Zombies, a space bounty hunter and antihero top 2023's most pirated TV shows.

by Thinus Ferreira

A journey through a zombie wasteland, a bounty hunter in a galaxy far, far away and an antihero in time-travel adventures top 2023's list of most-pirated TV shows.

TorrentFreak has released its annual list of most popular TV shows illegally watched last year and video-on-demand (VOD) shows on video streaming services once again dominated the top 10 list.

Netflix has, however, interestingly, failed to make the list in 2023, while it still had Stranger Things in 8th place in the year before in 2022.

The first season of HBO's zombie-wasteland drama series The Last of Us which was on M-Net (DStv 101) tops the list as the most-torrented TV show in 2023, followed by Star Wars' The Mandalorian on Disney+ in 2nd place, and Loki - also on Disney+ - in the 3rd position. 

Two more Disney+ series - Star Wars: Ahsoka and Secret Invasion - respectively took the 4th and 5th places. The science fiction drama series Silo and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters - both on Apple TV+ - snagged the 6th and 7th positions.

Tulsa King - the crime drama series with Sylvester Stallone which is a Paramount+ show but was on M-Net and MultiChoice's Showmax streamer in South Africa - took the 8th spot on 2023's TorrentFreak list, with Amazon Prime Video's drama series Gen V and Ted Lasso in the 9th and 10th positions.

"With the current streaming landscape being so fragmented, it appears that many people prefer to pirate instead of paying for another subscription," says Ernesto Van der Sar of TorrentFreak.

"Interestingly, Netflix releases are noticeably absent. Without speculating too much, it seems likely that Netflix users are less likely to give up their subscriptions, as it’s the dominant streaming platform in most parts of the world."

Here's TorrentFreak's compiled list of 2022's Top 10 most-pirated shows:

1. The Last of Us, HBO (M-Net)

2. The Mandalorian, Disney+

3. Loki, Disney+

4. Ahsoka, Disney+

5. Secret Invasion, Disney+

6. Silo, Apple TV+

7. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Apple TV+

8. Tulsa King, Paramount+ (M-Net/Showmax)

9. Gen V, Amazon Prime Video

10. Ted Lasso, Apple TV+

Disney+ shows top the list of 2021's most pirated TV series.

by Thinus Ferreira

Disney+ shows are burning up the chart of the most pirated TV content of 2021 with multiple series from the Mouse House that this year replaced Netflix content as the most sought-after shows to digitally download and watch illegally.

Disney+, which is not available in South Africa, in 2021 released the most in-demand content for pirate viewers, with series like WandaVision, Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, as well as What If...? all grabbing spots on this year's list of most pirated TV shows.

Disney+ plans to launch in South Africa around June 2022, with neither WarnerMedia for HBO Max nor ViacomCBS for Paramount+ which have announced dates for their video streaming services for Africa yet.

According to the 2021 most pirated TV shows annual list compiled by Torrentfreak, Netflix only managed to get two spots on the list with The Witcher and Arcane in 3rd and 9th place respectively.

The science-fiction drama series Foundation of Apple TV+ also made the list and the first season of Amazon Prime Video's new fantasy drama series The Wheel of Time occupying the 10th spot.

Out of the entire top 10 most pirated shows for 2021 where DIsney+ represents 50% of the content, only the animation series Rick and Morty was on the list for 2020 and this year fell to the 8th spot from 6th place a year ago.  

"What stands out most is that all Disney+ series of Marvel's 'Phase Four' are listed in the top 10," Torrentfreak notes.

"With the current streaming landscape being so fragmented, it appears that many people prefer to pirate instead of paying for 'another' subscription."

This is the 10 top ranking of 2021's most pirated TV shows:

1. WandaVision (Disney+)

2. Loki (Disney+)

3. The Witcher (Netflix)

4. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)

5. Hawkeye (Disney+)

6. What If ...? (Disney+)

7. Foundation (Apple TV+)

8. Rick and Morty (WarnerMedia/Showmax)

9. Arcane (Netflix)

10. The Wheel of Time (Amazon Prime Video)