Game Of Thrones has broken another TV ratings record despite being the most illegally downloaded show in Australia.

The opening episode of season five attracted 716,000 views across all screenings on the first week on Foxtel’s Showcase channel.

That’s a rise of more than 50 per cent rise on the corresponding episode in season four, which had a total 467,000 viewers, according to OzTAM ratings.

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Also gathering steam are the consolidated ratings for Game Of Thrones, which are based on the number of viewers who record and watch a show within seven days of it screening.

Even though there are still three days remaining before the consolidated ratings are finalised for the opening episode of season five, it’s still had 132,000 recorded views.

It’s 54,000 more than the total consolidated figure for the first episode of season four which was 78,0000.

Game Of Thrones ratings overnight/consolidated

Season 5 episode 1 – 716,000/132,000 = 848,000 (three days remaining)
Season 4 episode 1 – 467,000/78,000 = 545,000