In what’s become something of a long-standing tradition, Game Of Thrones was the most torrented show of 2016, according to a new report from Torrent Freak. Impressively, 2016 marks the fifth year in a row that HBO’s hit show has sat perched atop of the torrent charts.
“Although there was no new swarm record, traffic-wise the interest was roughly on par with last year,” the report notes. “The highest number of people actively sharing an episode across several torrents was 350,000 at its peak, this was right after the season finale came online.”
For what it’s worth, the most pirated TV show episode of all-time just so happens to be the season 5 finale of Game of Thrones, an episode which was downloaded more than 1.5 million times in the first 8 hours after airing.
As for the most current season of GOT not setting any new records, that could have something to do with HBO last year deciding to take piracy much more seriously, even going so far as to go after individual pirates via warning messages sent through an offending individual’s ISP.
Interestingly enough, the third most torrented show of 2016 just so happens to be Westworld, another HBO program. Does this perhaps suggest that viewers who love shows like Game of Thrones aren’t otherwise impressed with the rest of HBO’s catalog as to become full-fledged subscribers? It’s possible, though it’s also possible that the type of demographic both shows attract, on the whole, might be more tech-savvy and thus more inclined to use BitTorrent in the first place.
Other programs making an appearance on Torrent Freak’s list of top 10 most downloaded TV shows include The Walking Dead, The Flash, Arrow, The Big Bang Theory, Vikings, Lucifer, Suits, and The Grand Tour.
Of course, the biggest mystery of all is how The Big Bang Theory managed to sneak onto the list. It’s remarkable that the show has a following at all, but people are actually torrenting episodes as well?
2016 was a strange year indeed.
