Despite the premature leak of HBO’s “House of the Dragon” season finale last Friday, just days before its scheduled premiere, the anticipated surge in piracy traffic did not materialize. Surprisingly, while there was still considerable interest, the majority of pirates opted to wait for the ‘official’ release.
“House of the Dragon” has had an exceptional debut season, captivating millions of viewers on official platforms. Despite its popularity, the show also became a hot commodity on pirate sites in recent weeks.
In response to the unprecedented leak of the season finale last Friday, HBO acted swiftly to remove copies from the internet. Despite the hiccup, dedicated fans were treated to a pristine viewing experience upon the official release on HBO and HBO Max, where it streamed exclusively in 4K.
The legal viewership numbers were impressive, with the season finale drawing a massive audience of 9.3 million viewers on Sunday, marking the highest viewership since the conclusion of Game of Thrones three years ago. Surprisingly, many loyal fans chose to patiently await the official release rather than turning to the pirated leak.
However, the behavior of the general pirate audience is intriguing. Contrary to expectations, downloads of “House of the Dragon” surged after the finale aired, doubling compared to earlier weeks. Most notably, the majority of downloads occurred on Monday, indicating that even pirates preferred to await the ‘official’ high-quality pirate release. Some may have been unaware of the leak, while others may have opted for the superior viewing experience offered by the official release.
The chart above illustrates a consistent pattern where downloads typically peaked on Monday, gradually decreasing throughout the rest of the week. However, last week presented a clear deviation from this norm, with download numbers beginning to rise on Friday, coinciding with the day of the leak.
Leak Source:
As promised, HBO and its licensing partners diligently worked to remove pirated releases. Numerous URLs were removed from search engines and pirate sites responsive to DMCA takedowns.
While the source of the leak was not disclosed, HBO indicated that it appeared to originate from a distribution partner in the EMEA region, aligning with information received from various sources.
According to our sources, the initial leak, accompanied by Hebrew subtitles, originated from an Israeli release group on a private torrent tracker. This suggests a connection to Israel. We reached out to HBO for confirmation or denial, but the company opted not to provide further comment.
