The reign of not paying for a trip to Westeros continued in 2024. After running for six years from 2012-2017 there Game of Thrones was the most consumed show on the Internet, which followed The House of the Beast it took the dubious title back in 2022 and now, once again, tops the list in 2024.
The news comes from TorrentFreak, which notes that the rankings are based on traffic from BitTorrent. It’s a strong indicator but only a fraction of the actual amount of content stolen from other sites that—obviously—doesn’t report viewers. Also, this list does not include many anime shows, which may be somewhat misleading. Anyway, here is the list.
- The House of the Beast (HBO)
- Boys (Main Video)
- Shogun (Hulu)
- Arcane (Netflix)
- The Penguin (HBO)
- It falls (Main Video)
- Shortcut (Main Video)
- The beast (Apple TV+)
- Dune: Prophecy (HBO)
- Hello (Paramount+)
A few things here. First, pay for your shows. We don’t condone crime and think that if people are going to use their time and energy to do good things for you, you should thank them for getting them legally. Having said that, we can see that crime is something that happens these days and something that many people do on a regular basis. We also find a few things about this list that are interesting. For example, that it does not specify a certain type only this year, but for many years. It clearly speaks to a certain type of fan who hacks TV shows. Someone who likes sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes, video games, etc.
It’s also interesting to think about where the shows come from. TorrentFreak notes that in 2023, Netflix had no shows on the list, but this year Arcane. Because Netflix has such a large market share of broadcasters, the thought was that it might not be easy to hack, but apparently, that’s not the case. Maybe it’s because last year they didn’t have a program that cyber pirates were taken care of. We will try to guess, with Squid game now i’m back Stranger Things return, and more, 2025 will see Netflix there permanently.
The list also, in a way, talks about what services people don’t pay for. Prime Video leads the pack with three games. You’d expect that to be something a lot of people have, because it comes with other benefits like Prime shipping on Amazon. HBO has two shows and while pirates don’t pay for cable, they probably will for its less expensive streaming service, Max. Then, there’s the Apple TV+ and Paramount+ which both make a lot of sense as they’re on the smaller side in comparison. There is a lot to digest.
Did anything surprise you about the list? What do you think will be the best this year? Let us know below.
Looking for more io9 news? Check out when you can expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe in film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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