The Most Pirated TV Show of 2024 was…

The a dynasty of default for travel to Westeros continued in 2024. After six years from 2012-2017 when Game of Thrones was the most piratical show on the Internet, its successor The house of the dragon took the dubious title in 2022 and now, once moreit tops the list in 2024.

The news comes from TorrentFreakwhich notes that the ranking is based on BitTorrent traffic. That’s a solid figure, but only a small fraction of the actual number of things pirated from other sites that—apparently—don’t count viewership. Plus, this list doesn’t include most anime shows, which probably skews the ranking somewhat. However, here is the list.

1. The house of the dragon (HBO)
2. The boys (Main video)
3. Shogun (Hulu)
4. Arcane (Netflix)
5. The penguin (HBO)
6. Fallout (Main Video)
7. Reacher (Main Video)
8. Silos (Apple TV+)
9. Dune: Prophecy (HBO)
10. halo (Paramount+)

There are a few things here. First, get paid for your shows. We don’t condone piracy and feel that if people are going to put their time and effort into making great stuff for you, you should thank them by getting it legally. However, we realize that piracy is a fact of life these days and something that many people do on a regular basis. We also find a few things about this list fascinating. Like, it’s so genre-specific not just this year, but most years. This clearly speaks to a certain type of fan who pirates TV shows. Someone who loves science fiction, fantasy, superheroes, video games, etc.

It’s also interesting to think about where the shows come from. TorrentFreak notes that in 2023 Netflix didn’t have any shows on the list, but this year it does Arcane. Because Netflix has such a huge market share of streamers, the thinking was that it might be less prone to piracy, but apparently that’s not the case. Maybe it’s just that last year there wasn’t a show that interested internet pirates. We would venture to guess, with Squid game now back Strange things return and more, in 2025. Netflix will be there more consistently.

The list also somehow talks about which services people don’t pay for. Prime Video wildly leads the pack with three shows. You’d expect this to be one for most people, simply because it comes with other benefits like Amazon Prime Shipping. HBO has two shows, and while pirates certainly don’t pay for cable, they might pay for the slightly cheaper streaming service, Max. Then of course there’s the Apple TV+ and Paramount+, both of which make more sense as they’re certainly on the smaller side in comparison. It’s a lot to digest.

Does anything on the list surprise you? What do you think will top it this year? Let us know below.

Want more io9 news? See when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Warsand Star Trek releases, what’s next for DC Universe on film and televisionand everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.