3 Body Problem piracy spikes in China, reflecting intense interest as Hollywood films struggle
- BitTorrent downloads topped 90,500 on the first day of release for Netflix’s adaptation of the Hugo-winning Chinese sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem
- Downloads far surpassed other popular Netflix series like Squid Game and Stranger Things and reflect similar interest in Disney’s Mulan in 2020
A huge spike in online piracy of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem on the day of its release in China, where the streaming service and its original shows are not officially available, reflects an intense interest in the country to see how the US streamer is handling the best known piece of Chinese science fiction globally, similar to a piracy surge after the release of Disney’s live-action Mulan in 2020.
The number of downloads of BitTorrent files, a type of peer-to-peer file sharing, associated with the show hit 90,618 on March 21 and 72,764 the following day in China. It was far above downloads of other streaming originals that have garnered positive attention in the country in their first week of release, data from iknowwhatyoudownload.com shows.
The only show to come close is Kingdom, a South Korean zombie period drama. The first two days of the second season’s release in March 2020 saw 53,790 and 68,502 downloads, respectively.
The download numbers, which track public torrent downloads, are likely a small sliver of actual piracy of the show, as they do not account for illicit streaming sites and file sharing over cloud storage platforms.
The numbers suggest that even as Chinese viewers’ interest in Hollywood productions wane compared with domestic fare, interest remains high for adaptations related to Chinese culture. No foreign films broke the top 10 at China’s box office last year.
