What were the most-pirated TV shows of 2009?
2009 was the biggest year ever for TV piracy. In fact, downloading shows has become so popular that some shows had download totals higher than their average TV viewership. TorrentFreak has compiled the staggering download numbers to reveal the top 10 most-pirated shows of 2009, and you may be surprised just how many times your favorite shows were torrented.
Heroes came in at number 1 with almost 6.6 million downloads, which is well ahead of the show's estimated viewership of 5.9 million. Lost was second, also with over 6 million, and the top 10 was rounded out by other dramas, including Prison Break, Dexter, and 24. Check out TorrentFreak's full list for more stats.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about these download totals is that they're (mostly) not coming from Americans who don't want to pay for cable. In fact, most of the downloads were coming from people in other countries where the episodes aired much later than they did in the US.
As TorrentFreak posits, there's an enormous untapped market for on-demand TV with no delay. Maybe the networks should just go for it, considering how many millions of potential customers are downloading shows via BitTorrent the night they air.
Comments
11
Subscribe to comments8complexJan 3rd 2010 2:19PM
Uhhh... Top Gear?
RyzvonusefJan 4th 2010 5:31AM
That's the first thing I looked for too. I think they only prepared statistics for American TV shows...
der_tuxmanJan 3rd 2010 4:19PM
Now TorrentFreak is /one/ source. Not representative.
raccoJan 3rd 2010 5:03PM
waiting for TV shows to air in your country when its already aired in another sucks! Especially if you REALLY HATE spoilers.
RogueJedi86Jan 3rd 2010 7:10PM
I hope NBC takes this into account when they consider greenlighting more seasons of Heroes. Its quality wavers from episode to episode/season to season, but it's still one of their most watched shows, especially online. I still tune in every season anyways.
kojo87Jan 3rd 2010 7:18PM
no The Office? surprising.
Premature ejaculation manJan 3rd 2010 9:18PM
Yeah, then our local tv networks cancel the show mid-season because they took 12 months to get it down here after everyone has seen it. The people who want to watch it legitimately cannot because the networks don't get enough ratings since they take so long.
EthanJan 3rd 2010 9:24PM
It might hurt the production companies eventually, but if overseas broadcasters keep buying the programmes, they don't really have any need to change their habits.
KamalJan 4th 2010 12:20AM
Heroes went downhill fast after the first season. Hmmm..... I wonder what, if anything, this says about the pirates?
JayenkaiJan 4th 2010 3:30AM
It says that everyone still downloads it, even if it just ends up sitting on the harddrive unwatched.
I know I only bothered to watch my collected 7/8 episodes because I was sick in bed with Swine Flu for a week!!!
techpopsJan 4th 2010 3:48PM
What racco said.
I refuse to wait months or even longer sometimes for top shows all my internet fwends are talking about. If that makes me a bad man, then so be it, book me Danno!