'Game of Thrones' piracy soars on internet

Los Angeles: Fantasy drama TV series "Game of Thrones" piracy has spiked ahead of the April 12 premiere of the fifth season.

According to rights management and piracy protection firm Irdeto, episodes of “Game of Thrones” were downloaded more than seven million times during a three-month period this year, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

That's a 45 percent jump from the 4.9 million illegal downloads that the firm reported for the same period in 2014. 

The numbers make “Game of Thrones” the most pirated show from February 5 to April 6 this year, ahead of “The Walking Dead” (5.7 million downloads), “Breaking Bad” (3.8 million), “Vikings” (3.4 million) and “House of Cards” (2.7 million), according to Irdeto's research. 

Brazil ranks as the top country for illegal “Game of Thrones” downloads. France comes in second and US rounds out the top three.