Mindjack – Piracy is Good?

While you might assume the SciFi Channel saw a significant drop-off in viewership as a result of this piracy, it appears to have had the reverse effect: the series is so good that the few tens of thousands of people who watched downloaded versions told their friends to tune in on January 14th, and see for themselves. From its premiere, Battlestar Galactica has been the most popular program ever to air on the SciFi Channel, and its audiences have only grown throughout the first series. Piracy made it possible for “word-of-mouth” to spread about Battlestar Galactica.

Just two months ago, we saw something very similar happen, again with a beloved series, the BBC’s Doctor Who. After a hiatus of almost two decades, the BBC cast Christopher Eccelston in the role of the Doctor, and set the show to premiere on the 24th of March. A few weeks before the air date, an “unfinished” version of the first episode of the new series leaked onto the internet through the BBC’s production partner CBC. Hundreds of thousands of Doctor Who fans downloaded the episode, wanting a preview of this new version of the nearly-immortal Doctor. The BBC were publicly outraged, but there’s a strong sense that this act of piracy, while not officially sanctioned, was unofficially encouraged by BBC. It certainly created a groundswell of interest in the series, allowing people to “try before they buy,” and probably increased program viewership. (The episode drew 10.81 million viewers to BBC1, which is among the highest ratings Doctor Who has ever seen.)