Torrentfreak has released the annual list of the 10 most pirated shows last year. Like the year before, the top three were Heroes, Lost and Prison Break, while Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles dropped from number four to number eight. Like last year, there is only one procedural on the list: House.
The list is a great indicator of the shows’ international popularity, independently of time slot, the number of advertisements informing viewers what they can watch and when, and of the network showing them (major or cable).
The top two shows, Lost and Heroes, switched places, but both had a significant increase in the number of downloads, as did Dexter, House, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and 24, which wasn’t among the top 10 last year. The only other new show on the list is HBO’s True Blood, while Smallville and Stargate Atlantis, the latter no longer on the air, dropped off the top 10.
Most of the downloaders (over 90%) are outside the U.S., which means that they are still unable to keep up with these shows in real time by streaming them from their own IP addresses or paying for them on sites offering video on demand with credit cards registered outside the U.S. Hopefully this will change some time in the new decade.
Here are the top 10 most downloaded shows in 2009, with the numbers of downloads for the most downloaded episode:
1. Heroes – 6,580,000
2. Lost – 6,310,000
3. Prison Break – 3,450,000
4. Dexter – 2,780,000
5. House – 2,590,000
6. 24 – 2,440,000
7. Desperate Housewives – 2,180,000
8. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – 1,960,000
9. Grey’s Anatomy – 1,740,000
10. True Blood – 1,600,000
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