The first of Game of Thrones has been hacked nearly 55 million times in one day

MUSO understands that about 10 million of these views came from India, where HBO is relatively difficult to access, regardless of format. Another five million came from China, which only broadcasts a censored version of Eu. These viewers could not have the show (due to cost or lack of services) or wanted to see the same version as most people in the world. HBO Now is not available outside of the United States – unless you have an approximate equivalent, you are lucky if you do not subscribe to an expensive TV package.

This does not mean that the United States was absent, of course. Nearly 4 million views were recorded in the original country of HBO, suggesting that many of them simply do not care about paying for a pay-TV service or an option of legal diffusion. That said, the results suggest that HBO's biggest challenge is not so much eradicating piracy as making its programming available.