Top 10 Most Pirated TV-Shows of 2008

Ernesto
December 23, 2008
68
2008,
bittorrent,
heroes,
lost,
piracy,
prison-break
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As the year moves toward its conclusion we have been taking a a look at the most pirated titles in various categories in 2008. Following our Top 10 games and movies posts, we now take a look at the most downloaded TV-shows. Lost is without a doubt the most downloaded TV-show, with over 5 million downloads for one single episode.

lost TV-shows are getting increasingly more popular on BitTorrent. Most TV-broadcasters won’t be happy to hear this, but one could argue that BitTorrent has actually helped TV-shows to build a stronger, broader, and more involved fanbase.

Perhaps even more importantly, the rise of unauthorized downloading of TV-shows is a signal that customers want something that is not available through other channels. Availability seems to be the key issue why people turn to BitTorrent.

This also becomes clear when we look at the geographical location of the downloaders. The vast majority of the downloads come from overseas, over 90% on average. Outside the US, fans sometimes have to wait for weeks or even months before the show airs on TV in their country. Many of them are simply not that patient or willing to torture themselves, and turn to BitTorrent in desperation.

Legal online streaming services are only available in the US, and change very little in the overall download figures. Until the availability problem is addressed, we’re not likely to see a decrease in TV-show downloads from BitTorrent. Indeed, compared to last year, the download figures have grown a little, especially for the top three TV-shows in the list.

Below we have compiled a list of the most downloaded TV-shows, together with the viewer average for TV in the US, based on data from Nielsen. Note that the download count for each show is per episode, the most downloaded in this case. The Olympics Opening Ceremony was one of the most wanted broadcasts of the year with 4,620,000 downloads, but we decided only to include TV-series.

The data for the top 10 is collected by TorrentFreak from several sources, including reports from all the large BitTorrent trackers. The download number is the sum of all torrent downloads for the most popular episode. Based on previous experience a correction is made for smaller .torrent releases that we might have missed.

Most downloaded TV-shows on BitTorrent, 2008
rank	show	downloads	est. US TV viewers
torrentfreak.com
1	Lost	5,730,000	13,400,000
2	Heroes	4,400,000	8,200,000
3	Prison Break	3,840,000	6,100,000
4	Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles	2,240,000	5,500,000
5	Desperate Housewives	1,990,000	16,200,000
6	Stargate Atlantis	1,810,000	1,700,000
7	Dexter	1,660,000	7,200,000
8	House	1,520,000	15,700,000
9	Grey’s Anatomy	1,380,000	16,000,000
10	Smallville	1,150,000	4,100,000

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http://intensedebate.com/people/EZEE EZEE

SGA had two decent eps… the last two (ep 19 and 20), which makes it something like an average of 2 good eps per season? am happy that's over.

They even screwed the plot badly in the end.. in ep 19, the Wraith was a bad ass taking a crapload of bullets and not dying, but in ep 20 they started with the whole one shot one kill crap again, must have been because they got that idiot Rachel Lutteral (or however you spell that) back.

Heroes went a whole 13 eps to come back exactly where they were in s03e01

what the heck is happening to television? guess its the MAFIAA ultimate plan: lets make stuff so bad people wont even want to download them! Hence no piracy… no lawsuits… no use having broadband.. try to send the net back to the old days..
- http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  Indeed, they think that they aren't making money due to piracy. That's retarded. Besides, they ought not to make money in the first place: everyone ought to boycott the MAFIAA. Why should the MAFIAA leeches make money, especially since they are trying to turn the internet into a police state?
  
  The real reason why they are not making any money is the fact that they just do not care about what they create. They merely want to turn the shows into cash cows, (if they were not as such to begin with). The fact that they do not value the show itself is clear.
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Matt`

It’s simple really… with traditional TV you get to watch once only, at a time decided by the broadcaster, with adverts interrupting every 15 minutes and no way to pause, rewatch, repeat a section, skip a section or anything like that.

With a download you watch entirely at your own leisure, whenever you want, on whatever device you want, as many times as you want and you have full control over the playback. Then you can take it to a friend’s and watch it again.

It’s the internet era, we’re used to media being under our control because the technology is there to do that. YouTube doesn’t have a schedule and torrents don’t come with region limits. The only problem being that when you allow viewers that much control it becomes harder to make money on the back of it. Once they crack that and bring out a good video-on-demand service then I for one will be there watching from it.

Actually… I might continue with torrents anyway, they kinda missed the boat and now I’m settled in with what I use. They’ll probably have to manage something extra special to draw me away. Although that could be as simple as being just as easy as a torrent but without the wait or the fakes to sift through.
Anonymous

So obviously Lost would have 5,730,000 more watchers if the file stealers couldn’t, um, steal files…
john Sour

I really cannot believe that lost beat Prison Break!

privacy.es.tc
- http://intensedebate.com/people/Izkata Izkata
  
  Why not? Prison Break seems to rehash the same thing each season. Lost has a continuous storyline that has a set ending, and will only last 6 seasons in total.
http://intensedebate.com/people/dawin45 dawin45

well lost beats PB because it has more seasons,that's the only reason,I realy think PB is fallowing the pats of lost whith screwwing the whole story up, couldn't they just get of the island and finish the story,couldn't they get the scylla to the right people and bring down the company already?
http://torley.com Torley

I found it easier to watch Heroes on Hulu, and pretty convenient too. My only gripe with the commercials is how they tend to show the same one over and over, instead of varying it up. :p
http://intensedebate.com/people/Izkata Izkata

Agreed, here. I torrent TV episodes for several reasons – I generally don't have access to a TV, downloaded episodes do not have commercials, and, most of all, the convenience factor: they're on my harddrive so no need for internet access or waiting to watch it whenever I want!
- http://fieldyweb.co.uk/ BigDave
  
  This seems to be one sole proper comment respondin' to this blog entry… It is amazing with figures like these that someone hasn't cottoned onto the idea, and gone legit. I would be happy to pay for the content, and the world is now a "Gobal Village" so this releasing something earlier in the US, then the rest of the world is nuts..
  
  I'd also agree, that Advertising is a nightmare, as is the fact i want to watch something, when i want to watch it, not when the TV company does. be that going to work on the train, at lunch, whilst in bed, its up to me when i watch what i want to watch, not the TV company..
  
  Its a new world order.. DRM all you wish, fine the individual, squeeze our bandwidth (and watch your customers leave in droves Tiscalli UK…), its not an issue. we will watch the content, and by the looks of these figures we are not alone.
UraPhake

"…the rise of unauthorized downloading of TV-shows is a signal that customers want something that is not available through other channels. Availability seems to be the key issue why people turn to BitTorrent.."
=-=-=-=-=

For me, it's quality.

The so-called "legal" Internet channels for most TV programs send down inferior video, stuttering audio, and other general annoyances.

Torrents of TV-shows are always high-quality encodes (or people wouldn't want them) as good as (and sometimes better) than what I receive via cable/satellite.

Plus, I don't have to log in or give out my email address to download them or wait a week to get last night's episode as some of the U.S. networks seem to want us to do for online viewing.
http://intensedebate.com/people/NubCakes NubCakes

If people think SGA is so crap why did they continue to download and view it then? I just stop watching shows that I truly think are crap.

Roze: "The real reason why they are not making any money is the fact that they just do not care about what they create."

I hope you don't mean the MPAA by "they" as they don't make TV shows either.

"Everything they do is an act of selling something. The fact that they lack any values at all is clear."

You're viewpoint is just daft. We are talking about entertainment here: the vast majority of people just want to enjoy shows, take their mind off things and enjoy themselves. Please, enlighten us to your viewpoint: what is being sold in Stargate Atlantis, Heroes or Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? Exactly why should entertainment contain any values whatsoever, let alone what your warped view of values is. Normal people are not influenced by the TV they watch for any values being demonstrated by any content – the values they hold will not change, so why bother with complaining about the fact that values are not in there.

The fact is in order to have people watch your show you have to give them something they want because if you do not they can watch other shows, read a book, go outside, – do whatever else they wish in their leisure time. People do not want content that has "values", mainly because they find it boring as well as intrusive.

Please also enlighten us as to what "values" you wish TV content producers to demonstrate.
- http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  I meant the values that the TV rights holders (and perhaps the producers) have themselves, not what they are demonstrating through the shows. If it shall be mere entertainment, then they should value it as good entertainment rather than being greedy, caring only so far as it is their cash cow (and not caring about the value of it as good entertainment, &c).
- http://intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  I meant the values that the TV content producers have themselves, not what they are demonstrating through the shows.
- http://intensedebate.com/people/Binsy Binsy
  
  well said :P
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Adama

Battlestar…?
Erfa

Yay, LOST wins! I always download LOST, it's about 2 weeks behind here in Sweden. The advertisers don't lose a penny though, because I also watch the episodes when they air on TV.
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Klippa

"The vast majority of the downloads come from overseas, over 90% on average. Outside the US, fans sometimes have to wait for weeks or even months before the show airs on TV in their country."
Weird article. Seems to assume that all tv is made in the US and that the rest of us just sit here waiting for it arrive.
Actually I'd rate British tv on the whole much better than American.
jernej

I'am from Slovenia and shows are aired about 2-3 years after their official release. Even when they get aired, its usually just one or two seasons and then they stop, which is understandable as the market is very small ( population 2 million ).

So I don't have any other choice then to go download them off a torrent site. If they were available online with a decent quality, like The Daily Show for instance, I would go watch them there.

The Daily Show is a very nice example of how they've used the internet too widen their "fanbase" or whatever it's called. There are some adds in between, which is ok as theres like 20secs of comercials every 20min. Compare it to the TV programs, which around here is like 5-10min every 30min.

And the online availability probably didn't effect the TV views at all, at least not in a bad way.

So it's basically a win, win sutiation for them, and they all should of done that ages ago!
- Fmunkey
  
  In the US, we have commercials for a few minutes, about 3 or 4 times during the half hour show, making the length of a show 20-22 minutes long. Does Slovenia just run the show all the way through then show ads? I think I would prefer that.
  - jernej
    
    If it's a 20min show, there aren't usually any in between, but if it's an hour show, there's a 5min comercial break in the middle.
    
    So I guess that's less anyoing then the breaks in between.
logros

lol @ SGA, more downloads than ppl watching it on tv :)
- Hahaha!
  
  LOL!
  - A random dude.
    
    Its because putting it on T.V. is not reaching the demographic that is interested in the show. And a lot of their fan base is based outside the U.S. for example season 5 hasn't even started airing yet in Canada!
Jacob

Well the fact is that i live in new zealand and i new zealand they turn the volume up in the adds and we have to manhy adds. More importantly they show shit shows and to many reruns of shit shows. Now im nt going to wait years and seee if star gate atlantis is going to come back just to watch it with adds. So our tv broadcasters can go get fuked.
- http://revolution.elusionerie.com Jakki
  
  rofl i was in nz a couple of days ago, and yeah i agree your tv is pretty shit xD
jacob

Oh and yer SGA is a peace of shit. Im sad to see some dum asse people wreck the potentially extremely good show. SGA has no real plot. In sga its as if every episodeis its own story. The one flaw in sga is they do not carry onm a plot ever they just have random shit. They could have been as big or bigger than star gate but they fucked it up worse than stargate wtf.
- Hahah!
  
  Jacob….take some grammar classes. It will come handy in your life.
- Anon
  
  I agree..
  - http://intensedebate.com/people/NubCakes NubCakes
    
    I have already pointed this out. You are far below the average as far as grammer skills go for 15 year olds.
    - Anon2
      
      grammer = grammar
    - http://www.killerblog.net Killerblog
      
      hahahahahha fail.
    - http://intensedebate.com/people/NubCakes NubCakes
      
      yes, ok, 1 mistake.
- d000d
  
  I like the fact that there are different plots in many SGA episodes. That Ori and Goa'uld stuff in SG got old and boring pretty fast. They are exploring different planets after all, they are bound to meet many different people and thus many different stories take place.
  If you want one plotline dragged through several seasons, I suggest you watch Lost instead.
  
  I'm sad to see SGA go :(
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Teaser

New Zealand? – I've just dl an old TV show "Xena" – Great show – which was getter better and better after each season – Damn! – New Zealand should produce more shows and Australia as well – McLeods Daughters was a great show at least the 4 first seasons
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m0deth

EZEE – you sound like a CSI: “insert dumb tag here” fan…

Maybe SciFi isn’t your bag…you know, the kind that doesn’t really show every possible detail with a shaky cam playback, or internal thought pattern playing out…just so you can understand it? Not that any of that shit plays in real life anyway.
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name

Lost is the best. Period.
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Merry

Greetings. As I am from Greece, if I wanted to watch Lost I would have to wait about a year or so. Now If you know that the next episode is out there, can you wait?
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http://hugrohan.tumblr.com Rohan

I currently watching Lost Season 2 and can't wait to see all seasons!
Thanx to Bittorrents! I live India so cant see in TV.
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http://www.sosyalmekan.com emrah serdaroglu

where is the big bang theory? ;)
http://intensedebate.com/people/Roland21 Roland21

Be ready For Season 5 of LOST… i'ts gonna go to a whole new level.
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http://www.alldoneright.com/ Payperbiz

I wish there was also room for programs about home design such as "Homes with Style" and "Guess who's coming to decorate".
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/NubCakes NubCakes

Now you're changing what you said to mean something else… if you meant valuable why didn't you use that word and use it in context that made sense?

"The problem is that making money does not coincide with giving them what they want. It means PROMISING them what they want, or advertising and so on and so forth, but it does not mean delivering in the end. It may work for the short term, but not for the long term."

The flaw in your argument is that if TV shows don't deliver "in the end" – ie people gain enjoyment from viewing and so continue to view – people quickly stop watching and the revenue from advertising shrinks dramatically as the show is moved for higher rating alternatives. Hence if people don't "get what they want" substantially less money is made by networks and content producers.

For some reason you seem to assume that the majority of people don't see through advertising promises in just the same way you do. I highly doubt you have some rare ability to see through this situation that any other average person doesn't possess. That's not meant as an insult BTW.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Izkata Izkata

Entertainment is just that, *entertainment*. Most people don't care about re-watchability, they just want to be entertained for the 40 minutes (1 hour, if on a TV) that they're watching the episode. Even in terms of TV shows with a storyline, most people won't be saving the episodes to watch later, so again, re-watchability does not come into play.

I don't even understand what you're trying to say with mixing up "values" and "valuable", so I won't comment on that.

What people want is something that interests them, and TV, for the most part, delivers. Whatever your tastes, there's usually something for you on there. That is why each channel has such a wide variety of shows depending on the day and time you look at it.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze

So I may have mis-spoke, in any case, I meant to say that the TV rights holders (not the show itself) lack values – and therefore, one ought not to support them through watching them on television.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze

So I may have mis-spoke, in any case, I mean that anything that they do create is not worth watching, on the virtue that watching them is supporting the industry. Even though television is not a part of the MAFIAA, they are also a part of such an industry.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze

Well, perhaps that may be true, so I will say something else: in any case, I meant to say that the TV rights holders (not the show itself) lack values – and therefore, one ought not to support them through watching them on television.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze

Well, perhaps that may be true, so I will say something else: that to support shows, where the rights holder is in support of more draconian copyright, is in support of more draconian copyright itself, and therefore ought not to be watched – at least on television.

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