“Game of Thrones,” “Breaking Bad” 2013’s most pirated TV shows

PanARMENIAN.Net - Game of Thrones is the most pirated TV show for the second year in a row, according to TorrentFreak, with 5.9 million illegal downloads via BitTorrent, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Thrones' top piracy honor seems a natural conclusion due to the fact that the HBO show broke piracy records earlier this year, with over 170,000 people simultaneously sharing a copy of the season-three finale. Last year, the show had 4.28 million illegal downloads.

This year, Thrones beat out Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, which ranked second and third on the list with an estimated 4.2 and 3.6 million downloads, respectively. Thrones is also the only show with more illegal downloads than its traditional viewership in the U.S.

Freshman shows that made the annual list include History's Vikings and The CW's Arrow. USA's Suits also joined the list this year.

The estimated rankings are based on several sources, including download statistics reported by public BitTorrent trackers, but not including online streaming and cyberlocker downloads.