‘Game of Thrones season premiere has been illegally obtained 55 million times’

The first episode of season eight of Game of Thrones was illegally obtained nearly 55 million times in 24 hours. Legally, the episode was viewed approximately 17.4 million times. At least that is what the analysis company Muso states on the basis of its own figures.

The first episode of the eighth season of the popular fantasy series Game of Thrones has been viewed 17.4 million times, according to Muso. The episode would have been illegally viewed 55 million times, the analysis company Muso reported to The Verge. Some 76 percent of those illegal viewing figures were attributable to unofficial streams; 12.2 percent were downloaded from the web and 11.3 percent were torrents.

The country where most ‘illegal’ viewers come from is India. There, according to Muso, 9.5 million people watched the episode. China was in second place with more than 5 million viewers. The United States and the United Kingdom take third and fourth place with nearly 3.9 and 2.5 million spectators respectively. Muso speculates that countries like India and China are at the top because there is no legal way to watch the series, or because only a censored version is shown.

Game of Thrones has already broken records for the numbers of illegal viewing. In 2012, the series was also the most illegally watched. In 2015, the fantasy series was given the same dubious honor.

Muso does not offer any insight into the figures presented. This agency says it specializes in, among other things, providing business solutions to counter piracy, including analysis and removal tools.