‘Game of Thrones’ still drawing huge download numbers leading into season 4

Let’s hope that HBO still has the same philosophy when it comes to “Game of Thrones” and illegal downloads. While in some ways it may be an honor to be the most-downloaded show of the spring by a pretty enormous margin, it at the same time has to be somewhat frustrating given how enormous of a hit this show would be if even 80% of these people currently downloading were actually watching live. (It would actually come close to challenging “The Walking Dead” in total viewership.)

According to a report from TorrentFreak, the George R.R. Martin adaptation was downloaded 5.2 million times per episode, which is almost equal to the number of average viewers who watch live weekly (in 5.5 million). Across their various platforms alone HBO has estimated that over 10 million viewers watch the show, so these numbers all compiled throw the series into a completely different sort of stratosphere.

“Game of Thrones” is the only series that has a near-equal amount of downloads to its actual viewers, as the #2 series on the list is “The Big Bang Theory,” which was downloaded 2.9 million times an episode. Given that CBS is a free-to-watch network, we’re assuming that most of this comes via people who are in other countries, and don’t want to wait for their local network to broadcast it.

Obviously, everyone (including us) wants to see networks getting legal viewers as a proper way to monetize their content. The only positive that comes from figures like this is that you hope to find a way to turn these people into paid customers, or at least people who will potentially buy the DVD boxed sets at the end of the season.

How do you think HBO should look at these numbers going into “Game of Thrones” season 4? If you want to read some more of the latest news from the “Game of Thrones” world, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: HBO