“Game of Thrones” has garnered both critical and audience acclaim and topped many end of the year “Best of” lists, but now it is topping a less honorable list – most pirated show of 2013.
According to TorrentFreak’s annual list, the HBO fantasy series has taken the most pirated crown for the second year in a row. The list is based on multiple sources including download statistics reported by public BitTorrent trackers, but does not include online streaming or cyberlocker downloads.
“Game of Thrones”, based on the best selling books by George R. R. Martin, beat out the final season of “Breaking Bad” by over 1 million illegal views. The list was dominated by cable programming with only two titles from the major networks (“The Big Bang Theory” & “How I Met Your Mother”) cracking the top ten.
Though torrents and other illegal downloads are not ideal for television producers and providers some have argued, including Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, that it increases subscriptions in the long run.
See TorrentFreak’s full list below:
1. “Game of Thrones” (HBO), 5.9 million
2. “Breaking Bad” (AMC), 4.2 million
3. “The Walking Dead” (AMC), 3.6 million
4. “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS), 3.4 million
5. “Dexter” (Showtime), 3.1 million
6. “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS), 3 million
7. “Suits” (USA), 2.6 million
8. “Homeland” (Showtime), 2.4 million
9. “Vikings” (History), 2.3 million
10. “Arrow” (CW), 2.2 million
