Torrentfreak has issued its annual list of the year’s most pirated TV shows, and, once again, it’s topped by Heroes (6.6 million downloads for a single episode). The Top 10:
1. Heroes
2. Lost
3. Prison Break
4. Dexter
5. House
6. 24
7. Desperate Housewives
8. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
9. Grey’s Anatomy
10. True Blood
The site notes that for the first time, the downloads of two shows (Heroes and Dexter) on BitTorrent exceeded their average viewership on US television. That could be a game-changer for a struggling broadcast show like Heroes…until you read the next paragraph: In general, most downloads come from countries where shows are not yet available. What’s your position on pirated TV, PopWatchers?
I can’t follow the link at work so maybe I do not have all of the information on what exactly constitues “pirating”, but with Hulu, etc where you can watch episodes for free on the internet…why bother doing something illegal? As for Dexter, I’m not surprised downloads exceed viewership considering it is on Showtime.
You can only watch Hulu in the US, so if one lives in “countries where shows are not yet available” there isn’t much choice between using torrents or waiting a year for a TV show (that might not even air at all). And many DVDs are only made in the American format, which implies higher costs (international delivery, alfandegary taxes…) and a specific DVD player.
And if you live in the US and you’re hooked on BBC shows like “Spooks” (MI-5) or “Being Human,” you have to wait FOREVER until they get released on DVD. You can’t even view videos on the BBC websites because they’re limited to UK residents. It’s really frustrating.
I can’t use Hulu in Canada, but it sure sounds like a god-send. Instead, I’m stuck with YouTube or torrents if I want to watch something regularly. There’s no way I could have waited months to see season 4 of Dexter.
Although you can get Dexter in Canada on Movie Central/HBO Canada.
I can’t understand why in 2010 we don’t have access to Hulu in Canada. We’re never up to date in technology anyway.
I don’t think Hulu counts (even though Hulu only works on American servers) I do think it’s all illegal downloads. One reason to do so is because the lag time in shows going to other countries is so huge that people over seas will download through bitTorrent or other sits to keep up with American TV. I know when I lived in England for 6 months I would stream everything the next day so that I could keep up with shows that I watched normally.
Thanks for the clarification on Hulu. Didn’t realize it was only available in the US.
One reason is becuase people outside of the US can’t get Hulu due to international licensing restrictions. Here in Canada we’re blocked out of Hulu and even most clips on NBC.com.
When the Colbert Report started up, the first two weeks weren’t shown here in Canada. Being a huge Daily Show fan I turned to bittorrent for the first time in order to watch it. Once the show finally started being shown here I kept up with bittorrent becuase it was so convenient and now I currently have every single episode (since 2005) of the Colbert Report ever made on my hard drive to watch whenever I want.
Also Hulu doesn’t have every show or even all the episodes of a particular show.
Exactly. Not everything is magically available all the time. So if there’s a torrent out there, then I will certainly take a look. And I can also drop those videos onto my iPod and watch em on the go, which I can’t do if I’m stuck at home watching it online.
I actually think that “Heroes” gets a bad rap. Yes, it’s not as good as it was season one, but it’s not as bad as what people say. I still enjoy it. And, honestly, I’d rather watch “Heroes” than another carbon copy of CSI, NCIS, Law & Order, et cetera.
I agree.
Agreed, I can proudly say I’ve never watched a single episode or L&O, or CSI, or NCIS (whatever that is) original or copies. I’ve never had an inkling to watch them. Yet, I still watch Heroes, just waiting for Chuck and 24 to return.
I agree.
And btw, Heroes was never that good, even in season 1. It has always been a mediocre show. But it’s always been entertaining.
I still watch it, but I think it should end soon.
I always download shows on the internet, because I don’t live in the US, and I can’t wait for my country’s networks to air all the shows I like.
But even if I lived in the US, I would have to continue pirating shows, cause it would be impossible to watch all of them when they air. I would have to buy like 5 dvrs. Or I guess I could watch thenm online on Hulu or the network’s sites. I wouldn’t mind that.
I don’t understand why you would pirate something like Lost or Greys when the ABC website has all the episodes to watch on there…
same as hulu, you have to live in the us. very frustrating for us canadians. I don’t download, I wait to rent or buy the dvd if I don’t follow the show on television
Also, once you download them, you can watch them where ever – on your ipod, burn to DVD, etc.
Does that mean that they watch the shows through an online source or that they download shows from websites?
How is something pirated when it is on public access TV? It’s free isn’t it? Was it illegal in VCR days to record you TV show? Is it illegal to DVR something? Why pay three bucks on ITunes for something I could have watched for free?
These pirated shows are probably being viewed by people in other countries or those who don’t have access to cable. Also, Hulu and the network websites likes you to view using their player. Downloaders want a copy of their own.
There have actually been legislative discussions about this very topic. VCR/DVR is legal because it is considered “time shifting” and theoretically you are getting the content as it originally aired. If you get an illegal download, it isn’t the same thing.
I only pirate HBO and Showtime shows. It takes them FOREVER to release their stuff on DVD! I’m sorry, but I’m not waiting until 2014 for True Blood Season 2.
i’m surprised that british import programs (like Doctor Who, Torchwood, and the like) aren’t on this list.
I know a fair amount of people who watch those shows on torrents because of a) the delays in release between UK broadcast and US broadcast and b) the lack of carriage of BBC America.
Yeah, Doctor Who is the only show I bother to download. Before I had to wait 6 months for it to show up on Scifi, and now I’d have to pay extra to get BBCA put on my cable package. And the DVD sets are WAAAY too expensive to buy.
So… downloading it’ll have to be.
I think a huge part of why people download things illegally has more to do with the format of how its downloaded. Sure you can go to most network websites and view the shows, but they come with advertisements and you can only watch them on your computer. Most pirating websites have a simple format of the more seeders the faster a download goes. You can then take these videos and watch them on your tv using any number of means. Instead of trying to combat these systems why not embrace them?
I only torrent stuff that I can’t get legally (I’m in the US), usually things that I normally watch on over-the-air TV that either got timeshifted or preempted due to special programming or where the fancy new digital signal failed to be strong enough to get the station that evening. CBS doesn’t have full episodes of The Big Bang Theory available on their site, so I turn to Torrents to fill in the occasional mid-season gap. Scrubs is available legally, so I watch it later on ABC’s site when it’s overlapped by The Biggest Loser on NBC (I only have one TV tuner). For shows on cable networks I’ll go watch them legally if I can (Battlestar Galactica) or just try to avoid spoilers and wait for the DVDs (Dexter).
“What’s your position on pirated TV, PopWatchers?” My position is, hell yeah! I watch bootleg movies and tv all the time. Sometimes it’s the only way to see certain shows (e.g., The Wonder Years, Six Million Dollar Man, Batman (1960s), etc). I would purchase them if they ever came out on DVD but if not I’m pleased with my bootleg sets.
Hey Showtime, HBO, listen up! I would absolutely pay to watch Dexter and True Blood (maybe even more) on an episode by episode basis aka iTunes, Amazon.comOnDemand or even through your own web site like all the other bloody networks are doing. I am strongly considering starting with the pirated sites, because that seems to be the only way not to get plotlines spoiled for you.
Absolutely! That, to me, is the biggest reason to pirate…. the fact that with soooo many entertainment websites spoil what happens. And I know the argument about if you don’t want to know, then don’t click, and I don’t click on specific links, but for instance, it’s hard to avoid stuff about FNL on Ask Ausiello even though it won’t be on NBC for months.
Amen! For instance, even if you tried hard as hell not read anything about the most recent season of Dexter, Ask Ausiello ran a huge headline last week about how a certain character that died on Dexter was moving to another show, which spoiled the entire season even if you DIDN’T click on the link! Luckily, I just finished a pirated season 4 of Dexter 2 weeks ago!
yeah whats with the spoilers Ausiello?
So, how exactly do you “pirate” something that’s beamed, unencrypted, through your house for free?
I mostly pirate old favorites that don’t exist elsewhere…Hey Dude, Clarissa Explains It All, Are You Afraid of the Dark, etc. Trip down memory lane! But occasionally I’ll download shows that I do get and watch. I recently downloaded seasons 1-5 of Lost to rewatch (in part) before the new season…I’m waiting to buy the whole series when it’s inevitably released in some super fancy BluRay package oaded with extras. In the meantime I’m not about to shell out $$ for single seasons.
*loaded. Oh, and to answer previous questions re: Hulu & network websites, I download because then I can watch the shows on my Apple TV and enjoy comfortably from my couch…not in my desk chair at the computer.
Well, I guess we know now why Heroes doesn’t show up very high on the Nielsen ratings! Nielsen is obsolete, which is not to say that pirating statistics should make or break a show (obviously, the network receives nothing for pirated content). However, monitoring legitimate iTunes downloads and DVR viewing could be a more reliable means of gauging a show’s popularity.
Is this the top 10 pirated US shows? Because I heard somewhere the most pirated show in the world is the BBC’s Top Gear.