For a stretch of a few years, you couldn’t really talk about pirating TV shows without bringing up HBO’s Game of Thrones. Indeed, GoT has been the most torrented TV show for about six years now, and set a number of torrenting records in the process. Interestingly enough, Game of Thrones finally lost its crown in 2018. This, though, doesn’t necessarily signal a lack of interest in the show, but is likely due to the fact that, well, the last Game of Thrones episode aired all the way back in August of 2017.
So what dethroned GoT in 2018? According to TorrentFreak, the most torrented show of 2018 was The Walking Dead. This is a bit surprising given that ratings for the AMC show have gone down considerably over the past few years.
As for the other shows that were downloaded the most via BitTorrent in 2018, that list includes The Flash, The Big Bang Theory, Vikings, Titans, Arrow, Supernatural, Westworld, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and Suits.
The list above is interesting insofar that it seems that pirates tend to have an affinity for shows with a fantasy/sci-fi element.
All that said, it’s worth noting that for purposes of determining the most torrented show in a given year, only the most recent season of a particular show is taken into account. With that said, TF adds that “if all downloads from previous episodes and seasons would count, GoT would likely still be on top.”
Put simply, interest in Game of Thrones is not waning. If anything, the interest and intrigue surrounding the upcoming eighth and final season of the show appears to be at an all-time high. Suffice it to say, GOT will likely reclaim its torrenting crown in 2019.
For those who have been waiting for months, the good news is that the season 8 premiere is set to air in April of 2019. And as an added bonus, HBO just today released its first footage from the upcoming season.
