This was published 8 years ago
NCIS, The Bold and the Beautiful, How I Met Your Mother are world's most watched TV shows
In the race to the top of the ratings ladder, few mantles matter more than "most watched TV show in the world."
Though the science is imprecise, the data analysis agency Eurodata has crowned three programs as the world's most popular in the categories of drama, comedy and soap opera.
Jacob Young and Karla Mosley, stars of The Bold and the Beautiful in Monte Carlo. Credit: Valery Hache
They are the US drama NCIS, the US comedy How I Met Your Mother and the US soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful.
Eurodata announces the "most watched" television programs annually at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.
Gibbs (Marc Harmon) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) in the world's most watched drama, NCIS.Credit: CBS Broadcasting
The company analyses the 64 largest television markets in the world and assembles a shortlist of 15 programs which consistently deliver high ratings.
Only the winning programs in each category is identified.
The 64 markets represent almost three billion potential viewers, according to Eurodata.
It is the second consecutive year that NCIS was named the world's most watched drama.
The series, which stars Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly, has been the number one US drama for the last six years.
Eurodata also named the US series How I Met Your Mother as the most watched US comedy. In Australia, How I Met Your Mother aired on the Seven Network. The series ended last year.
And the long-running US daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful was named the world's most watched program in the telenovela or soap opera category.
The series has aired on US and Australian television for almost three decades.