Comments on: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent, January 5-11

By: Ralph

Ralph — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:41:29 +0000

I don’t have a Neilson box, so what I watch isn’t counted regardless. I like Hulu because of the more reasonable short commercials. If what I want to watch isn’t on Hulu, do the torrents I go. Give me an option without half the show being commercials like Hulu and I will gladly participate. Until then, what or how I watch my shows doesn’t matter because I’m not counted.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:40:38 +0000

Can i just say that i have no influence in Neilson ratings, because i don’t even live in the US. Of course i support the American Industry, we actually like US shows and want them to succeed. I just don’t support the TV networks in Australia. It is a shame that ‘pirating’ shows is one of the only ways to watch our shows here without being screwed over. We don’t have access to hulu, abc.com etc. This is one of our few options.

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:10:25 +0000

There are some in the industry that say that’s one factor that killed “Jericho”

No, that’s what that rabid fanbase says. Download penetration is not nearly enough to make a dent in ratings if a show actually has potential to survive. The majority of these downloads are foreigners anyway, who would never be able to count in the US ratings no matter what.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:19:28 +0000

I see the reworded copyright message ABC uses at the end of Desperate Housewives (“Warning! This is copyrighted material!”) is working out real well for them.

Ben, let’s use a better word than “shared” or “pirated” – STOLEN. Because that’s what the shows are.

If all shows were STOLEN as heavily as these, they’d never be made as advertisers wouldn’t pay for the airtime and as a result networks wouldn’t produce them.

There are some in the industry that say that’s one factor that killed “Jericho” – the show’s rabid fan base mostly watched it online resulting in pitiful Nielsen ratings, despite pleas from the show’s cast to watch it when it viewed or to at least DVR it rather than STEAL it.

By: Brian D

Brian D — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:57:36 +0000

Here are the numbers for 2008. The first number represents downloads the second represents US TV viewers.

Most downloaded TV-shows on BitTorrent, 2008 rank show downloads est. US TV viewers
torrentfreak.com
1 Lost 5,730,000 13,400,000
2 Heroes 4,400,000 8,200,000
3 Prison Break 3,840,000 6,100,000
4 Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2,240,000 5,500,000
5 Desperate Housewives 1,990,000 16,200,000
6 Stargate Atlantis 1,810,000 1,700,000
7 Dexter 1,660,000 7,200,000
8 House 1,520,000 15,700,000
9 Grey’s Anatomy 1,380,000 16,000,000
10 Smallville 1,150,000 4,100,000

By: cool

cool — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:11:44 +0000

#1 american show.. because they have soap operas on primetime.

By: cool

cool — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:11:17 +0000

I know.. Lost is HUGE in Spain, I think is the #1 show there.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 09:45:28 +0000

Starting next week Lost will most likely be at first place for the rest of the season.

By: Rachel P

Rachel P — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:59:17 +0000

Ah, thanks Kate!

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:57:29 +0000

The term ‘pirated’ sounds such a bad word – how about ‘shared’?

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:32:16 +0000

Rachel here is a link to their archive

http://torrentfreak.com/tag/tv-torrents/

hope that helps

By: Chris the TV Sage

Chris the TV Sage — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:01:57 +0000

You should have seen the torrent numbers for “Hardcastle & McCormick” back in the day. That’s when it took three weeks to download a single episode!

By: Rachel P

Rachel P — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:21:34 +0000

Do you have any older data of this?

By: ThundaPC

ThundaPC — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:39:50 +0000

I didn’t even know there was even such a category. That’s pretty cool.