Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Game of Thrones is still the most pirated TV show on air, by a long shot

Alex Tretbar
By
hbo sends official warnings to game of thrones torrenters 2
Image used with permission by copyright holder

HBO’s massively successful Game of Thrones series is down to the last three episodes of its fourth season, and it doesn’t appear likely that the series’ snowballing acclaim will let up anytime soon, especially within the torrenting underbelly of the Internet. This season’s second episode “The Lion and the Rose” set a record after its U.S. debut when a single file version of the episode soared to 193,418 seeds on torrent tracker, The Pirate Bay. Tech site Pocket-lint recently took a look at the world’s most popular torrent site and compared Thrones with a few other hit shows to see how they stacked up.

Thrones‘ latest episode, which aired Sunday, reached nearly 100,000 seeds for the standard definition copy and almost 50,000 for the 720p HD version – very big numbers for a single episode. These numbers don’t factor in the many duplicates listed on the torrent site, as well as those users who download the torrent but don’t stick around to seed to other users. Pocket-lint found that 24: Live Another Day‘s latest episode only reached 9,500 seeds for the SD version and just 2,800 for the HD. The latest Mad Men episode managed to hit 5,500 for SD and 2,000 for HD, and DC Comics’ Arrow clocked 10,000 for SD and 2,000 for HD.

Recommended Videos

Pocket-lint’s report found that the only show to come remotely close to Thrones, in terms of piracy, was The Big Bang Theory. The comedy’s most popular episode on The Pirate Bay had 21,500 seeds for the SD version and 3,000 for the HD.

Related

And as far as legitimate viewings are concerned, Nielsen ratings show that Thrones averaged 2.5 million U.S. viewers during its regular first season time slot in 2011. That average jumped to 3.8 million in 2012 and then to 5 million last year for its third season. This last weekend, the fourth season’s seventh episode “Mockingbird” netted 7.2 million viewers.

Before you dive headlong into the confusing and potentially risky realm of torrenting for the first time, read through our guide to downloading torrents, as well as a list of our favorite torrent sites.

If you want to catch up with Thrones-frenzied fans without trying your hand at torrenting, check out our guide to watching the fantasy series online. And for you pirates with cursors already hovering over that “Download” button, be sure to hit up our lists of the best free antivirus and anti-spyware software: we’ve got one for PC and one for Mac – better safe than sorry, right?

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Alex Tretbar
Alex Tretbar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Alex Tretbar, audio/video intern, is a writer, editor, musician, gamer and sci-fi nerd raised on EverQuest and Magic: The…
HD to 4K: these home theater projectors are up to $2,000 off
The Optoma UHD55 projector.

While TVs are great, if you want to have a large screen TV that goes over 80 inches, you're liable to spend thousands of dollars, and if you want to go over 100 inches, you may not even find any options at all, especially at the consumer level. Luckily, there are a lot of great projectors that can not only hit those targets but exceed them and do it at a much cheaper cost than a regular TV. Even better, there is quite a big sale right now at Crutchfield on home theater projectors, with everything from budget-friendly options to top-of-the-range stuff.

What you should buy in Crutchfield's projector sale
Not all projectors have to be incredibly expensive, and you can grab a great project for a good price with the Optoma HZ40HDR, which is , saving you a solid $450 in the process. It's an FHD projector, although it can handle 4k and HDR sources,  and the bulb has a 30,000-hour life span, which is pretty great for a budget-oriented projector. On the other hand, if you want 4k, Optomo has a good budget option for that too, the Optoma UHD35STx, which is a 4k short-throw projector with HDR10 and HLG HDR going , which isn't a massive discount on the usual $1,549, but it's still pretty good.

Read more
Best AirPods Max deals: New and refurbished for $440
A woman wearing the Apple AirPods Max.

Shopping the best headphone deals will turn up a number of options from a wide variety of headphone brands, but if you’re interested in what Apple has to offer in terms of premium audio, the Apple AirPods Max are where you’ll want to turn. The AirPods Max are Apple’s top-of-the-line headphones, and while they churn out some impressive audio experiences, they also churn out a hefty price point. With the rumors of AirPods Max 2 going on you’ll be able to find some decent AirPods Max deals out there. We’ve done that hefty lifting for you, however, and have laid out the best AirPods Max deals below. You’ll find deals on both new and refurbished AirPods Max, but click quickly if one of these deals works for you, as Apple deals can be unpredictable and we don’t know how long these will last.
AirPods Max -- $519, were $549

The AirPods Max are Apple's first attempt at a set of over-the-ear headphones. They got a lot of things right. We love these headphones, even when compared against some audiophile options that prioritize sound quality. The AirPods Max have awesome noise cancelling. Everything Apple learned with the earbud-style AirPods works even better with the cup style of the AirPods Max. Along with great ANC comes a great transparency mode. With a twist of the Max's massive knob, you'll go from complete silence to feeling like you're not wearing headphones at all. The audio on phone calls is great as well, and they pair better with the iPhone than any non-Apple headphones could ever hope to.

Read more
Best AirPods Pro deals: Get Apple’s flagship earbuds for $122
The Apple Airpods Pro in their charging case.

Apple’s lineup of headphones has grown over the years. It currently makes a number of AirPods models that can be talked about among the best wireless earbuds. Among them are the AirPods Pro. The AirPods Pro are regularly in contention to be among the best headphones overall as well, and because of their popularity it can be difficult to track down AirPods Pro deals worth shopping. We’ve managed to find some out there, however, and below we’ve rounded up all of the best AirPods Pro deals you can shop right now. You’ll find discounts on both new and refurbished AirPods Pro models, as well as some information on why each model might be best for you.
Apple AirPods Pro (Refurbished) — $122, was $220

While there’s a newer model of AirPods Pro available, the first generation Apple AirPods Pro can still hold their own against some of the best wireless earbuds. Made for a slightly more premium user than something like the Apple AirPods 3, the AirPods Pro have higher end features, including active noise cancellation and a transparency mode, which allows you to hear and interact with the world around you while you have the headphones on. Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking is another impressive feature. This makes watching movies and other content a truly immersive experience. This refurbished model of the Apple AirPods Pro comes with free 30-day returns and a 1-year warranty.

Read more