There are a lot of metrics by which to measure the success of a show. Old-fashioned ratings, or tracking downloads. How much “buzz” it’s generating among social media. How happy the advertisers are. And then there’s the question of just how much the show is being stolen…certainly a gauge of popular interest, even if it doesn’t help the creators’ pocketbooks. In this latter category, the success of Amazon’s The Grand Tour is skyrocketing. It’s now the most pirated show ever.
That’s the word being reported by The Daily Mail, based on analysis from MUSO, a firm that tracks the piracy market. According to the big brains at MUSO, the first episode of The Grand Tour has been illegally downloaded a whopping 7.9 million times since its November 18 premiere on Amazon Prime. Episode 2 is close behind at 6.4 million, with episode 3 clocking in at a still respectable (or alarming, depending on your stake in the show) 4.6 million. MUSO further reveals that British viewers account for 13.7 percent of the total illegal downloads. That’s not surprising since Grand Tour‘s parent series, Top Gear, originated in the UK before becoming a global hit.
Since Amazon hasn’t released their official numbers for The Grand Tour‘s legitimate downloads, we don’t know how those numbers compare. However, we do know that The Grand Tour dethroned The Man in the High Castle as Amazon’s most-streamed original series. Just imagine if all of those downloads had been legal ones…
Piracy is pretty much a given for any program or film these days, but all those illegal downloads have got to sting a bit. Especially given that The Grand Tour is one of Amazon’s most expensive original shows.
Chris Elkins, the chief commercial officer of MUSO, said, “[The Grand Tour] is the most illegally downloaded program ever. It is off the scale in terms of volume. It has overtaken every big show, including Game of Thrones, for the totals across different platforms.”
Amazon Prime customers can stream all currently available episodes of The Grand Tour (legally) right here.
