The Grand Tour has been named the most illegally downloaded show in history, with many viewers having decided to not pay the subscription fee for Amazon Prime in order to watch the car show free of charge.
The Amazon exclusive program, which was Jeremy Clarkson’s next project after being fired from BBC’s Top Gear, reportedly saw 7.9 million people illegally download its first episode, with 6.4 million downloading its second and 4.6 million its third. British viewers have been the biggest culprits, with 13.7% of these downloads coming from the UK.
The data, compiled by anti-piracy company MUSO and shared with the Mail Online, reveals how The Grand Tour has even overtaken Game of Thrones in terms of illegal online downloads, which won’t be comforting news considering the reported £160 million Amazon laid out for the show. This isn’t even taking into account the number of people who have watched illegal streams of the show, which is also very likely to have had a major impact upon its bottom line.
The Grand Tour was bought by Amazon after Clarkson was ousted from the hugely popular BBC show, with the presenter being joined by former Top Gear co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May. Clarkson has reportedly secured a whopping £10 million contract for his work on the show, with its globe-trotting premise seeing Amazon funnel a tremendous amount of money into it. While the debut episode of the show broke records for the company, it remains to be seen whether or not the rampant piracy revealed by MUSO will lead to a dent being put in its budget in the future.
For those who want to operate within the boundaries of the law, the show is available to watch legally on Amazon Prime Video for a subscription fee of £5.99 a month, or for Amazon Prime subscribers who pay £79 a year for the delivery service.
