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The Sansa rape was unnecessary. It did zero to move the story forward. We already knew Ramsey is terrible. We already knew Sansa is able to endure terrible hardships. We already knew Reek was broken. If that scene was deleted entirely the show would have gotten exactly the same messages across in just as impactful a manner. I believe the show would have been better if Reek took action during that scene rather than when he did later with the stable master's daughter. If they weren't going to have him take action then, they didn't need that scene at all... and it did cost them viewers. Much worse happens to Ramsey's wife in the books (though it isn't Sansa) but a book needs to be more graphic to be jarring for a reader. A visual medium like a tv show needs much less to drive emotional discourse.
The burning of the princess on the other hand was a pivotal plot point in the story. It was the moment Stanis finally chose between his loyalties and his ambitions. He chose wrong and paid the price. It was especially interesting that his choice is what cost him since his army (which was willing to follow him into battle against a much larger entrenched foe) abandoned him because of what he did.
Violence in a story is like magic in a story... Too much of it and it becomes silly. That Sansa scene would be like having a wizard in a floppy hat show up to start throwing lightning bolts at the dothraki. It was just meh... and they included it to juice viewership but ended up losing a chunk of their audience... making much the same mistake Stannis made by burning his own daughter. Their ambitions for ratings won out over their loyalties to story quality.
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