Game of Thrones Top Pirated Show of 2012

Dec 27, 2012

Torrentfreak has released their annual ranking of most illegally downloaded television series and HBO’s Game of Thrones leads the pack in 2012. One would have guessed a program like The Walking Dead would have been number one but, as the article points out, 80% of illegal downloads take place outside of the United States where delays in program scheduling and lack of availability of legal content are the main contributors to piracy.

Also tackled in the article is the thought one entertainment companies make their content easier to access, in a timely manner, television piracy will drop to insignificant levels. I can’t say I agree with that theory, as I’m certainly not an expert in the field, but as long as the technology to rip and share video exists so will the desire for people to get their hands on something for nothing…

Here are the top ten illegally downloaded shows through BitTorrent according to Torrentfreak:

rank	show	downloads	est. US TV viewers

1	Game of Thrones	4,280,000	4,200,000
2	Dexter	3,850,000	2,750,000
3	The Big Bang Theory	3,200,000	15,820,000
4	How I Met Your Mother	2,960,000	10,140,000
5	Breaking Bad	2,580,000	2,980,000
6	The Walking Dead	2,550,000	10,870,000
7	Homeland	2,400,000	2,360,000
8	House	2,340,000	9,780,000
9	Fringe	2,280,000	3,120,000
10	Revolution	2,130,000	11,650,000

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media for fifteen years, Jeff takes on any and all sorts of games but is especially ready to tackle roleplaying games and strategy games. He's been involved with the hobby since he was just a wee grade school lad, over four decades ago.