents for each episode.

As of right now this is a testament to the fact that the people in HBO's boardroom have not yet adjusted to the times and would rather go millions of potential profits go down the drain rather than expanding their stone-age-business model. I would like to pay for watching Game of Thrones to support the series. But since I live in Europe, I can't pay for it, because there is no HBO here.

Cable-TV and Pay-Tv in it's current form are endangered species in the information age and right now companies just don't face that truth. And it is costing them big bucks.
 

JaceArveduin

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Ferisar said:
JaceArveduin said:
ricree said:
Saulkar said:
You know, one would think HBO would take the hint and release the episode for free on their website and collect the ad revenue.
I imagine their paying customers might have something to say about that.
I haven't really followed the show, just watching it when my friends by a season, but where exactly can you find episodes before it hits DVD?
HBOGO.
EDIT: That is, assuming you're fine with paying for the service and its prerequisites.

OT:
And no one was surprised, yet again! I'm lucky in that a friend of mine has the service, although I'm still grumbly when using it because I also have another friend's Netflix.

...

Damn it...
Soo.... Basically, you have to have the subscription for the actual channel? If so, I can see why it's pirated so much.
 

JET1971

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Apr 7, 2011
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Didn't the shows producer say he wasn't bothered by the mass amounts of piracy in last seasons premiere?

Anyway this piracy just goes to show that the old Cable subscription market is completely outdated. They can have a VOD service that charges a small fee for watching it commercial free and in HD, Then after 24-48 hours release it with commercial's in a slightly lower resolution like Hulu uses and free to watch. And they can have a subscription to watch HBO over the internet just like if the viewers had cable/satellite. They would have all bases covered really. those who just want to watch the one show and are willing to pay a premium price, those that would have pirated it, and those that would like to have HBO but not pay for cable/satellite to get it.
 

iseko

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They don't care. They see it as a victory that their show gets pirated so much. Plus their DVD boxes of GoT are flying of the racks as soon as they come out. It is kind of stupid that they don't offer online services but... yeah. They make enough money I suppose.
 

jackpipsam

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Jun 2, 2009
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This article feels almost as if its supporting piracy.

I am sure The Escapist wouldn't support it (due to their stance on AdBlock afterall), but I do get that impression from this.
 

AstaresPanda

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And just think if they charged say £2 per episode maybe not in HD but still good thats ALOT of money they missed out on.
 

sinterklaas

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I don't understand, HBO must not like money because they still haven't created a streaming/vod service outside of the States.
 

AldUK

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It does seem like they are missing out on so much money by not providing a global service with a small fee to view new episodes. There must be a business reason behind it, either that, or HBO have the Squeenix mentality of doing what their fans don't want because they hate profit.

Maybe it'll change in future if they can acquire the rights to stream in all countries, but until then I'll continue to watch Game of Thrones in my own way. (That I won't go into here due to the Escapist's policy on these things.)
 

Stavros Dimou

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Mar 15, 2011
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To those interested in watching the series and live outside the U.S.A.: HBO is licensing public production of Game of Thrones to TV stations from around the world. It is the responsibility of the local channel to reach to HBO and ask to be allowed to play the series.

For example where I live,there is a pay-to-watch channel that plays each new episode a day after it airs on the USA,(this day is needed for subtitles to be added) and there is another, free-to-watch channel that plays old episodes over and over again until the exclusive license for national play terms have ended for the pay-to-watch channel.
So we have 2 channels playing it in Greece. :D Those who pay watch it first,and those who can't afford to pay the fees of pay-to-watch channels can watch it too,albeit somewhat later.

Bad thing is that because the new episodes air on the USA a day before they play here,local sites that are covering the news happen to also comment on the episodes after the moment they have played in America,so the internet in Mondays is full of spoilers!
 

BanicRhys

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May 31, 2011
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I'm from Melbourne, Australia. I think you can guess how I feel about the piracy of this series.

Exterminas said:
There are no paying HBO-Customers outside the united states.
They could just block IPs from the states and run with the ad money or charge people from the rest of the world 50 cents for each episode.
The US getting the short end of a stick? That'll be the day.