Half a million people pirated the final episode of ‘Breaking Bad’

On Thursday night, AMC aired its final installment of Breaking Bad, the five-season series chronicling the moral descent of a high school chemistry teacher turned meth cook, Walter White. And in the first 12 hours since the show aired, Internet users illegally downloaded half a million copies, TorrentFreak reported.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the final episode was the most pirated in the series’ history. According to TorrentFreak, it will be a “strong contender” for the most pirated show of the year. (It was also the most-watched episode. The New York Times reports 10 million viewers tuned in to the series finale.)

The data collected by TorrentFreak revealed that many of the pirated copies of the show were downloaded in places where the show was available through legal means. Almost a quarter of all downloads came from the U.S. and the U.K.

Here’s the full chart:

The data reflect trends identified in a recent study of Internet copyright infringement in the U.K. The study found that half of U.K. citizens don’t pay for any content online. Of the 20 percent who access media illegally, more than 40 percent said they were motivated primarily by the fact that it was simply quicker and more convenient than going through legal channels. 

One might cite similar reasons to explain why a high school chemistry teacher would decide to turn his talents to meth cooking.

H/T TorrentFreak | Screengrab via AMC