Illegal downloads are coming… Game of Thrones has broken its own piracy record following the show's jaw-dropping season five finale.

As Torrent Freak reports, 'Mother's Mercy' was downloaded 1.5 million times in the eight hours following its US premiere.

HBO



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"Never before have we seen this many downloads in such a short period of time, and last year it took half a day to reach the same number," the report read.

"Based on this figure, the download count is expected to increase to more than 10 million during the days to come."

The episode is also on course to break the record for most simultaneous downloads for users sharing a single file. The record is currently set at 250,000 by Game of Thrones' season four finale.

HBO



Game of Thrones attracted an audience of 1.3 million for Sky Atlantic on Monday night.

The show has suffered from piracy in the past. It was previously announced that the first four episodes of the show's fifth season, which leaked online early, were downloaded 32 million times across 18 million IP addresses.

Game of Thrones fans who downloaded the episodes received warning letters on behalf of HBO, while live video streaming network Periscope also threatened to close the accounts of any users found livestreaming the show illegally.

Game of Thrones airs on HBO in the US and on Sky Atlantic in the UK.

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