Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent
Written by Ernesto on October 07, 2008TV shows are by far the most wanted files on BitTorrent, and according to some, it’s becoming the modern day TiVo. But what are all those people downloading?
The top two shows in this weeks list, Heroes and Prison break, were both downloaded over a million times in a week. Since both shows are ‘released’ on Tuesday, BitTorrent sites see a significant traffic increase on that day. The rest of the shows in this weeks list are less popular, but still got somewhere between 700.000 and 300.000 downloads.
The data presented here is collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.
| Ranking | (last week) | TV-show | |
|---|---|---|---|
| torrentfreak.com | |||
| 1 | (1) | Heroes | |
| 2 | (2) | Prison Break | |
| 3 | (4) | House | |
| 4 | (6) | Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles | |
| 5 | (new) | Desperate Housewives | |
| 6 | (7) | Entourage | |
| 7 | (8) | Gossip Girl | |
| 8 | (back) | Supernatural | |
| 9 | (new) | How I met Your Mother | |
| 10 | (10) | Fringe | |
Previously: IFPI Loses Another P2P ‘Wireless Defense’ Case
Next: Major Romanian ISP Blocks BitTorrent Site
68 Responses
Heroes, Prison Break, Terminator, Supernatural, Fringe … awesome <3
But where is Eureka? I love that show …
I don’t nor never have watched any of these American TV shows…Heroes the best? Must download :P
family guy? that’s gotta be in there next week.
have you heard?
Eureka is off the air for now, its meant to come back with 13 episodes in the winter i belive.
Im also looking forward to it and am a big fan of the show.
Glad to see sarah connor in the top 10,
terminator gets better with every episode and it’s awesome Shirely Manson is in it now. Garbage was the first band I ever bought a CD from.
I loved the first season of Heroes but I’m slowly getting more and more annoyed with all the cliff-hanger endings. I don’t mind long story-arcs (like Babylon 5), but I just wish that the issues they raise in one episode get solved by the end of that episode or the one after.
“bird is the word”
where is naruto, bleach or the office?
@4 Thanks, guess I’ll have to wait for more episodes then.
i thought that the office would be on here.. but i think whats going on here is that they are combined downloads.
Since the office new season just came out, its not enough to stack up against these shows that have many new episodes out that people are racking up. Once the office gets into full season, i think we will see it again!
But who gives a shit anyway, the only point of these lists is to really see that bittorrent is an incredible protocol delivering what people want.
I think that the very least that the broadcasters could do is imbed commercials into there own torrent, sure people are going to download the ones without, but if you can beat those people who release…
Technicly if they release RIGHT when the show starts, they will beat the releasers, since they seem to release just minutes after the show is over. People will end up downloading that first, and more or less watch the commercials.
ITS BETTER THEN NOTHING you fuck sticks.
@6 Well don’t you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!
No ‘Office’?!
Dexter should definitely be up there… one of the best shows in my opinion.
Heroes season 3= crap
yeah im sure naruto would be in there too
I’m surprised true blood is not on there, it’s a better show than any of the ones on the list.
I think we’re forgetting Top Gear Australia?
“Everybody’s heard about the bird… The bird’s the word.”
@7: Bleach 189 just hit Mininova a few minutes ago. It aired in Japan yesterday, Oct 7, 2008.
@16: Yeah, that’s a notable omission. So is Doctor Who and Primeval. In fact there are few good sci-fi shows in the top 10 this time around.
“Everybody’s heard about the word…”
FG – superb as usual. =]
Heroes is so F***ing awesome .
Thanks to EZTV and loder btw.
Now downloading from a hard drive near you.
@ damn (9)
They are not cumulative. The office just isn’t that popular (because its not that funny – less so than the uk version, and so not so popular)
Top gear austrailia is a new show, a franchise copy of Top Gear, which is back on in the UK soon, and I’ve heard the antipodean copy just isn’t as good.
Jeff – Dr who isn’t airing at present, the season finale was shown a month or two back, the next new episode will be the Christmas Special.
people, stop watching that crap and read books. (and not scifi or fantasy ones)
Just wait until 1st week November, when Top Gear’s back! I want to see the chart then.
P.S.
B-b-b-b-b-b-BIRD! :)))
lost, weeds, entourage, dexter,
where s southpark, dudes?
it airs today!!!!!!!
FYI
Report: Sarah Connor close to termination
http://www.tv.com/story/11688.html
My personal top 5 favorites:
01) Grey’ Anatomy
02) The Closer (is paused until Jan 5 2009)
03) Bones
04) Boston Legal
05) Terminator: The Sarah Connor’s Chronicles
the piratebay seems to be down wtf?
I got to say thank you torrents and through them, thank you torrentfreak, for expanding my tv show horizon :-) Today I’ve read about supernatural,and would like to take a look at it.
thats sick
Damn Ben Jones, way to rain on my parade.. lol jk. How could you think the UK version is funnier though? Its just bloody terrible..
The Office is popular, but I guess just not enough to beat these shows.
True Blood the NO#1 BESTEST
I’m not surprised Terminator popularity is dwindling. It’s not as good as I hoped it would be.
It’s a nice surprise to see Supernatural there, though.
True Blood isn’t there because HBO is tracking the episodes. Almost everyone I know downloading it has been served a ‘cease and desist.’
Based on Hulu, I’d say that Fringe will be heading up in ranks soon.
What’s with all the girly shit on here? Desperate Housewives? Gossip Girl? TV is awful these days and you’d expect better taste from the Torrent crowd. Apparently you’d be mistaken.
Hey number 25, do you know that bird is the word?
HEY NUMBER 24 I SAY THAT BIRD IS THE WORD!!
we’ve come to the conclusion that the bird is infact equal to or greater than the word.
@ 38 the bird is neither equal nor greater that the word because:
that bird is the word!
Awesome ep
& @ 28 tpb working fine for me.
Prison break gets good with every season and according to me any time PB is better than Heroes for the sheer pace of the series and also its a very unpredictable show than any show on TV.
This week there is no Gossip Girl, and I miss Gossip girl already
mah ballz are the word
Yes! I knew Prison Break would be right at teh top of the list. How I met your Mother? What the heck is that nonsense doing on the list?
Jiff
http://www.privacy.de.tc
FilthyRichmond.com slapped my balls
Is there a RSS feed of the Top 10 TV Shows similar to the Top 10 Movies Feed?
Top 10 Movie Feed:
http://torrentfreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed
Let me add Burn Notice to the list…it is the best show on TV
It’s aired for free on TV and some shows are even released as streaming vids on their official websites. How is this considered “Pirating”? It’s not.
Heroes is on Hulu, what is the point?
I use the internet as my VCR. Is that really piracy? I don’t think so. I watch something I missed streaming on the net or just download it and watch then delete. If the networks provided something equivalent on their websites I would watch from them instead.
Where is Its Always Sunny?
That is, until LOST returns to the airwaves in January.
To be honest, I prefer using fox’s own streaming service over downloading the shows. With fringe and tscc uploaded the day after, and the shows being streamed in hd quality, I’d say its a fair bargain for watching a couple ads.
battlestar galactica???
Wheres Dexter?
Compare these 4 statements:
- I watch Heroes when it airs, on TV.
- I record Heroes on my DVR, I watch it later on my TV.
- I record Heroes on my computer, I watch it on my iPod or my computer.
- I download Heroes from bittorrent, I watch it on my iPod or my computer. Also, I am now a pirate. ARRRRR.
TV is obsolete. Business model is obsolete. Embrace the new way, don’t fight it.
ummm…the office wasn’t even on last week….remember the vice presidential debate? could be why it wasn’t downloaded very much
One thing everyone should remember here is that the more crowded the timeslot and the higher the market appeal, the better these numbers are going to be.
For instance, Heroes, Prison Break and Sarah Connor all happen to be in the top 4. Why? Because they are all on Monday night. They may be downloaded more frequently because someone watched Heroes on TV, then downloaded Sarah Connor (or vice versa).
You wanna know why “The Office” isn’t on this list, but “Supernatural” is? Same timeslot again. People watch the Office on TV, then download Supernatural.
What the show is up against in it’s timeslot has a lot of sway on these numbers.
where is ‘Friends’?
http://www.comparecontractmobiles.com
breaking bad, damages & mad men for me :p
It’s a list of most download shows not your own personal favourites,
oh hang on but um why isn’t blah blah in there i love that show. Go download it a million times and it will be.
fkning knobs.
about the word?
everybody knows that the bird is the word
A-well-a everybody’s heard about the bird
B-b-b-bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a don’t you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a…
A-well-a everybody’s heard about the bird
Bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a don’t you know about the bird?
Well, everybody’s talking about the bird!
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
A-well-a bird…
Surfin’ bird
Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb… [retching noises]… aaah!
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-oom-oom-oom
Oom-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-a-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Well don’t you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird’s the word
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
filmgarbage.blogspot.com
@48: You can also get your music free from radio, but still torrenting Music is illegal. It’s because the seeder of a tracker does’t have the needed license.
I downloaded true blood until I got a cease and desist letter, my first ever. Can I watch via streaming vid/flash without HBO jumping out of the bushes in front of my house?
Yeah The Bird "is" the word
10 references to this post
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.