The Walking Dead and The Big Bang Theory also made it into the top list of the most pirated TV shows of the year.
According to piracy news site, TorrentFreak, HBO’s Game of Thrones is the most pirated TV show of 2013 for the second year in row, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The finale of the third season was downloaded 5.9 million times within one week after it aired in June. Meanwhile, AMC’s Breaking Bad had 4.2 million downloads and it also scored record ratings for its series finale, according to Variety.
The Walking Dead ranked the third place on the list with 3.6 million downloads while The Big Bang Theory had an estimated 3.4 million downloads.
Gale Anne Hurd, the executive producer of The Walking Dead, said that “There’s a mistaken belief by many of my peers that piracy is somehow good, that viewers will develop a habit to pay for it.” Hurd also added, “I’m not sure they really understand other than anecdotal evidence that their ratings go up that the people who pirate are not then going to choose legal downloads or legal viewing in the future.”
There are also freshman shows that made the annual list like Vikings (History), Arrow (The CW) and Suits (USA).
The piracy figures tracked by TorrentFreak are based on several sources, including download statistics reported by the BitTorrent tracker, but it does now include online streaming and cyberlocker downloads.
See below the rankings of the most downloaded TV shows of 2013:
1. Game of Thrones (5.9 million)
2. Breaking Bad (4.2 million)
3. The Walking Dead (3.6 million)
4. The Big Bang Theory (3.4 million)
5. Dexter (3.1 million)
6. How I Met Your Mother (3 million)
7. Suits (2.6 million)
8. Homeland (2.4 million)
9. Vikings (2.3 million)
10. Arrow (2.2 million)