BitTorrent: The key to Netflix's taste-making success?

Prison Break is one of the most pirated TV series in the Netherlands. Apparently, that's why Netflix decided to license it.

Prison Break
(Image credit: (Facebook/Prison Break))

You might expect Netflix and BitTorrent to be at odds with each another. After all, one offers a legal way for paying customers to access a limited collection of movies and TV shows. BitTorrent sites like Pirate Bay, on the other hand, offer a much wider range of illegally obtained and distributed media for the very attractive price of $0.

Understandably, Netflix keeps a very close eye on the competition. Indeed, the company recently admitted that it tracks what kinds of shows and movies are popular on torrent sites to inform its decisions on what to license next. "We look at what does well on piracy sites," Netflix vice president of content acquisition told Tweakers (translated from Dutch).

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.