It Looks Like True Detective was the Most Pirated Show of July

By Reuben Levine | Aug 18, 2015

Here’s a funny little bit of irony for you — True Detective season has been getting pummeled in reviews. Not just recently, but all season long. But, somehow, it appears to be the top pirated show of July. Even though many media outlets have been trashing season two, the ratings remained steady through the entire run. True, they were declining every week, but there was never a serious drop-off and the finale gained a nice little boost.

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All the doom and gloom of the reviews didn’t turn away millions of pirates who were either fans trying to tune in for free, or were just people trying to get a look at what must have been described to them as a sort of car crash. The kind that you just can’t look away from. According to The Drum, True Detective season two set the pace for the month of July. It even beat out Mr. Robot, which has been doing incredibly well for USA.

According The Drum’s source, downloads of True Detective episodes consistently topped the three most popular pirate sites. In case you’re curious, other shows that True Detective beat out include the fatally ignored Hannibal, Game of Thrones, Ballers, and even Suits. For a season of television that was apparently so terrible, a lot of people decided to tune in one form or another.

Michael Lombardo, head of HBO, said that he was very happy with True Detective’s ratings. If talks of season three are currently going on over at HBO — and we’re pretty sure they are — ratings certainly aren’t part of the conversation. This is interesting data, to be sure, and it will be very interesting to see how it impacts the overall reviews of season two once the dust has settled in a few months.

True Detective fans and media outlets may end up being at serious odds over season two.

Next: True Detective season two has been turned into a sitcom.

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