TorrentFreak has revealed that WandaVision, the first Marvel Studios TV series to premiere on Disney+, was the most pirated show released in 2021 across torrent sites (for those of you unfamiliar with them, it's where people go to illegally download movies and TV shows).
The Mandalorian was #1 in 2020, but this year was understandably dominated by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Loki was in second place, though The Witcher season 2 managed to nab third despite only being released on Netflix earlier this month. In WandaVision's case, it's said that each episode was downloaded "millions of times," so that's a lot of subscribers Disney+ is missing out on.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was in fourth place, Hawkeye was in fifth, and animated series What If...? was in sixth place. While piracy is inevitable, this isn't good news for streaming as consumers find themselves faced with a near endless list of platforms they're asked to subscribe to.
Sony Pictures remains one of the only major studios without a streaming service, which seems to have paid off in a big way over the past couple of years. This is evident from the success of movies like Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home at the global box office.
It's a little surprising that we haven't seen a greater crackdown on piracy in this "pandemic era," but there's only so much studios can do. Here's the full list of top 10 pirated TV shows in 2021:
1. Wandavision
2. Loki
3. The Witcher
4. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
5. Hawkeye
6. What If...?
7. Foundation
8. Rick and Morty
9. Arcane
10. Wheel of Time