PURUJEET PARIDA
The value of a new GoT episode prior to telecast exceeds all realistic expectations, given the effort, time and capital invested as well as broadcast revenue that it is expected to generate. To leech off this lucrative franchise, video piracy has evolved to recruit hackers
Game of Thrones is one of the most viewed television series in history. Based on George RR Martin’s “A song of ice and fire” series, the show has been gaining viewership and awards for the last seven years now. With just one episode remaining in the seventh and penultimate season, avid viewers have already started experiencing the withdrawal symptoms associated with the time between successive GoT seasons.
There shall be no spoilers
Spoilers are unsolicited information about a show or a movie which is provided by the person who has seen it in advance, or before you have. Serials which are telecast weekly rarely gave occasion to the serial spoiler because everyone could watch the episode at the same time. Except in rare cases when someone used to record a show to watch later, like a late night game or a daytime show on a weekday, spoilers were not a big part of show-watchers’ lexicon. Until the arrival of on demand streaming services like YouTube, Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon prime video and many more. Television was the great defender of the rights of viewers against the spoiler brigade. Movies bore the brunt of the worst Piracy of the “last theatre row” cameraman variety.
Now, original serialised content on these sites/apps is uploaded instantly with entire seasons available for binge watching on demand. They have whetted the public appetite for quick denouement of interesting, well shot series. So now when the shows on HBO or star world are telecast once a week, it seems like way too long a wait for the next episode. We have normalised the instant gratification trope of the millenial generation. In TV, the popularity of a regular weekly show can be gauged from the number of people clamouring for the next episode, with viewership for shows like GOT crossing 10-15 million viewers easily.
Therefore, the value of any new episode of GoT prior to telecast exceeds all realistic expectations, given the effort, time and capital invested as well as broadcast, distribution and AD revenue that each episode is expected to generate. In order to leech off this highly lucrative franchise, video piracy has also evolved to recruit hackers.
All men must die
‘Valar morghulis’ is an oft-repeated quote (not a spoiler) from GoT. The way spoilers of the series are unfolding, it could very well mean that all seasons are cursed. The seventh season of GoT has already suffered two big incidents of Piracy which have resulted in leaks of scripts and full length episodes. HBO has cracked down on star India employees involved in the leak and has unsuccessfully tried to hold the fort against circling hackers determined to steal in-house footage, script photos and more to guess at the future on westeros.
Essentially it is a game of cat and mouse, or dragon and white walker, being played behind the scenes.
The prince who was promised
One of the main reasons Game of Thrones is as popular as it is, is the ability of the showrunners to mislead us with red herrings, delight us with foreshadowing and surprise us with the actual happenings in the fantasy world.
When spoilers make their way into torrents and streaming sites, it takes away the surprise element and removes the excitement that waiting for a new episode or season of a much loved series entails.
As a result
Even as the seventh season is continuing, there are rumors of a script leak from season 8! Whether the entire last season of one of the best TV series in recent memory is actually spoiled in advance remains to be seen.
