Game of Thrones rules the piracy roost

If you’ve been in a steel re-enforced bunker over the last few years and don’t understand why everyone around you’s been making “Winter is coming” quips, it’s because season three of Game of Thrones just started. It just so happens that it’s also breaking a whole heap of online piracy records.

The incredibly popular show had over 160 000 people simultaneous peers at one stage, says torrent news site TorrentFreak. At the same time, it says, 110 303 were sharing a complete copy of that particular torrent while 52 786 were still downloading.

The previous record was held by the season debut of the show Heroes, which at one stage had 144 663 simultaneous peers.

If opening day downloads are anything to go by, Game of Thrones should comfortably retain its title of the most downloaded show of the year.

One of the main reasons cited for downloading is the gap between the show airing in the US and being picked up by international stations. In the US meanwhile, the fact that it airs exclusively on HBO (a pay TV channel) makes piracy more enticing.

HBO programming president Michael Lombardo doesn’t see it as an issue though and doesn’t thinks that piracy does little to hurt DVD sales.

Given the fact that the show airs first in the US, it’s hardly surprising that it leads the piracy charts. It’s interesting to note however that London leads the city portion of the chart.