Max’s Critically-Acclaimed Fantasy Series Was The Most Pirated In 2024, Revealed In Study

Max‘s critically-acclaimed fantasy series was the most pirated TV show in 2024, as revealed in a new study confirming just how much it was downloaded. Max has been home to multiple popular series in recent years, everything from popular HBO shows like Succession and Barry, to their own original programs, such as Tokyo Vice and Peacemaker. However, the platform’s popular series have also resulted in much of its content becoming the top shows sought-after through piracy, having held a multitude of records over the years through the series they host.

In 2023, The Last of Us became the most-pirated show of the year, topping the charts ahead of The Mandalorian, which held the record in 2020 and 2021. The longest-standing record holder was Game of Thrones before it ended, making HBO shows a major commodity for TV show pirates. Given that Max hosts HBO’s content, it’s unsurprising that a network with such a long history of piracy problems would continue to take the top spot each year. No more obvious is this than in 2024, when a very popular fantasy series took the crown.

House Of The Dragon Season 2 Was 2024’s Most-Pirated Show

Other Long-Running Streaming Shows Also Made The List

In 2024, House of the Dragon ended up becoming the most-pirated TV show of the year. The fantasy series serves as a prequel to Game of Thrones, telling the story of the Dance of the Dragons, a Targaryen civil war that stretches across all of Westeros. House of the Dragon season 2 ended with major events in the war about to unfold, as well as 8.5 million viewers for the finale between both HBO and Max. The series’ popularity is undeniable, even when not taking piracy into account.

Now, TorrentFreak has confirmed House of the Dragon season 2 was the most-pirated TV show of 2024, based on BitTorrent download traffic. While this doesn’t represent all piracy across the Internet, it does offer an accuate gauge to the popularity of the series. The show came in above The Boys season 4, the Prime Video series taking the Number 2 spot on the list. Interestingly, every TV show on the list is a streaming original except the fantasy series, which, while airing simultaneously on HBO and Max, is considered an HBO series.

What House Of The Dragon’s Piracy Popularity Says About The Show

The Series Is No Stranger To Being Pirated

The show’s high ranking isn’t surprising, since it was also the most-pirated series of 2022, when it first debuted. Given Game of Thrones‘ own history as the most-pirated TV series for multiple years in a row, House of the Dragon keeping the same unfortunate record every time a new season comes out isn’t all that shocking. However, it does mean HBO and Max are on a 3-year streak in first place, signifying their global success in a rather unlucky way.

The next TV show airing in the Game of Thrones universe will be A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, arriving on HBO in 2025.

Source: TorrentFreak