Amazon's Grand Tour Most Pirated TV Show In History

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Not only is Amazon's new show Grand Tour (Top Gear 2.0) popular with Amazon Prime members, pirates seem to like it an awful lot too. ;)

But figures from Muso, data analysts of the piracy market, suggest unprecedented numbers of people are avoiding paying £79 a year to sign up for Amazon’s online streaming service, Amazon Prime, and instead downloading the show illegally. The data, shared with the Mail on Sunday, suggests the first episode was downloaded illegally 7.9m times, the second 6.4m times and the third 4.6m times. British viewers made up the largest percentage (13.7%) of the total number of illegal downloads.
 
Sadly those numbers are about the same as my interest level as the show has gone on. Lots of jokes and games are carried on to long, if not for the whole show and it feels like a goofy guy show with some random cars thrown in and less of a car show with some goofy antics thrown in. The more it goes on, big time with the CoD EP, it didn't even feel like it had ANYTHING to do with cars at all.
 
Sadly, the show is shit. Every joke goes from funny to uncomfortable as they drag it on too long. Obviously Jeremy and crew has full control over the product, and as a result, editing is limited and hurting the show badly.
 
Sadly those numbers are about the same as my interest level as the show has gone on. Lots of jokes and games are carried on to long, if not for the whole show and it feels like a goofy guy show with some random cars thrown in and less of a car show with some goofy antics thrown in. The more it goes on, big time with the CoD EP, it didn't even feel like it had ANYTHING to do with cars at all.

I haven't watched 3 yet, but watched episodes 1,2, and 4

I'm cringing SO much that they're STILL doing the whole "celebrity is coming on the show, oh wait they died....does that mean they're not coming on then?"
 
Good show so far. It's more Top Gear with less celebrity junk (there's a running celebrity joke where the celebs get killed before they make it on stage).

Sadly those numbers are about the same as my interest level as the show has gone on. Lots of jokes and games are carried on to long, if not for the whole show and it feels like a goofy guy show with some random cars thrown in and less of a car show with some goofy antics thrown in. The more it goes on, big time with the CoD EP, it didn't even feel like it had ANYTHING to do with cars at all.

It does need to be more about cars, agreed. However, the draw of the show is as it has always been, the chemistry between the 3 hosts. The old show started getting old with the halo car tests that always just devolved into Clarkson yelling "MORE POWER".
 
Not only is Amazon's new show Grand Tour (Top Gear 2.0) popular with Amazon Prime members, pirates seem to like it an awful lot too. ;)

But figures from Muso, data analysts of the piracy market, suggest unprecedented numbers of people are avoiding paying £79 a year to sign up for Amazon’s online streaming service, Amazon Prime, and instead downloading the show illegally. The data, shared with the Mail on Sunday, suggests the first episode was downloaded illegally 7.9m times, the second 6.4m times and the third 4.6m times. British viewers made up the largest percentage (13.7%) of the total number of illegal downloads.

I have a 500GB external that has nothing but Top Gear on it. New series and old, all the DVD's (legally ripped), the 20/20 episode, Top Ground Gear Force, the lot.

I don't order enough shit to justify $100 a year. Sorry Amazon. Charge me $20 to use the video service and we'll talk.
 
Sadly, the show is shit. Every joke goes from funny to uncomfortable as they drag it on too long. Obviously Jeremy and crew has full control over the product, and as a result, editing is limited and hurting the show badly.

Indeed, things are drawn on for far to long and seemed forced, while on top gear it seemed like natural banter from the 3.

I haven't watched 3 yet, but watched episodes 1,2, and 4

I'm cringing SO much that they're STILL doing the whole "celebrity is coming on the show, oh wait they died....does that mean they're not coming on then?"

Indeed. It is not topgear, so if you are not going to have the celeb section, just don't do it, it does not even need mention, as this is a whole new show. It just seems like a rerun section tossed in to fill time.

Good show so far. It's more Top Gear with less celebrity junk (there's a running celebrity joke where the celebs get killed before they make it on stage).



It does need to be more about cars, agreed. However, the draw of the show is as it has always been, the chemistry between the 3 hosts. The old show started getting old with the halo car tests that always just devolved into Clarkson yelling "MORE POWER".

More Top Gear? No....Less.

Top Gear dealt more with cars and features etc etc with some odd jokes and challenges thrown in, but it always revolved around the cars. This does not. The killing off celebs is actually as stated above already, one of the most cringe worthy parts of the show, why even have it? It is exactly the same thing every EP, it feels like a rerun slapped in the middle of the show every time it comes up, it also feels longer than some of the actual celeb interviews! And at least in those sections in TG, they talked and asked them about cars they owned or crazy things they did with their cars.

In TG Clarkson was one of the directors/writers. However they seem to have full control now and do not have another guiding hand to say "ok, thats enough". The chemistry of the three is less on the new show than the old, everything seems scripted and forced, which is why it gets carried for far to long, and now you don't even have car things to keep it going past those sections. Hell, even the "NASCAR" driver is a joke that has been carried on for far to long already. A single EP with it? Ok, but every EP of the driver cracking the same jokes about import cars? Pass.
 
Episode 2..seriously who thought that was remotely entertaining. The other 3 episodes to date have been ok. The celebrity death joke, was kinda funny the first time; now it is just sad filler. I have found the bumpers for Conversation Street segment remotely amusing given the easter eggs; Clarkson's silhouette sporting a rather tall stiletto heel. The cinematography continues to be amazing! I'm hoping they were rusty and are just trying to find a groove.

Also, check out Jame May's the Reassembler on youtube; if you like to see how things are made; very cool!
 
I can see the first episode being downloaded a lot because it's a new show with popular hosts and people want to see what the show is like. It's been dropping pretty rapidly in downloads since then. The show is at its best when it's doing Top Gear style running around in cars no one can afford type stuff. Sadly the Grand Tour hasn't done a whole lot of that in the first four episodes. They've got a shitty track with a doorstop for the new Stig and the "challenges" have been pretty stupid thus far. The entire second episode was a dumpster fire. I'm unimpressed but I'm sure it's getting enough viewers to justify the three year commitment Amazon has given it. And I'm equally sure it will have run its course by then.
 
I'm liking it so far, but people are spot on about how they let the jokes drag on too much.

It is getting better and episode 3 felt like old Top Gear. I suspect it might take most of the first season to really get in the groove. I'm still hopeful.
 
i mean i'm an amazon prime member and have been for a few years and i still download them but that's because amazon's media player sucks balls and most of the time i can't full screen the video because the player controls are stuck in the middle of the screen.


I'm liking it so far, but people are spot on about how they let the jokes drag on too much.

It is getting better and episode 3 felt like old Top Gear. I suspect it might take most of the first season to really get in the groove. I'm still hopeful.

yeah agree some of the jokes have gone on to long hopefully they stop in the next couple episodes. i think they've poked at BBC and top gear producers enough at this point.

Indeed, things are drawn on for far to long and seemed forced, while on top gear it seemed like natural banter from the 3.



Indeed. It is not topgear, so if you are not going to have the celeb section, just don't do it, it does not even need mention, as this is a whole new show. It just seems like a rerun section tossed in to fill time.



More Top Gear? No....Less.

Top Gear dealt more with cars and features etc etc with some odd jokes and challenges thrown in, but it always revolved around the cars. This does not. The killing off celebs is actually as stated above already, one of the most cringe worthy parts of the show, why even have it? It is exactly the same thing every EP, it feels like a rerun slapped in the middle of the show every time it comes up, it also feels longer than some of the actual celeb interviews! And at least in those sections in TG, they talked and asked them about cars they owned or crazy things they did with their cars.

In TG Clarkson was one of the directors/writers. However they seem to have full control now and do not have another guiding hand to say "ok, thats enough". The chemistry of the three is less on the new show than the old, everything seems scripted and forced, which is why it gets carried for far to long, and now you don't even have car things to keep it going past those sections. Hell, even the "NASCAR" driver is a joke that has been carried on for far to long already. A single EP with it? Ok, but every EP of the driver cracking the same jokes about import cars? Pass.

the celeb killing is a two part poke at BBC and top gear. 1. they never really liked the celeb in a reasonably price car crap and 2. they're not allowed to do it because it's to much of a likeness to what top gear does.

the american driver is a poke at the stig and because they're not allowed to actually play music or dumb shit while he's driving because it's to much of a likeness to what top gear does.(could also be a poke at revealing that the current stig is an american driver but who knows)

the driver thing doesn't bother me but the celeb thing needs to just stop. was funny the first 3 episodes but yeah time to move on. they do a lot of subtle and non subtle pokes at top gear and the producers there as a giant eff you.. but it's time to move on.
 
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I miss the "star is a reasonably priced car" segment. That was awesome, and it showed a non-professional driver in a basic car, trying to go fast. That's what the average person is going to do, not every one can own an expensive sports car (never mind a supercar or hypercar). But we can own a hot hatch or a decent sports coupe. So while i always liked watching the 1million+ cars reviewed, it was the more basic stuff that appealed to me. The sub $40K cars.

Because while i do bang 10's, and make a million bucks a year, i aint parking an Aston Martin in my neighborhood. ;)
 
I don't like the new test track. And they can do better for a driver I think.
 
The show is waaayyy too scripted.

Episode 2 was so overdone. The rest have been okay so far but never great.
 
There was a website called Final Gear or something that hosted nothing by torrent links of Top Gear (and Fifth Gear). And it still got ripped more?
 
Don't like:
1. The "track"
2. The Track Driver. No offended by it. It's just not funny. I'd rather have a mute-blind driver that couldn't speak with random songs in the driver seat.
3. Celebrity-skit and James saying: "Does this mean s/he is not coming on?" I was hoping that was a episode 1-only thing. But I was wrong.
 
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i aint parking an Aston Martin in my neighborhood. ;)

Parked a stall down from a brand spanking new Rapide S (still had temps on it) sandwiched between two hoopties today. Plus we just had a winter storm and the roads were absolute crap this morning. I guess if you have the money for it... Sweet car though.

I'll have to catch up on this version. I casually read about it a few months ago and loved the old Top Gear, but reading the comments here makes me feel like I'm wasting my time!
 
There was a website called Final Gear or something that hosted nothing by torrent links of Top Gear (and Fifth Gear). And it still got ripped more?
Yeah, and I was pretty pissed off when it closed. It was just so convenient to go there a couple hours after the show was broadcast, and download it in HD.

I have amazon prime, and watch via verizon. No problems at all viewing, no pauses, no buffering. This is in southeastern bergen co, NJ.
 
If they offered Amazon video at a decent price per month mabie people wouldn't pirate the shows. Amazon prime with access to video is $99/yr, that's free 2 day shipping and access to video for 8.25. Video access only is is $10.99 per month? Stupid.

I never order from Amazon because their prices even with free shipping are more expensive than other places, including ones that charge for shipping. Why should I pay $10.99 per month for a service when prime with video is $99/yr.

If Amazon charged $3.99/Mo for video only access I bet the pirating problem would be much smaller.
 
I would love to pay Amazon to watch not. Not available here in New Zealand though.
 
Grand Tour is the first major streaming only show that I actually legally get, I didn't pay specifically for it, Prime has other main uses I like.


That being said -- I'm still tempted to download it in 1080p from a torrent site just because their streaming player sucks ass. All the extra tidbits on the side, the fact it always has the controls popping up if you even think about touching the mouse.

That's the point we are at, even when I can get it legally and free... it's STILL easier to pirate it and enjoy it exactly how I want to, in a VLC player window.
 
Glad to here it's not just me. I haven't entirely given up on it yet, but currently it's not great.
If I hadn't enjoyed years of their previous work, I'd have probably bailed by now.
 
I have zero interest in this show, but it did encourage me to look into Amazon's Prime Originals. The one that really hooked me is coming back soon - "The Man In The High Castle". However, in the meantime I just happened upon at time of reading this thread "Doctor Thorne" a new period piece by Julian Fellowes (of Downton Abbey fame)! So yeah... if you have Prime, look into their original series. There's likely something there that might interest you. I only wish they had a proper HD streaming app for Android like Netflix does. I wonder if Amazon will now support HTML5 1080P or better play on Firefox. For awhile, they fell back to crappy Silverlight (or was it Flash?), though they supported Chrome and Edge for god's sake!
 
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Grand Tour is the first major streaming only show that I actually legally get, I didn't pay specifically for it, Prime has other main uses I like.


That being said -- I'm still tempted to download it in 1080p from a torrent site just because their streaming player sucks ass. All the extra tidbits on the side, the fact it always has the controls popping up if you even think about touching the mouse.

That's the point we are at, even when I can get it legally and free... it's STILL easier to pirate it and enjoy it exactly how I want to, in a VLC player window.

Download the 5GB file, direct from amazon.

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I'm an Amazon prime member but they sold all the rights to their shows in Canada. Honestly have no idea who owns the rights to this particular show, I only know that I'm not paying them for it.
 
I have zero interest in this show, but it did encourage me to look into Amazon's Prime Originals. The one that really hooked me is coming back soon - "The Man In The High Castle". However, in the meantime I just happened upon at time of reading this thread "Doctor Thorne" a new period piece by Julian Fellowes (of Downton Abbey fame)! So yeah... if you have Prime, look into their original series. There's likely something there that might interest you. I only wish they had a proper HD streaming app for Android like Netflix does. I wonder if Amazon will now support HTML5 1080P or better play on Firefox. For awhile, they fell back to crappy Silverlight (or was it Flash?), though they supported Chrome and Edge for god's sake!

Check out Bosch; based on the Michael Connelly Detective series about an LA Homicide detective. I enjoyed it.
 
I didn't even knew amazon made shows!?!? oh that's right, Im from Canada.
 
I'm weird, but I hate the fact that they placed a huge deck window right in the dead-center of the camera's field-of-view. So we end up with over-exposed camera like it's the 1970s, and my sensitive eyes can't watch more than 10 minutes.

It's like I'm staring at a studio light head-on for a half of each episode, and I don't think I want to do it anymore. It's a stupid gimmick to prove they're "on the road."
 
I'm weird, but I hate the fact that they placed a huge deck window right in the dead-center of the camera's field-of-view. So we end up with over-exposed camera like it's the 1970s, and my sensitive eyes can't watch more than 10 minutes.

It's like I'm staring at a studio light head-on for a half of each episode, and I don't think I want to do it anymore. It's a stupid gimmick to prove they're "on the road."
are they really windows? I kind of assumed that they were like large monitors/screens, sort of like the ones local network news sets have (at least like the ones NY metro area local network channels have)
 
While I think you guys are being a little harsh, that segment of them doing a military raid dragged on and on. I actually did fall asleep, no lie. Also, who doesn't have Amazon Prime? I wonder how many people download these episodes for the convenience of putting it in their PLEX Library?
 
While I think you guys are being a little harsh, that segment of them doing a military raid dragged on and on. I actually did fall asleep, no lie. Also, who doesn't have Amazon Prime? I wonder how many people download these episodes for the convenience of putting it in their PLEX Library?

The only reason I got Amazon Prime was for The Grand Tour. I don't make use of it for anything else. I also download the episodes, cause I don't feel like streaming it all the time.
 
That's what you get when you reboot the world's most popular car show, on a service that is available only on a few select countries.
 
Grand Tour is the first major streaming only show that I actually legally get, I didn't pay specifically for it, Prime has other main uses I like.


That being said -- I'm still tempted to download it in 1080p from a torrent site just because their streaming player sucks ass. All the extra tidbits on the side, the fact it always has the controls popping up if you even think about touching the mouse.

That's the point we are at, even when I can get it legally and free... it's STILL easier to pirate it and enjoy it exactly how I want to, in a VLC player window.

exactly, i friggin hate the controls in the middle of the screen. i wish they'd just learn from netflix and switch to a simplified media player, there's no reason to have all that other stupid crap on the screen.

are they really windows? I kind of assumed that they were like large monitors/screens, sort of like the ones local network news sets have (at least like the ones NY metro area local network channels have)

they're windows although i never noticed the over exposure issue that the other person was talking about, seems fine to me.
 
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That's not really relevant. as it only happened now.

I imagine some people at amazon banging their heads at the wall how they fucked this up this badly and lost out on such a potential payday. And now out of nowhere when they realized how stupid they were, haphazardly started to offer prime in other countries. And I mean haphazardly because in my country ok it's avaialable now. But I'd get .01 of the content avaialable in the us. 6, yes six of the amazon originals with the latest season not included, none of the pilots, And about 8 other non-amazon series. And about two of these have been localized. OK, that's irrelevant to me, but not to 90% of my countrymen. So if they want to watch localized their only option still remains pirating the content regardless. As you can't put an srt on the service.

Sorry to say it, but it's too little too late.
 
Download the 5GB file, direct from amazon.
I'm not judging, I'd probably do the same if I had the option, but isn't that still considered pirating by them, even trough you're paying at the same time?
 
That's not really relevant. as it only happened now.

I imagine some people at amazon banging their heads at the wall how they fucked this up this badly and lost out on such a potential payday. And now out of nowhere when they realized how stupid they were, haphazardly started to offer prime in other countries. And I mean haphazardly because in my country ok it's avaialable now. But I'd get .01 of the content avaialable in the us. 6, yes six of the amazon originals with the latest season not included, none of the pilots, And about 8 other non-amazon series. And about two of these have been localized. OK, that's irrelevant to me, but not to 90% of my countrymen. So if they want to watch localized their only option still remains pirating the content regardless. As you can't put an srt on the service.

Sorry to say it, but it's too little too late.

Uhh...No. It was announced before The Grand Tour was. Lots of shows are not carried on streaming services, all of them, it's called region restriction, stupid sure, but not Amazon or Netflix fault, same goes for shows in other countries that are never shown and cant even be bought in the USA. However all of that is moot to your point, which was that The Grand Tour was only available in a handful of countries, which is not the case.
 
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