"Heroes" most pirated show of 2009
David
'Heroes' is most-pirated TV show of 2009
By Eriq Gardner
Last year, pirates were obsessed with good vs. evil, making NBC's
"Heroes" the most-pirated TV show of 2008.
This year, the buzz is that the show may be on the verge of
cancellation thanks to dwindling ratings (it averages about 6 million
viewers a week, down from nearly 14 million when the show first
premiered in 2006).
But "Heroes' continues to be a juggernaut in online piracy. According
to Torrentfreak, "Heroes" was downloaded 6.58 million times in 2009,
topping the year's most-pirated list.
The only other show in the top 10 that boasts fewer weekly viewers
than total illegal sharers is Showtime's "Dexter," with about 2.3
million viewers and 2.78 million pirated downloads. (And Showtime is a
pay cable service, of course.)
Here's the full list:
1. "Heroes" (NBC)
2. "Lost" (ABC)
3. "Prison Break" (Fox)
4. "Dexter" (Showtime)
5. "House" (Fox)
6. "24" (Fox)
7. "Desperate Housewives" (ABC)
8. "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," (Fox)
9. "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
10. "True Blood" (HBO)
Here's a bar graph that compares estimated downloads with estimated
weekly TV viewership:
AC
"David" <diml...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:hnd4k59nckvq8dn1v...@4ax.com...
They should just go with it and go with product placement and other in show
means to advertise. It's shown that many want to "illegally" download, and
the only real down side is that they don't see the traditional advertising
and branding which funds the show. Well, fair enough, if they want that then
PP is the way to go. So far, no PP has impeded on the plot of any show, so I
could live with it.
It would be interesting to see if downloaders would happily accept a free
legal PP laced edit of the show, given a choice. If the TV company released
a PP laced torrent of the show at the same time a non PP version was
broadcast on TV, would downloaders accept that and not bother with a later
"illegal", non PP version. Seems a fair bargain to me.
AC
SFTV_troy
It's difficult to watch the show legally when I missed the first ~10
episodes of the 2009-10 season, but NBC.com only provides the last 3.
So the only option to see those episodes I missed is from piratebay.
I prefer a legal streaming site to "catch up" with my favorite shows,
but if they don't provide the option, then they only have themselves
to blame.
> This year, the buzz is that the show may be on the
> verge of cancellation thanks to dwindling ratings
Frankly it deserves to be canceled. It's one of those shows that had
an excellent first season, but then the writers simply ran out of
ideas. The same thing happened with Alias after it finished season 2,
and with Prison Break after whathisname escaped. Once the story
achieves its pre-plotted goal, the show suddenly loses its direction.
Heroes has been meandering aimlessly for three years now, and I don't
care if it dies.
SFTV_troy
>
> They should just go with it and go with product placement and other in show
> means to advertise. It's shown that many want to "illegally" download, and
> the only real down side is that they don't see the traditional advertising
> and branding which funds the show. Well, fair enough, if they want that then
> PP is the way to go. So far, no PP has impeded on the plot of any show, so I
> could live with it.
When MyNetworkTV was desperate for cash, they used product placement
in some of their telenovels. It was annoying because it derailed the
plot. One minute the characters are sitting in a mansion & discussing
a gangster who wants to kill them, and then suddenly they switch gears
and discuss "the great looking shoes I bought at Target." Yeah I'm
sure a wealthy heiress buys shoes at Target. When a bad guy is after
her. Not.
Extravagan
> They should just go with it and go with product placement and other in
> show means to advertise. It's shown that many want to "illegally"
> download, and the only real down side is that they don't see the
> traditional advertising and branding which funds the show. Well, fair
> enough, if they want that then PP is the way to go. So far, no PP has
> impeded on the plot of any show, so I could live with it.
>
> It would be interesting to see if downloaders would happily accept a
> free legal PP laced edit of the show, given a choice. If the TV company
> released a PP laced torrent of the show at the same time a non PP
> version was broadcast on TV, would downloaders accept that and not
> bother with a later "illegal", non PP version. Seems a fair bargain to me.
How much product placement is *already* in shows? I don't know, but I'm
guessing a lot.
I rewatched an old movie the other night -- Back to the Future. There's
a fair bit of blatant product placement in the first few minutes. (Count
how many times you clearly can read the Kal-Kan logo on the can of dog
food before it leaves the frame. Besides Kal-Kan, there's Calvin Klein
underwear, Pepsi, numerous other products, and a fair bit of Nike
product placement in the whole series. Does the "Black and Decker
Hydrator" in the sequel count as some kind of "brand placement"?)
Once-sacrosanct movie franchises are also succumbing -- the most recent
Star Trek movie has a blatant Nokia product placement, for instance.
TV, if not ahead of that curve, surely cannot be far behind.
erilar
--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist
AC
"SFTV_troy" <SFTV...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ad029b35-7ebb-464b...@t42g2000vba.googlegroups.com...
Ok, that's bad. But surely they would refine it over time so that you get a
reasonable balance between exposure and integration.
For example, a lot of shows I've seen in the last few years have Cisco
branding on computer screens and such like, or the camera lingers on a car
make and model bag for a second or two more than necessary. I can live with
that.
Point being, if "we" want immediate free downloads, there has to be some way
for the producers to make money. Intelligent PP is the only solution.
AC
AC
>> 'Heroes' is most-pirated TV show of 2009
>
>
> It's difficult to watch the show legally when I missed the first ~10
> episodes of the 2009-10 season, but NBC.com only provides the last 3.
> So the only option to see those episodes I missed is from piratebay.
> I prefer a legal streaming site to "catch up" with my favorite shows,
> but if they don't provide the option, then they only have themselves
> to blame.
>
>
>> This year, the buzz is that the show may be on the
>> verge of cancellation thanks to dwindling ratings
>
> Frankly it deserves to be canceled. It's one of those shows that had
> an excellent first season, but then the writers simply ran out of
> ideas. The same thing happened with Alias after it finished season 2,
> and with Prison Break after whathisname escaped.
Prison Break, IMHO, should have been 2 seasons. One to break out, and
another with them on the run while proving their innocence, or whatever. If
they wanted to cash cow the idea, then they should have started up with a
whole new set up and cast. Or used the cast for some thing different. Have
them one year on getting caught up in some thing else, or some thing
infinitely better.
>Once the story
> achieves its pre-plotted goal, the show suddenly loses its direction.
> Heroes has been meandering aimlessly for three years now, and I don't
> care if it dies.
Yeah, Heroes has gotten kind of soap opera. I reckon they should have
reduced it to a recurring 4hr mini series and let guest writers play with
the characters once a year. I would love to have seen what the likes of
JJAbrams, JMS, Joss Whedon, etc would have done with it. No, not Ron
Moore!!!
AC
shawn
It's possible to do product placement as you describe above and that's
the sort that people can live with. Don't make it overly obvious that
it's a product placement. Unfortunately a lot of shows seem to go
overboard when they do product placement especially with cars where we
may see many lingering shots of the front and backs of the cars so
that no one can miss the fact that this is a product placement.
>Point being, if "we" want immediate free downloads, there has to be some way
>for the producers to make money. Intelligent PP is the only solution.
Intelligent and Hollywood... That seems an unlikely combination.
berk
I don't understand the point of calling it piracy when they sent the
shows out over the air in the 1st place.
Are they claiming rights to re-broadcast are being trampled on?
(rhetorical question.)
berk
AC
"shawn" <nanof...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:vh4ck5l668s661uii...@4ax.com...
Completely agree. My assumption would be that over time the use of PP would
be refined so it suited both the advertiser and viewer. If they don't it
wont work. If you piss off the viewers the product will suffer, but you have
to push it enough to actually make it worth while for the advertiser.
>>Point being, if "we" want immediate free downloads, there has to be some
>>way
>>for the producers to make money. Intelligent PP is the only solution.
>
> Intelligent and Hollywood... That seems an unlikely combination.
Ok, fair cop. I was trying out "optimism". Wont do it again ........ ;)
AC
~consul
>> an excellent first season, but then the writers simply ran out of
>> ideas. The same thing happened with Alias after it finished season 2,
>> and with Prison Break after whathisname escaped.
> Prison Break, IMHO, should have been 2 seasons. One to break out, and
> another with them on the run while proving their innocence, or whatever.
> If they wanted to cash cow the idea, then they should have started up
> with a whole new set up and cast. Or used the cast for some thing
> different. Have them one year on getting caught up in some thing else,
> or some thing infinitely better.
Uhm, they did do a second prison, remember the central american one Michael, TBag and the proson guard were trying to break out of?
--
"... respect, all good works are not done by only good folk. For here, at the end of all things, we shall do what needs to be done."
--till next time, consul -x- <<poetry.dolphins-cove.com>>
SFTV_troy
> "SFTV_troy" <SFTV_t...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> > The same thing happened with Alias after it finished season 2,
> > and with Prison Break after whathisname escaped.
>
> Prison Break, IMHO, should have been 2 seasons. One to break out, and
> another with them on the run while proving their innocence, or whatever.
That was the original plan. The creator of the show said the show was
supposed to end after season 2.
> >Once the story
> > achieves its pre-plotted goal, the show suddenly loses its direction.
> > Heroes has been meandering aimlessly for three years now, and I don't
> > care if it dies.
>
> Yeah, Heroes has gotten kind of soap opera.
Yep.
Pete B
dra...@chibardun.net.invalid says...
> Why? I don't even choose to watch it.
But do you pirate it?
Pete B
nanof...@gmail.com says...
> we
> may see many lingering shots of the front and backs of the cars so
> that no one can miss the fact that this is a product placement.
>
Yet I usually do.
Dragon Lady
"erilar" <dra...@chibardun.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:drache-CF2768....@news.eternal-september.org...
shawn
wrote:
that's because most shows either don't do it or do it right.
Pete B
nanof...@gmail.com says...
Or because I don't care to remember such things :)
SFTV_troy
> nanoflo...@gmail.com says...
> > On Sat, 9 Jan 2010 04:06:54 +0100, Pete B <xxxh@_xsomeething.com>
>
>
> > >Yet I usually do.
>
> > that's because most shows either don't do it or do it right.
>
> Or because I don't care to remember such things :)
I still remember when Smallville did an insert like so:
CLARK: "I gotta figure out how to get to the Fortress of Solitude."
CHLOE: "Sorry Clark. My Yaris gets great gas mileage but I don't
think it will take us to the north pole."
I noticed the plug, but at least it didn't disrupt the storyline. I
remember when Chloe used to drive a Beetle. I wonder how these poor
Illinois farmers can afford all these shiny new cars for their high
school children?
shawn
Insurance. After all their cars must get damaged on a regular basis
with all the super powered villains in the area.
Hieronymus S. Freely
Or because of confirmation bias: when they do it well, you don't tend to
notice it, and when they do it badly, you do. So a high proportion of
the ones you notice were done badly, but perhaps not as high a
proportion of all the ones that exist were done badly.
Pete B
3g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>, SFTV...@yahoo.com says...
They are growing some extra stuff where the cameras aren't looking ;)