• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 25, 2015

While marketers increasingly take a measured approach in making season-long ad deals -- the slow-moving upfront market, of course -- TV viewers still want access to be all about speed. That’s where piracy comes in.

Worldwide TV piracy continues to be a big deal -- especially when “Game of Thrones” remains the most-pirated show, according to a number of sources.

For example websites Found Remote/SimilarWeb said “Thrones” pulled in anywhere from 2.5% to 5% share of all Web traffic for top downloaded TV shows.  This dwarfs other shows, many of which posted well under 1% share. Like “Thrones”, many of these were action-adventure type: CW’s “The Flash” (0.88%);  “Arrow” (0.68%), and “Supernatural" (0.37%), according to Torrentz. Fox’s “Gotham” came in at 0.22%.

But other big non-action-adventure TV shows also made a number of lists: CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” (0.45%); ABC’s “Modern Family” (0.34%); and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” (0.22%).

But the continued desire for global TV consumers to access a wide range of TV content seems unabated -- which is good and bad news for  big TV media companies. Quick, early and illegal TV consumption of programming continues to grow -- even as digital media distribution (and its original content) gains.

This is where the rubber meets the road: For the likes of CBS and others, international TV sales continues to be a major point for future revenue growth — in addition to digital TV deals it may get with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Piracy doesn’t help in this regard. But, at the same time, critics would say it can nurture underground marketing buzz.

CBS should especially be concerned (and perhaps emboldened) that the new action show “Supergirl”, which hasn’t as yet premiered, had the third best share of traffic (0.40%) in May according to Kickass Torrents, behind “Game of Thrones” and “The Flash."

Early TV viewers, accessing these sites, would appreciate all that speed of the “Supergirl” character -- something they might aspire to. Ridding the world of criminals might be another matter.