Lost finale sets BitTorrent record

The “Lost” finale may not have set a ratings record, but pirates absolutely loved it.

TorrentFreak, a news site that covers the file sharing industry, reports the May 23 finale has broken all previous download records – with nearly 1 million people downloading the concluding chapters of the show in less than one day.  

Most of those downloads came from outside of the U.S., where the finale wouldn’t air for up to two days. The number’s expected to jump to between 4 million and 5 million by the end of the week.

“Lost” has been a perennial favorite among the BitTorrent crowd. Last year, it was the second most-pirated television show on the service. And given the expectations (and the certainty of Internet spoilers once it aired), the boost in downloaded copies isn’t a huge surprise.

It’s one that could cost ABC in ad impressions, though. The broadcast finale of the program was jam packed with ads. Entertainment Weekly did the math: 107 spots ran during the finale, eating up more than 45 minutes – 30 percent of the finale’s airtime.