Game of Thrones finale shatters piracy records with 2PB of illegal downloads

The finale of the fourth Game of Thrones season shattered all previous illegal download records, TorrentFreak reports. First, a quarter-million people shared a single file at the same time. Beyond that, more than 1.5 million users downloaded a pirated copy of the show within the first 12 hours after it aired, with the number expected to move past 7.5 million in the following days.

The publication further reveals that those 1.5 million downloads translate into 2 petabytes (PB) of data, or more than 2,000 terrabytes (or more than 1,000,000 gigabytes). To better explain the enormous quantity of downloaded data, CNET quotesDeloitte Analytics, which says that it would take 233,000 DVDs to store 1PB of data.

Previous download records were also held by Game of Thrones episodes, which has become one of the most pirated TV shows in the world. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkesonce said that receiving the title of “most-pirated” was “better than an Emmy,” as some of those pirates turned into HBO subscribers.

Titled “The Children,” the final episode of season four was the most watched Game of Thrones episode to date when it aired, hitting 7.1 million viewers.