TorrentFreak

The place where breaking news, BitTorrent and copyright collide

10 Most Pirated TV-Shows on BitTorrent (wk34)

TV shows are by far the most wanted files via BitTorrent, and according to some, it’s fast becoming the modern day TiVo. But what are all those people downloading?

stargateThere’s only one week to go before the new TV season starts, but here is one of the latest summer charts. Stargate Atlantis is leading the chart this week.

The data is collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

At the end of the year we will publish a list of most downloaded TV-shows for the entire year, like we did last December.

TV-shows such as “Lost” and “Heroes” can get up to 10 million downloads per episode, in only a week.

Top Downloads August 17 – August 24

Ranking (last week) TV-show
1 (6) Stargate Atlantis
2 (2) Weeds
3 (1) Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremony
4 (3) Eureka
5 (4) Generation Kill
6 (5) Burn Notice
7 (7) Fifth Gear
8 (9) Psych
9 (8) Mad Men
10 (new) Project Runway

Related Posts

Previous Post | Next Post

  • #YLS#

    It’s kinda nuts Atlantis is for the first time ever, being popular for having decent episodes and now it’s been cancelled. go figure, maybe they need the set space so they create ANOTHER reality tv show…

  • p3aCe

    I love Burn Notice

  • zarathustra

    Eureka, Burn Notice, Generation Kill; all excellent.

    I’m surprised Flashpoint isn’t on the list – then again ISTR it being Canadian… :P

  • Anonymous

    the closing ceremony doesn’t seem to be as popular as the opening one…

  • Norway FTW!

    Can’t wait ’til I see how My Name is Earl is doing on these statistics!

  • Lachlan Hunt

    “[BitTorrent is] fast becoming the modern day TiVo”

    I’m sure that for many people in countries that don’t even have TiVos, it already is. Personally I moved to downloads not long after I stopped using VHS several years ago, probably somewhere around the time TiVo was becoming popular in the US. For me, even if I could get one, a TiVo would be basically useless now since I can download shows well before they even air in my country.

  • Quasimodo

    “Bored to tears” just doesn’t cut it anymore …

  • Xavier
  • Chris4048

    Next week Prison break wil be #1

  • Meocross

    Lawl stargate got canceled? just goes to show you that you cant trust most of the americans series anymore.

  • Mikle

    Yea, SGA is an amezing show. Cant belive they kill it so soon :*(

  • http://www.eZee.se www.eZee.se

    People are still downloading “Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremony”???

    Does that mean that the Chinese govt efforts to stop this from happening has failed?

    Am shocked… would never have ‘thunk’ it..

    am surprised that Eureka is not on the list, its a pretty decent show.

    Cheers!
    CJ

  • Meta4ic

    I’d certainly be pirating Stargate Atlantis a lot less if my “SciFi HD” (via Dish) actually showed the damn thing in HD.

    As it is, I have to grab a torrent if I want to see it in anything other than “crummyvision”.

  • Dimagus

    That is a shame, because the only reason SciFi canceled Atlantis is because they said awhile ago they would not be running concurrent Stargate shows.

    Universe got the green light, Atlantis was canned.

  • What_the_Frell

    SciFi has a history of canceling their best shows

    Viva la Farscape!!

  • #YLS#

    @ 14 – Dimagus

    Have you seen the statements for Universe… it sounded good all up until they then state… Younger audience… now i’m not 100% sure what that means but…

    Surely a younger person watches Scifi shows because they want something more intelligent than the programs in their ‘target audience’, I know thats what I did, I watched something that inspired me not dulled my mind with trivial teen dramas.

  • TorrentsRock

    http://deano-baby-g13.co.uk Check it out …

  • MarrowMan

    SGA might have been cancelled, but then again, Star Trek TOS was cancelled too, and after only 3 seasons, 40 years ago. We all know what happened after that, right?

  • Anonymous

    fuck fifth gear

    TOP GEAR FOR LIFE

  • fuck off

    “People are still downloading “Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremony”???

    Does that mean that the Chinese govt efforts to stop this from happening has failed?”

    It wasnt the chinese, the olympics TV rights got sold to individual countries TV channels, they were the ones forcing sites to take it down. Its called Capatalism.

    Learn the facts before you spout ur shite, you spoon fed cunt.

  • Chase

    The modern day TiVo is… TiVo…. terrible analogy.

  • zarathustra

    @ #12 “am surprised that Eureka is not on the list, its a pretty decent show”

    It’s #4 =]

    @ Frelling Farscape Fan: Bring that shit back (seen the movies?). :)

  • Jesus

    If Stargate Atlantis is number 1 then this is obviously the work of geeks.

  • makeGoodSciFi

    I’m sorry I know everyone loves SGA, but the whole “we’re traveling to Vancouver Island through the stargate for another repetitive, campy plot” is getting tired and old. Take some cues from BattleStar Galactica and make some decent Sci-Fi please.

  • Viper007Bond

    Dang, Fifth Gear made the list? Must be a slow week.

  • stefano

    fifth gear? why’s that?
    i thought top gear was top of the tree o.O

  • aaaaaa

    fifth gear instead of top gear? yeah right. most of these shows are terrible too.. i think your stats machine is messed up

  • chitchatanada

    Atlantis has not been canceled as a production team. They just are going to DVD movies so we have to pay for them ala Stargate SG1. Therefore I expect it to also be one of the most bootlegged DVDs. I also expect it to not last much longer either. It is one thing to have a weekly cast to follow and care about, another to have only 90 minutes twice a year you have to pay for(I am guessing here). They have badly misjudged the audience and chosen greed IMHO. I like the show a lot but I will not pay for the DVD. I also do not download any shows, they look like crap (I despise mp3 as well) So don’t go by me.
    Now those last 2 Deadwood DVDS (that never happened)I would have paid full retail and cherished.
    They don’t have a clue.

  • Anonymous

    I’m a bit confused by burn notice. Why take the trouble to get it via torrent when you can just stream it from USA’s website? Is it just to avoid the ads?

  • Trailer lover

    I think “Trailer Park Boys” should be on this list

  • jean_laRoi

    work of geeks is right…atlantis is make fatties fatter and dummies dumber. unbearable witty banter, silly cliche plots, crap video game cgi…waste of time. most downloads must be from 14 year old boys.

  • Canijochamaco

    How is a tv show that you can watch for free (with the obvious exception of cable tv shows)”pirate”?

  • merp

    You morons, Top Gear isn’t on this list because it’s a ranking from last week’s stats and TG is on hiatus between seasons until October. Until then, it’s Fifth Gear or nothing, for your fill of witty British automotive entertainment.

  • sdk

    I downloaded the opening ceremonies :)
    Strange though, a lot of the people downloading had IPs from China.

  • Anonymous

    #YLS#

    The cancellation of “Stargate: Atlantis” may be moot.

    There was just an announcement of a new series: “Stargate: Universe”, so all is good in the world.

  • Bryan

    “Monk” is a solid show, shame it has never made any of these lists!

  • AnonY

    Meh.. was pretty surprised with this weeks episode of weeds, didn’t expect what happened to happen.

    And CAN’T WAIT UNTIL PRISON BREAK!!!! ALWAYS #1 FOR ME!

  • Mark

    WEEDS IS AWESOME.

  • Anita Bonghit

    Of course Weeds, thats an awesome show.

    Fun Online Games at http://www.arcadegems.com

  • jimmy da wii

    weeds+burn notice>all

    As for Atlantis it got old when the wraith died from bullets instead of being immune to everything and being uber scary. Bring on stargate universe!

  • salemblack

    “There was just an announcement of a new series: “Stargate: Universe”, so all is good in the world.”

    Have you seen the plot summary for this new show? Its outright terrible. Its being made to appeal to kids and teens and is a star trek rip off, with a bit of sliders thrown in. SO far fans of the Stargate universe don’t seem impressed. They manage to negate the established history and working of the gate int the plot summary itself. I will be passing on it. Also to the person that said to make good SciFi like BSG has to be joking. Sorry but it was flashy and lack and kind of spark to make it interesting. Too often I hear people talk about their love for that show and the hot chicks on it in the same breath. Last time I checked tits do not equal a good story.

  • zarathustra

    # 29: “I’m a bit confused by burn notice. Why take the trouble to get it via torrent when you can just stream it from USA’s website?”

    Because they block non-merkin IPs from streaming it.

    How many times do pinheads like you have to be told that the world is larger than the USA…?

  • Toliver

    give it a week or two and prison break and heroes will be right up there!

  • makeGreatSciFi

    You have no idea what you’re talking about makeGoodSciFi. Atlantis rules. BattleStar sucks.

  • theFuzzyWarble

    deja vu

    FARSCAPE..
    we miss you so!!

  • BTGuard - BitTorrent Anonymously

NewsBits

Even more news...

  • The Pirate Bay Isn’t Down Completely, Just Having a Few Issues

    Twitter and Facebook, not to mention the TorrentFreak inbox, are currently alive with complaints that The...

  • Pirate Bay Founder Gottfrid Svartholm on Freedom of Speech

    Freedom of speech is a highly valued commodity, but should people be allowed to say whatever...

  • Blu-ray Anti-Piracy Tech Stops Discs and Promotes Purchases

    An anti-piracy system present in all official Blu-ray players since 2012 has received a fresh update...

  • Foxtel Breeds Pirates by Locking Up Game of Thrones

    One of the main reasons why people turn to piracy is the lack of legal alternatives....

  • UK Student Admits Breaching Sony Copyrights With Leak of PS3 SDK

    Last year an Internet user known as El Nomeo leaked version 3.70 of Sony’s Playstation3 SDK...

MostDiscussed

Below are TorrentFreak's most discussed articles of the past month. Join the discussion if you like.

CopyQuote

Left Quote

“The Pirate Bay has been one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship.

Peter Sunde Left Quote

PopularArticles

A selection of some TorrentFreak's classics dug up from our archives.