‘Game Of Thrones’ & ‘Breaking Bad’ Top List Of 2013’s Most Pirated Shows

There are very few surprises on the list of the Top 10 most pirated shows of 2013 released by TorrentFreak that includes only individual episodes downloaded via BitTorrent’s file-sharing protocol. HBO’s hit fantasy series Game Of Thrones, which has been setting piracy records, is the clear-cut No. 1 with 5.9 million downloads of the June Season 3 finale. Another piracy record breaker, AMC’s Breaking Bad, is No. 2 with its closer, 4.2 million. The Top 10 features mostly cable shows, including the highest-rated series on television in adults 18-49, AMC’s The Walking Dead (3.6 million downloads), which edged the top-rated broadcast series,  CBS’ The Big Bang Theory (3.4 million). There are two popular CBS comedies on the list including How I Met Your Mother (3.0 million), which is not surprising given CBS’ particularly restrictive streaming rules. More surprising is the presence of the CW’s Arrow (at No. 10 with 2.2 million) as the CW has its shows readily available online on its website as well as Hulu and Netflix (for older seasons). But young-skewing shows tend to travel fast oversees; I remember a ton of teenagers in eastern Europe used to download new episodes of Fox’s The O.C. the day after they premiered in the U.S. Rounding out the Top 10 are Showtime’s Dexter (3.1 million), USA Network’s Suits (2.6 million), Showtime’s Homeland (2.4 million), and History’s Vikings. (2.3 million).