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Guess Which Show Is the Biggest in the Entire World?

Hint: It's pretty big here in the U.S., too

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Tim Surette

This may be a bit of a surprise to those of us couch-locked for Game of Thrones rewatches, Better Call Saul marathons and Pretty Little Liars binges, but there's a whole rest of the world out there, and it has the TV bug too.

So what's the most-watched television series in the whole world? The Monte-Carlo Television Festival and number crunchers Eurodata TV Worldwide think they know.

The two organizations handed out the International Television Audience Award, which recognizes the television show that has the highest viewership in the world, and for the third time in four years the honor went to CBS' NCIS. According to CBS, over 47 million viewers worldwide watched NCIS in 2016.

The two other finalists in the drama category were CBS' Criminal Mindsand Fox's The X-Files. The finalists in the comedy category were ABC's Modern Family, CBS' The Big Bang Theory and Ukraine's Svaty, which looks pretty zany, but no winner in that category was announced as of press time.

NCIS: Jennifer Esposito Will Not Return for Season 15

Getting lots of eyeballs is nothing new to NCIS, as it has consistently been the most-watched scripted series on television in the United States.

With streaming services and on demand cutting into broadcast stats, international success has more sway than ever in determining a show's future. Translation: NCIS is going to be around for a long, long time.