Amazon paid a staggering $200 million budget for "The Grand Tour" only to be deemed "the most pirated TV show". After leaving BBC's "Top Gear", Jeremy Clarkson reunited with James May and Richard Hammond.
"The Grand Tour" Episode 1 recorded an overwhelming number of 7.9 million illegal downloads since its premiere on Nov. 18. In the second episode, the survey observed a decrease from 7.9 million to 6.4 million while there were 4.6 million piracy rates on the third episode. The Daily Mail first broke out the news that 13.7 percent of the total illegal downloaders came from Britain.
According to the news, Amazon lost an estimate of $4 million revenue in one episode and one country. The survey was analyzed by the London-based data analysis firm and antipiracy expert, MUSO. The figures showed that the TV show also surpassed the piracy rating of the popular "Game of Thrones". Hence, "The Grand Tour" got an unwanted name of the most pirated TV show in the history of the entertainment industry.
"It 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," the chief commercial officer, Chris Elkins, said. "We monitor thousands of campaigns and this one really stands out."
Meanwhile, according to The Variety, "The Grand Tour" is not the most illegally download TV show ever. From its first day of launch, Tecxipio, a Germany-based firm, cited that the show was shared for 1.9 million times on piracy sites. In comparison, AMC's "The Walking Dead" noted a total of 9.87 million illegal downloads throughout that duration.
In 2015, the "Game of Thrones" season 5, episode 5 had observed an even higher rate of piracy in just a day. Tecxipio indicated that it reached 3.22 million illegal downloads within 24 hours.
Though the survey showed substantial estimations and lost, Amazon claimed the tremendous success of "The Grand Tour" TV show worldwide. "The Grand Tour has become the biggest show premiere ever on Amazon Prime Video, breaking records around the world," they said.
Amazon is planning to release "The Grand Tour" in 200 countries which could also be available on Amazon Prime Video. Though, it remains uncertain whether a full streaming will be aired.
