Top 10 Most Pirated TV-Shows of 2009
Written by Ernesto on December 31, 2009As the year moves toward its conclusion, we have been listing the most pirated entertainment titles of 2009. Following our Top 10 games and movies charts, we now turn to the most downloaded TV-shows. Despite declining viewership offline, Heroes is the most downloaded show, with over 6 million downloads for a single episode.
TV-shows are gaining popularity on BitTorrent year after year. In 2009 a new milestone was reached; for two shows in the top 10 – Heroes and Dexter – the number of downloads on BitTorrent has exceeded the average viewership on US television.
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, and this is also reflected in the fact that most downloads occur from countries where the show has yet to air on TV.
Outside the US, fans sometimes have to wait for weeks or even months before the show airs on TV in their own country. Many of them are simply not that patient or willing to torture themselves, and turn to BitTorrent in desperation.
Despite massive piracy of TV-shows, there are plenty of opportunities for distributors and broadcasters to win viewers back. The piracy figures simply show that TV viewing habits are changing. There is a huge interest in on-demand TV and there are millions of viewers that can potentially bring in millions of dollars in revenue.
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. The data for the top 10 is collected by TorrentFreak from several sources, including reports from all public BitTorrent trackers. All the data is carefully checked and possible inaccuracies are systematically corrected.
| rank | show | downloads | est. US TV viewers |
|---|---|---|---|
| torrentfreak.com | |||
| 1 | Heroes | 6,580,000 | 5,900,000 |
| 2 | Lost | 6,310,000 | 11,050,000 |
| 3 | Prison Break | 3,450,000 | 5,300,000 |
| 4 | Dexter | 2,780,000 | 2,300,000 |
| 5 | House | 2,590,000 | 15,600,000 |
| 6 | 24 | 2,440,000 | 12,620,000 |
| 7 | Desperate Housewives | 2,180,000 | 15,500,000 |
| 8 | Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles | 1,960,000 | 6,340,000 |
| 9 | Grey’s Anatomy | 1,740,000 | 15,640,000 |
| 10 | True Blood | 1,600,000 | 12,400,000 |
Previously: Pivotal BitTorrent Sites of the Decade: Suprnova
Next: Dramatic BitTorrent Site Shutdowns of the Decade
69 Responses
like that will ever happen
I know it’s not listed. But i’m curious as to how many downloads Dr Who got for the 3 episodes so far. As the 4th episode would be classed as a 2010 episode.
lol cool :]
this is new xD
@2 the new dr who is already showing¿ :O
@4 Did you even read what he wrote?
Is it possible to collect data from filehosting sites. Not just bittorrent. What happens when you ad RS & MU downloads into the mix. What are the download figures then?
Really interesting to note that Dexter beat it’s Nielsen rating in downloads. Perhaps for once the networks will realize that those ratings don’t paint a full picture and they will stop axing good shows based upon ratings alone.
/Yeah, probably not.
//More likely they’ll try to help jail those who help themselves to protect their consumerist empire.
Holy crap, a lot of people watch True Blood on tv. That surprises me cuz I never hear people talk about that show. Plus I never imagined a cable show would ever be as popular as a network show but if those neilson numbers are right, it’s as popular in the US as 24 and more popular than Lost?!!??!!? That just sounds insane cuz people talk about those shows a lot, etc.
Lost is the best.
“Outside the US, fans sometimes have to wait for weeks or even months before the show airs on TV in their own country.”
More like years.
24- thats the show y’all shld be watching. Best show ever.
I always thought Top Gear was the most pirated show in the World?
“10 Dec 31, 2009 at 18:35 by Anonymous
“Outside the US, fans sometimes have to wait for weeks or even months before the show airs on TV in their own country.”
More like years.”
Sometimes NEVER
I would like to see a smaller company try releasing same day legal torrents that include the advertising. I would be willing to download their version of a show instead of a third party one. Doesn’t have to be high quality. Could be a lower quality with easy access the night of the original air.
Maybe come up with a small proprietary player that forces the commercials and is included with in the download of the show. Integrate the show and player into one standalone .exe that doesn’t require install
House would have been much higher if FOX didn’t keep pushing it back delaying episodes.
I want a new season of Futurama.
R they commercial free? ahhaha, ANNOUNCEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT, BINDER&BINDER BINDER&BINDER BINDER&BINDER BINDER&BINDER BINDER&BINDER BINDER&BINDER BINDER&BINDER BINDER&BINDER BINDER&BINDER BINDER&BINDER
2 minuteS of show with 10 minute commercials between & 3 to 5 commercial breaks.
#7 Nielson is a joke. I had the diary once and filled it out with stuff and got my $2, but I was a kid and nobody has time to do it accurately.
Howard Stern was talking about this and how his ratings where never good and now they have this People Meter that people strap to themselves all day and it records EVERYTHING they watch or listen to on the radio.
He says how he wishes he could have competed using that. IN Canada there was some kind of radar gun they could beam at cars and tell what radio station they were listening to. Anyhow, just agreeing with you hehe
sorry, meant Accurate, not “good”
I’m one of those impatient ones who are tired of they’re countrys TV policy. For example, first they showed Criminal Minds about halfway through the third season, put it on a break for couple of months, and started showing the same season again from the start and its on a break again!
Things like that are big reasons I don’t watch much TV anymore
Honestly, I watch most shows on TV the night it airs, repeat watching on Hulu if I liked it or missed part and download the episodes that friends miss so I can burn them to disc. It’s people like me that they should be praising, they hit me up twice for commercials and my friend get’s it commercial free. That’s still 1:1 in my case.
Not to mention, I could just DVR the damn thing and skip commercials completely…
Dexter did amazing considering it only does 12 episode seasons.
Torrents…. yes… but don’t be ignorant…..
What about ……..
UseNet ?
FileSpreaders .. eg Megaupload , rapidshare ect… ?
__________________________________________
Another thing : we in the U.K can wait YEARS for U.S. shows to appear.
IF They appear AT ALL.
Visa-Versa !!
——————————————-
24 ( exagerated FANTASY PRETENDING to be real )? ?
Lost ( stupid NON-sense plot , litrialy ) ? ?
True Blood (AKA.. vampire bandwaggon ) ? ?
Terminator The S.C Chronicles ( No coment.. omg ) ? ?
OMG…
I am away to watch..
celebrity – dancing and singing Factor ON ICe 2.
—–_________———_________———_________———_____
—–_________———_________———_________———_____
PLEASE QUOTE YOUR SOURCES TorrentFreak ?
And back it up with raw Data .
—–_________———_________———_________———_____
—–_________———_________———_________———_____
I have compiled a list of the most downloaded TV-shows.
1. Twat Factor 91,050,000
2. Strictly come on pamela anderson.88,050,000
3. Still Lost The sequal 5 77,050,000
4. TorrentFreak T.V. 69,050,000
MY LIST IS AS VALID AS YOURS !
TiL YoU PRooVE iT ! Tf
@25
Did you actually read the article?
Probably not, Trolls can’t read.
interesting to say the least.. Heroes being the most downloaded show but the least watched, where as Greys anatomy being the most watched show but in 9th place as far as downloads..
What does it all mean?…LoL
Ok, heroes isnt the least watched. that would be Dexter..but still the numbers are strange…
I pay good money for my cable service here in Canada, thus I don’t feel too guilty about downloading shows. It’s just so much more convenient and the quality is often better too. If I did not have internet access, I would simply set the timer on my PVR to record them and still skip advertisements upon later viewing, so I do not feel too guilty about that either. If someone were to create a GOOD legal alternative I would likely ditch my cable provider and switch, but my government often tends to be against such things, especially when they don’t originate here. This is why each province has so few choices when it comes to any kind of telecommunications service I think.
What I really like is when I excitedly sit down to watch a TV program on an official web site and have to watch their pathetic ad to get to the program…And then:
Due to licensing restrictions this content is not available in your region.
WTF? The commercials are
allowed in my region but not the program? Why force me to watch an ad? Why not warn me first that content is not available in my area before forcing me to watch the ad?PISSES me off big time!
So then I go and download the commercial free torrent instead and I simply don’t bother to try to watch through authorized channels anymore.
I ditched my cable and satellite TV long ago and I like the idea of simply consuming entertainment at my leisure and convenience and without restrictions.
That is what the future is going to be all about.
I live outside USA and probably am never going to see some of the tv-shows that i want to see and those that will be shown here some day – I have to wait sometimes for years.
I am not able to discuss the shows on the internet or read and understand the reviews and opinions of others unless I download the shows illegally. If I would legally wait for instance two years to see the show legally on a local tv-channel, then the episodes are already old news in the USA: If I could legally buy the episodes for 1-2 dollars per episode, I would very much gladly do so, but I am not able to – no comapny sells the episodes online in this part of the world.
I too am one of the poor majority that live outside of the USA and such do not see most shows till at least a few months i think 1 of the very few shows that play within a month is the late show with David letterman i dont think the main shows i follow have started here yet
top gear
scrubs
family guy
the big bang theory
etc.
all have aired earlier seasons and repeated them but do not continue
@28 Dexter is broadcaster on ShowTime, which is subscription based, while all the other shows are on publicly broadcaster networks (except for True Blood, which I am surprised at how many people watch as compared to Lost and Heroes…) so naturally it will have less viewer ship
If only they could get data from private trackers as well, then it will be a whole new scenario
I hereby vote that instead of pirates…we adopt the name “Unauthorized Content Consumer”. xD
Terminator!! House & 24!!
weeks or even months????
its bloody years I tell you! and even then you cant watch it for the translation desaster which constantly ruins every last bit of an otherwise jollyly enjoyable show…
In my country (Vietnam), They stop airing Lost at season 3. Thanks BitTorrent!
BBC has put the 1981 mini-series Day Of The Triffids on youtube, but when i tried to watch it it said “This video contains content from BBC Worldwide, who has decided to block it in your country.” worldwide my ass! what a hypocrite, BBC! now thanks to torrents where people are truly sharing.
Regarding the Nielsen stats for True Blood, is that counting just the original air date or includes all the repeat airings of each episode???
@ #7
it’s because it’s on Showtime. Many people want to watch it, Dexter, but no one wants to pay for Showtime because they are teh suck.
At least 20% of the people in California claim they watch Heroes on TV (ask them if you doubt). Some fraction then download to rewatch. If you look at the viewer statistics it is obvious that NBC is paying Nielsen to downward trend the numbers so they can cancel the show like CBS did with Jericho and for the same reason – high production cost.
I am surprised that not more resposes mention aversion to commercials as a reason for pirating shows. The wieving value plummets with the breaks.Nowadays I never watch a commercial channel directly. Either I record the program and delete the commercials or I download from the net.
Dont think that adding private Trackers/UseNet/RS/MU/whatever would change the scenario much. Of course, the d/l numbers would be waaaay higher than even now, but I guess the relation between the shows would stay about the same.
Where is Bones???
I’m reluctant to start relying on BitTorrent to get my TV shows. I hear the studios are going to be more aggressive to thwart this unofficial unauthorized redistribution model.
I pay almost $100 per month for cable but am finding myself watching my favorite shows through my computer. The picture quality of cable sucks (especially since it’s gone digital) unless you buy a high def box from them for a rediculous amount of money. I have a high def box… My computer!
Funny, the only things I find myself watching on cable is the drivel I actually don’t want to watch. Oh yeah,.. and live sports. And that’s not much worse online either.
@#45
ummm sorry but direct tv HDTV on a samsung LEDtv is far beyond what the scene provides atm as far as quality goes
oh and cable is for internet, not for television, that was your first mistake
Once again proving beyond doubt that the torrent community has extremely poor taste.
Heroes – Shit
Lost – Complete shit
Prison Break – Decent
Dexter - Decent but generic
House – Decent
24 – Generic and boring
Desperate Housewives – Total shit
Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Absolute and utter shit
Grey’s Anatomy – Boring and contrived
True Blood – Shit
Notice a pattern here?
I should add for non US viewers often you can’t get in in English, anyone for House in Italian or German?
It’s a certainty that I never would have watched the shows until perhaps years later as re-runs undoubtedly. I would only be aware of these programs as vague reminders that the U.S. (and Canada) actually even exist. The big bosses complain about the revenues lost, but they don’t count the popularity as evidenced by millions who download television shows off of the internet. In places where the broadcast simply cannot reach. Without torrents I would have never become one of the faithful followers of show such as Lost and 24. Groundbreaking stuff like special abilities from Heroes that I would never have been exposed to, just because I don’t have a tv. The suits should be happy they gain millions in viewer-ship. It promotes brand loyalty and … whatever, they should be paying us back for it. In cold hard cash.
“Outside the US, fans sometimes have to wait for weeks or even months before the show airs on TV in their own country.”
try years. in my country they stil air shows from the 90s especially comedies and when they air a show they only do one season of a show and then you never know if it will be back again
How do you know this!? Where does this amazing info come from?
My Mother lives with ME & I don’t have cable because I can’t afford it but even if I could I wouldn’t have cable because it’s such a rip off! BUT I have a 12+mbps broadband connection which I use to get all of our TV shows that we like. I use uTorrent with the RSS AUTO DOWNLOAD option which gets all of our shows .torrent files between 1 – 10 min after it’s posted & after that it usually takes less then 5 – 8 min to download it! We have a perfect picture, NO COMMERCIALS since they are cut out by the Capper & watch everything on TV by using my Xbox 360 to stream the .avi files from my PC to the TV. It’s like cable with on demand BUT BETTER since I can get any show I want, I often look for shows that I watched before & never finished or saw from the start & get all the seasons so I am NEVER out of things to watch! WHat I really like is being able to get shows from Foreign countries that I would never be able to see on cable or if I can by some small chance I would probably have to wait a year or more! I love “New Tricks” from the UK & my Mom even likes it! My favorite show ever is “The Invisibles” from the UK but it only played for 1 season:-( & most British shows for some reason only have 6, it’s not a typo I really mean only 6 episodes! I just finished this other UK show Paradox & it only had 5 episodes in the first season! Aussie shows aren’t like that, Rush is pretty damn good but the best ever Aussie show was the FIRST season of Underbelly! You see I would NEVER have been able to see these shows whether or not I had cable! What really bugs me is that the UK, Australia etc… get to see some of our “good” “American” shows(We’re REALLY SORRY about **** Idol) but for some reason we don’t really get the chance. There is BBC America but it isn’t the same & they only show certain BBC shows, at least they show Top Gear which is good but sad because America was supposed to get it’s own Top Gear years ago but it never happened:-( I love my system for watching TV & I don’t plan on changing it unless something “crazy” happens. My next step is to get this “box” that was under $150 to stream things to the TV in my Mom’s room & I would like to do the same to my room but instead I want to get another Xbox 360 so I can play games more since my Mom is always using it which is kinda funny to me, my 59 year old Mom is using my Xbox 360 MORE then ME ;-) “THEY” HAVE NO REASON TO BITCH ABOUT PEOPLE DOWNLOADING TV SHOWS THAT THEY WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO SEE OR EVEN IF THEY COULD WATCH IT ANOTHER WAY SO F-IN WHAT! EITHER ADEPT OR STFU!!!
How can I “pirate” that which is given away for free?
Piracy is ship to ship armed robbery. Calling copyright infringement piracy makes light of murderous thugs, and makes infringement sound worse than it is. It doesn’t even work as a metaphor. When we use their misnomer, they win. Then one of two things will happen. Either infringers will be demonized people sharing 1s and 0s or the word piracy will lose its gravity.
channels like the universal channel appear all around erurope to cover theyre running series,2 bad,they don’t deliver the series globaly at the same date,so piracy woudn’t count…
visit http://torrentwiki.tk/
heros = shit
lost = nice
http://www.polytoxikomanie.info
Now all I need is some live streams of sky sports to my xbmc and I’m sorted
Grey’s Anatomy is #9 because 10% of geeks have girlfriends
How false is this report!! for starters “TOP GEAR” is the most Pirated TV show in the world not some shite program from the US , get ur facts right
I’d also like to see how DVD sales correlate with downloads and Nielsen ratings. As I live outside the US, I torrent quite a few shows to have them ‘fresh’ when they come out, but the quality ones I quite often end up buying later on DVD to rewatch. I’m pretty sure my DVD purchases are offsetting any lost ad revenue from my torrents DLs.
I’ve seen this article referenced a number of times, and i think its important to point out that while the total number of downloads indeed surpass the number of viewers, there are 23 episodes worth of downloads represented here.
That equates to a mean of 300,000 downloads per episode, which is only 5% of the 5.9 million viewers per showing. Sure, the big numbers sound cool, but they’re slightly misrepresented.
The BBC apologized for not making their shows available online worldwide.
Apparently they have multi-year contracts for “overseas distribution” and they have to wait for them to end. With any luck they’ll do the right thing as soon as those contracts end.
Prison Break
Heroes
Dexter
24
Lost
/
NOTHING ANOTHER BEST
Can never get enough 24.
Dexter, True Blood and House aren’t too bad.
The rest is sad.
Does anybody know how many downloads ther were for Mad Men this year, surprised it is not on the list.
???, ??????? ?????, ??? ????? ??????? ??????? ?? ?????????.
? ??? ??????-?? ??????? ? ???????? ????, ???? ????? ??????.
[color=blue](Rus)
Blya, Klasnaya telka, kak mojno stol’ko boltat’ i ne zapinat’sya, prosto molodec ona.
A eshe pochemuto ochen’ hochetsya nasuvat’ ei v rot.[/color]
nice list .. my favorite is lost!
http://www.news-item.de
It is interesting that true pirates normally have cable or DirectTv, and own legally all the DVDs of a season once released. Torrent downloaders normally have high speed internet and large hard drives. They aren’t downloading because they are too cheap for the $10 bucks a month.
I purchased the Season 7 of 24 Dvds, when released the very next day after the season finale.
People get tired of waiting.
Only once, I downloaded Sopranos Home Movies, one week before the Season 6b Premiered. Let me say, it was exciting, and fun to watch it 6 days before I was going to watch on my paid HBO channel.
Now, having said that, when I received the letter from Comcast for the HBO piracy warning, I was scared to death.
Fans are dedicated to their shows. They want real time, relive the action and drama asap. Whether they download to the ipods, zunes, blackberries, they want it before it sadly comes out 8 months later on DVD!
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