"Game of Thrones" fans really, really like watching the show illegally.
For the second year in a row, the HBO gold mine held onto its title as the most pirated show of the spring 2013 season, according to TorrentFreak.
Nearly as many viewers download it on the file-sharing site BitTorrent as watch it on television — three times the amount garnered by several of the programs further down TorrentFreak's Top 10 List. The season three premiere was downloaded by a record-breaking 5.2 million people, showing a 25 percent increase compared to last year.
When director David Petrarca was asked about the unprecedented piracy ratings earlier this year, he responded, NBD. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Petrarca said illegal downloads don't matter because the show capitalizes on "cultural buzz."
"That's how they survive,"Petrarca said.
"The Big Bang Theory" and "How I Met Your Mother," round out the TorrentFreak list's top three, with 2.9 million and 2.85 million downloads, respectively.
Check out the views per single episode below.
| Rank | Show | Est. downloads | US TV viewers |
| 1 | Game of Thrones | 5,200,000 | 5,500,000 |
| 2 | The Big Bang Theory | 2,900,000 | 20,000,000 |
| 3 | How I Met Your Mother | 2,850,000 | 10,510,000 |
| 4 | The Walking Dead | 2,700,000 | 12,420,000 |
| 5 | Hannibal | 2,100,000 | 4,380,000 |
| 6 | Vikings | 1,900,000 | 6,210,000 |
| 7 | Arrow | 1,850,000 | 4,140,000 |
| 8 | The Vampire Diaries | 1,800,000 | 3,180,000 |
| 9 | Modern Family | 1,750,000 | 12,520,000 |
| 10 | Revenge | 1,700,000 | 9,740,000 |
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