According to data compiled by TorrentFreak, AMC's The Walking Dead, which is currently in the midst of its ninth season, was the single-most-pirated television show of 2018, ending a six-year streak of that title going to HBO's Game of Thrones.
The Walking Dead has come in at second place on TorrentFreak's annual list since 2014. However, seeing as Game of Thrones did not air a season this year, the door was opened for the popular zombie-themed series to ascend in viewership. For better or worse, the number of unauthorized episode downloads landed in the millions.
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That isn't to say that episodes of Game of Thrones aren't still being pirated, because they certainly are. In fact, bundles containing previously-released seasons of HBO's epic fantasy series are apparently highly sought after in the torrenting community.
Following The Walking Dead on the list of most-torrented shows of 2018 is fellow comic book show The Flash at second place. The soon-to-end Big Bang Theory came in third.
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In addition to The Walking Dead and The Flash, other comic book-based programs on TorrentFreak's top ten list include Titans at fifth place (making it the highest-ranked newcomer to the list), Arrow at sixth and DC's Legends of Tomorrow at ninth.
With all that said, it is worth mentioning that most of TorrentFreak's data comes from BitTorrent traffic and does not include downloads from sites that do not record their viewership statistics.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. The series returns for the back half of Season 9 on February 10, 2019.
via ScreenRant