14 DAY TRIAL // When you have a show as good and as popular as HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” you also have the guarantee that illegal downloads won’t stop fans from purchasing the DVDs. At least, HBO does.
In a context in which movie studios constantly lament how piracy is taking a toll on their overall sales, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo tells Entertainment Weekly that “Game of Thrones” was never in this kind of predicament.
Though episodes from both seasons have an almost record number of illegal downloads each, sales for DVDs remain solid, which makes Lombardo conclude that, if anything, piracy in this case is an indicator of the popularity level of the show.
A compliment, if you will: the more downloads, the more popular the show.
“I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts. The demand is there. And it certainly didn’t negatively impact the DVD sales. [Piracy is] something that comes along with having a wildly successful show on a subscription network,” Lombardo says.
“If you look at aggregate of international and DVD sales — which are the two revenue streams we look at since we’re not selling it domestically on another platform — yes, absolutely, in terms of shows we have on now,” he adds.
Season 3 of the series, based on George R.R. Martin’s books “Song of Ice and Fire,” premiered last night.