In the weeks leading up to the much anticipated premiere of Season 5 of Game of Thrones, there has been a huge surge in illegal downloads of the HBO hit show.
Antipiracy firm Irdeto found that episodes of Game of Thrones were illegally downloaded more than 7 million times from Feb. 5 to April 6, a 45% increase worldwide from the same period in 2014.
In the same three months last year there were just 4.9 million downloads.
The data shows that, in 2015, illegal downloads of the show were averaging 116,000 per day.
Those figures make Game of Thrones easily the world’s most pirated television show so far this year, beating The Walking Dead, (5.7 million illegal downloads), Breaking Bad (3.8 million), Vikings (3.4 million) and House of Cards (2.7 million).
Brazil ranks as the top illegal downloader, with almost a million Game of Thrones downloads. France comes in a close second followed by the U.S. with 464,000 downloads.
“Piracy is a tidal wave that cannot be controlled, only managed. There is a culture of ‘free’ where many people believe that it is acceptable to pirate these TV shows if they don’t have access to them through legal means,” Rory O’Connor, vice president of services at Irdeto, said in the report.
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark. Macall B. Polay—HBOMichael McElhatton as Roose Bolton, Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton and Elizabeth Webster as Walda Frey.Helen Sloan—HBOConleth Hill as Varys and Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBOEmilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen.Helen Sloan—HBONathalie Emmanuel as Missandei and Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm.Helen Sloan—HBOIndira Varma as Ellaria Sand and Deobia Opaeri as Areo Hotah. Macall B. Polay—HBOSophie Turner as Sansa Stark and Aidan Gillen as Littlefinger. Helen Sloan—HBOKit Harington as Jon Snow, Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon and Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth.Helen Sloan—HBONatalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBOAlexander Siddig as Doran Martell. Macall B. Polay—HBOCarice van Houten as MelisandreHelen Sloan—HBOKit Harington as Jon Snow. Helen Sloan—HBODaniel Portman as Podrick Payne and Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth.Helen Sloan—HBODean-Charles Chapman as Tommen Baratheon and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister.Macall B. Polay—HBOKristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane. Helen Sloan—HBOLena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBOJonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow.Macall B. Polay—HBOLena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Ian Beattie as Meryn Trant.Macall B. Polay—HBONikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister.Helen Sloan—HBOKit Harington as Jon Snow and Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder.Helen Sloan—HBORosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand.Macall B. Polay—HBOJessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand.Helen Sloan—HBOKeisha Castle-Hughes. as Obara Sand.Helen Sloan—HBONell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon and Toby Sebastian as Trystane MartellMacall B. Polay—HBONell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon.Macall B. Polay—HBO
