This year has seen an abundance of quality titles from streaming services, particularly TV shows. However, only some can afford or want to pay for the subscription to access its content, so they resort to pirating. The post-apocalyptic show "The Last of Us" is listed as the most pirated show of this year.
Pirating 'The Last of Us'
The TV show adaptation of the hit game with the same title became one of the year's biggest releases, so much so that fans say others should take "The Last of Us" as an example of how you make adaptations right.
Many wanted to see what HBO had to offer, but not everyone wanted to pony up. With Disney Plus' "Loki" at third and "The Mandalorian" at second, "The Last of Us" hits the first spot, as per Gizmodo, making Pedro Pascal the star of the two most sought-after shows.
This listing does not show the statistics for all pirating sites, as it is only based on the data from the piracy platform BitTorrent. There is a myriad of torrenting sites out there that people turn to, not just the mainstream ones that hold the most titles.
These numbers show that HBO has once again set a record of itself. In 2022, the HBO show and "Game of Thrones" prequel "House of the Dragon" was also named the most pirated series on the internet.
It's no surprise that people are slowly turning to piracy again. Streaming services have been increasing their prices bit by bit, making it harder for others to subscribe to more than one service as it has become too expensive.
Max saw an increase for the first time back in January, going from $14.99 to $15.99. If you intend to subscribe to other services like Netflix, then you'll also have to pay for the increased price. Its Premium plan went from $19.99 to $22.99 just this October.
All these price hikes have been disheartening, especially for cord-cutters who thought subscribing to streaming services would become the cheaper option. With that said, many have returned to the high seas to watch quality and recent content.
Why Piracy Can Do More Harm Than Good
It's easy to see why going for torrent can be enticing, especially since you can watch anything you want for free with no catch. But it only remains that way if you know what you're doing and where to look.
A lot of pirating sites host files that contain malware. Without the proper antivirus measures, which you sometimes turn off for torrent downloads, you might download malware instead. This can harm your device and your files in the process.
Malware can do all sorts of damage. Some are only meant to bombard you with ads, while others have far more nefarious purposes, like stealing your data without you knowing. Even without all that, pirating implies that the people who worked on the movie or show will not get paid for their efforts.
