For the fourth year in a row HBO’s Game of Thrones has taken the crown for the most pirated TV-show on the internet, according to TorrentFreak.
The Walking Dead is runner-up, followed by The Big Bang Theory.
With an estimated 14.4 million downloads via BitTorrent, the 2015 season finale has beaten the competition by a landslide.
More than half of the downloads occurred in the first week after the show aired and the total exceeds the number of paying viewers in the US, which is estimated at 8.11 million.
Fox’s The Walking Dead and CBS’ Big Bang Theory complete the top three with an estimated 6.9 and 4.4 million downloads respectively, but with many more ‘regular’ viewers, 15.78 million for The Walking Dead and 18.3 million for the CBS sitcom.
The Top 10 of most pirated shows is completed by 4) Arrow – 3.9 million; 5) The Flash – 3.6; 6) Mr. Robot – 3.5; 7) Vikings – 3.3; 8) Supergirl – 3.0; 9) The Blacklist – 2.9 and 10) Suits – 2.6.
“Overall there is no sign that TV-show piracy is declining, on the contrary,” commented TorrentFreak, “The download numbers for the most popular shows continues to rise, sometimes exceeding the number of traditional viewers in the US.”
