Grand Theft Auto! Clarkson show most pirated ever
WITH an astonishing £160million budget, Jeremy Clarkson’s TV comeback is among the most expensive series of all time.
But now The Grand Tour has notched up another, albeit unwanted, record – as the most illegally downloaded show in history.
Official figures for the series, which also stars Clarkson’s old Top Gear co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond – have not been revealed by maker Amazon.
But since its launch on November 18, the first episode had been illegally downloaded 7.9million times. Episode two has been ripped off 6.4million times, and the figure for the third episode is 4.6million. Viewers in Britain are the worst culprits, making up 13.7 per cent of the total.
Online pirates log on to websites that have stolen the Grand Tour – for which Clarkson is paid £10million a year to make – instead of subscribing to Amazon.
It is estimated that Amazon lost a potential £3.2million in revenue in Britain alone on episode one. The rip-off statistics, seen exclusively by The Mail on Sunday, have been compiled by MUSO, the leading data analysts of the piracy market.
Chris Elkins, its chief commercial officer, described the findings as ‘absolutely incredible’.
He added: ‘It is the most illegally downloaded programme 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.
‘We monitor thousands of campaigns and this one really stands out.’
Amazon has spent millions advertising The Grand Tour after signing up Clarkson following his sacking by the BBC in a row over a fracas with a producer.
The show was a major hook to get people to sign up for its streaming service Amazon Prime, which costs £79 a year.
MUSO’s software trawls the internet for keywords to identify piracy sites and it analyses what individuals have watched on those sites.
Asked about the illegal downloads, Amazon said: ‘The Grand Tour has become the biggest show premiere ever on Amazon Prime Video, breaking records around the world.’