“Game of Thrones” is the most-pirated television show of the year for a second time in a row, beating out AMC’s “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead,” which ranked second and third, respectively.
TorrentFreak reports the HBO series based on author George R.R. Martin‘s fantasy novels easily topped the list after the Season 3 finale was downloaded 5.9 million times — half a million more than the 5.4 million viewers that tuned in to watch the episode on television.
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“Breaking Bad,” which ended its five-season run last fall, was estimated to have been downloaded 4.2 million times, while an estimated 10.28 million viewers tuned in to watch the unspecified episode. An episode of “Walking Dead” was estimated to have been downloaded 3.6 million times, and watched by just over 16.1 million viewers.
“GoT” previously beat its own piracy record last June when 171,572 people shared the HBO series’ Season 3 finale simultaneously, compared to the 163,088 simultaneous fileshares for the Season 3 premiere.
HBO programming president, Michael Lombardo, once called piracy “a compliment of sorts” that accompanies “a wildly successful show on a subscription network.”
Here are the top 10 most-pirated 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)