Reading an article from the BBC about Netflix tracking some piracy sites to help them which films they purchase and HBO say that piracy for them has increased revenue.
Some quotes from the article
Media companies have traditionally seen copyright infringement as a threat to their business.
However, some programme-makers acknowledge there can be benefits.
Netflix's vice president of content acquisition disclosed its use of the technique to Tweakers, a Dutch news site covering the firm's launch in the Netherlands.
"With the purchase of series, we look at what does well on piracy sites," said Kelly Merryman.
Word of mouth
The comments come a fortnight after the creator of the US series Breaking Bad said that piracy had helped his show survive, allowing it to find an audience after "very low viewership" of legal broadcasts of its first episodes.
"Piracy is certainly a double-edged sword," Vince Gilligan told entertainment news site Digital Spy.
"It does disincentivise companies from making their products if they feel they can't earn an honest living off of them, but on the other hand there was an upside to the piracy, because it got the word out in regards to Breaking Bad."
The chief executive of US media firm Time Warner also recently signalled that piracy may have worked in the favour of its HBO show, Game of Thrones.
the full article is here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24108673