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Game of Thrones has been revealed as the most illegally-downloaded TV show of the year, for the third year in a row.



According to statistics released by TorrentFreak, the fantasy show beat Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead into second and third place.

Game of Thrones' season four finale set a new piracy record, with 1.5 million downloads recorded within 12 hours of the episode being broadcast.

BitTorrent hosted the highest number of downloads of the show, which was also the most searched-for TV programme on Google during 2014.

TorrentFreak added that the illegal downloading of TV shows has not slowed in recent years and that it is in fact increasing, "sometimes exceeding the number of traditional viewers in the US".

Game of Thrones producers have recently been posting second-long clips from the new series in the form of text messages and Twitter messages, as well as through the ThreeEyedRaven.com website.