Are you watching TV series legally? A recent analysis unveiled the top 10 pirated TV shows for 2021. Surprisingly, the Disney Plus TV series "WandaVision" topped the list.
Most Pirated TV Shows 2021
For years, online piracy has been on the rise all around the world, and it consumes over a quarter of all worldwide Internet bandwidth. Online piracy, which is often considered a victimless crime by the "pirates," results in billions of dollars in lost revenue, per Go-Globe.
This affects the whole media business, not just artists, creators, publishers and distributors. Due to online piracy, Go-Globe stated that 230,000 to 560,000 jobs are lost every year in the United States.
Piracy has invaded every digital media type, from television and movies to music, software, video games and even books despite attempts to combat it.
Surprisingly, in 2020, pirate websites received over 130 billion visits.
The United States, Russia and China are the countries that send the most people to pirate websites.
Videos, such as movies and television programs, account for more than 66 percent of all pirated content on the internet. According to estimates, internet video piracy costs the United States $29.2 billion per year in income.
Worldwide film piracy spiked by 33 percent during the COVID-19 lockout, per Go-Globe.
For instance, Torrent Freak reported that "Wandavision" is the most-pirated TV show on torrent sites in 2021. "The Mandalorian," which topped the charts last year, was dethroned by the popular Disney Plus series.
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Top 10 Pirated TV Shows of 2021
For those who do not know, Torrent Freak explained that they are examining the most-downloaded TV shows among torrenting pirates at the end of each year. For several years in a row, "Game of Thrones" has topped the list, but the series concluded last year.
This transition has occurred after the release of numerous Disney Plus exclusives, which have done particularly well among pirates.
In a list dominated by Marvel shows, "Wandavision" took grabbed the top slot easily. The series was a huge hit on Disney Plus and pirate sites, with millions of people downloading each episode.
Another Marvel series, "Loki," is ranked second, with "The Witcher" placing out of the top three.
"The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" came in fourth place, although it wasn't far behind the top three in terms of popularity.
On a positive note, all of Marvel's "Phase Four" Disney Plus shows are among the top 10. In addition to the previously stated titles, "Hawkeye" is ranked fifth, while "What If...?" ranked sixth.
Because the streaming environment is divided, it appears that many individuals would rather pirate than pay for "another" subscription, which is true to Marvel fans, per Torrent Freak.
"Our calculations are based on single episodes which means that season packs are underrepresented which disadvantages series that are released in one go," Torrent Freak clarified.
Meanwhile, the following is the full list of pirated TV shows of 2021.
- "WandaVision"
- "Loki"
- "The Witcher"
- "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"
- "Hawkeye"
- "What If...?"
- "Foundation"
- "Rick & Morty"
- "Arcane"
- "The Wheel of Time"
Since Torrent Freak is calculating the pirated TV shows based on downloads of a single episode, their rough calculation showed that there is a possibility that Netflix's "Casa de Papel" may capture the fifth slot.
Aside from this, Netflix's South-Korean series "Squid Game" would also have reached the top 10.
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