Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent (wk26)
Written by Ernesto on July 01, 2008TV 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?
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 June 22 – June 29
| Ranking | (last week) | TV-show |
| 1 | (new) | Top Gear |
| 2 | (1) | Weeds |
| 3 | (4) | The Daily Show |
| 4 | (5) | The Colbert Report |
| 5 | (back) | In Plain Sight |
| 6 | (3) | Doctor Who |
| 7 | (back) | Hells Kitchen |
| 8 | (back) | So You Think You Can Dance |
| 9 | (new) | Wipeout |
| 10 | (8) | Fear Itself |
Previously: How The FBI Dismantled a BitTorrent Community
Next: Australian Drug Mafia to Sell Pirated DVDs?
29 Responses
Wow, I’m supprised Top Gear is up there, wouldn’t think many Americans like it an in the UK we can just use iplayer.
Shame Doctor Who didn’t do better, it was a fairly big episode.
Top gear is so high because it has such a high international following compared to most UK shows. (Hence you are making US and Aussie versions of the show currently)
And the iPlayers quality sucks balls compared too 700Mb TV rips :P
What the hell is with the “Daily Show” and “Colbert Report”… people actually want to watch these? I’ve never watched these so to me it sounds like someone wanting to watch GMTV or something?
the daily show kicks ass
I know this may be a dumb question, but do the publishers really care about us downloading TV shows? I mean they allow you to record it on TiVo.. whats the difference on bittorrent?
Top Gear is so awesome, seriously it is a brilliant example that we in the UK are still capable of making good telly. Granted the yank version of it is going to be god awful.
Yeh Top Gear is pretty damn good and I’m not that much of a car lover like some people I know.
The team on there just mix together so well… I wonder how much money they spend per year tho… all the fuel and crazy car smashing stunts… worth it tho.
Just wish they’d put it on rather than those continous saturday night sing and dance peices of rubbish.
“I know this may be a dumb question, but do the publishers really care about us downloading TV shows? I mean they allow you to record it on TiVo.. whats the difference on bittorrent?”
Common sense doesn’t apply when talking about copyright. Besides, the only reason they “allow” you to record it is that they haven’t been able to get recording declared illegal, or a broadcast flag to prevent recording, made into law. Yet…
@#5 the difference between TiVo and bittorrent is that tivo has ads but bittorrent doesnt. I don’t think the companies want you to download them.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN SING DANCE AND ACT? It doesn’t matter! None of us can either!
“What the hell is with the “Daily Show” and “Colbert Report”… people actually want to watch these? I’ve never watched these so to me it sounds like someone wanting to watch GMTV or something?”
You ought to try watching them. They’re both hilarious &, additionally, you might actually obtain a clue…
Well, I cant wait untill they start complaining about people downloading TV shows, there going to be like WERE LOOSING REVENUE CAUSE THERE NOT WATCHING COMMERCIALS.. lolz.. that will be fun to prove.
Oh wait no.. its IMPOSSIBLE to prove.
Il take the ‘Watch whenever I want, no commercials’ version please.. oh wait you don’t have it? Oh sorry.. il just go download it on bittorrent..
Why are pirates so much better at everything? At this point its like I could never go back to the old way of watching tv shows.. it seems like the stone age.
@#YLS#:
I run a Top Gear fansite (I won’t bother linking to it as it’s easy to find via Google) and I can tell you the worldwide following of the show is a bit nuts.
Word of the show is spread among friends and forums and it chopped up versions air on BBC America 6-9 months later.
And it’s more than just Americans that are into the show. We have a TON of Euros on our forums as well as Aussies (where Top Gear is fairly well known).
Your “little” show really gets around. I’ve seen official estimates that Top Gear is watched by 385 million people worldwide (95% of those people are outside of the UK).
> “What the hell is with the “Daily Show” and “Colbert Report”… people actually want to watch these? I’ve never watched these so to me it sounds like someone wanting to watch GMTV or something?”
They’re probably the best thing I’ve seen on American TV right now. Unfortunately the perspective is all too American – it detracts from it a bit, but I don’t know if they could do the show without it.
“Cars?” I thought it was a Scottish show about heroin!
Damn you Michael bay, er, uh, I mean Irvine Wellsh!
I’m a big Top Gear fan!!!
And even if you’re not into cars this show is worth taking a look… Great entertainment!
@#YLS#: Doctor Who is probably a good show, but it’s been running for far too long for a lot of people to get into it. Like me. I don’t get into a new series unless I can watch the whole thing from episode 1, and Doctor Who is so long that it’s just not really possible.
I love lists like this. It lets me know what I should be downloading. I never heard of top gear, and now I plan on downloading it.
@12
a lot of the big american dramas (e.g. smallville) include loads of plugs for various companies, so i don’t think they’d be that bothered about us missing the adverts.
i didn’t put my point across very well there, but hopefully you’ve got a vague idea of what i mean.
Never heard of “top gear”.
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I’ve been watching Doctor Who since a kid, and it’s pretty good. Recently, it’s been able to break a lot of Sci-Fi barriers.
If you want to start, starting fresh from the 2003 series continuation works very well to catch you up to speed.
I don’t think anyone has seen all episodes, as a lot of the early episodes were lost and have never been obtained since. Rewards are out for them.
Weeds is a really great show, recently picked up Monday night’s episode. :)
@17, yeah just start at the reboot.
Before then it was canceled and stopped nearly completely so there are not any real storyline connections to the original series.
I’ve been a big fan of Doctor Who two years now. An australian once recommended it to me on a forum and I’ve been watching it ever since. Thanks to its popularity in the p2p community they’re now showing it on TV here in Finland, too.
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Doctor Who is easy to jump into, particularly the 2003+ series (or just the David Tennant ones). It doesn’t take itself too seriously, so you don’t need a whole lot of deep backstory. Most of the longer-term backstory is pretty camp anyway. ;)
At the same time, I think the only reason it and the other UK shows are represented in the top ten is that US shows are between seasons. But that’ll help people get a little more perspective – it’s a good idea to see media from outside your little corner of the planet sometimes. And US people in particular do eternally need more perspective.
We’ve grabbed last weekend’s but won’t watch it until we have the finale. For us a big advantage of BT (or a PVR) is not having to wait a week or two after a cliffhanger. ;)
Daily show bites
I am not very good at website design, but I have attempted to create a pledge for people who are willing to struggle for a cause, so that there might be a chance that we could take action collectively.
It is at http://www.28chan.org/pledge.php
What do you people think?
Hey TF… any chance of making a bigger top torrents list?
Like a Top20, 50 or 100 for instance…
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