The series that launched the world’s number-one television franchise, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was presented with the prestigious International Television Audience Award for a Drama TV Series at the 50th Monte Carlo TV Festival on June 10, making it the third time the series has been awarded this honor in the awards five year history.The International Audience Awards are presented jointly by the Monte-Carlo TV Festival and Eurodata TV Worldwide to reward programs who delivered the highest ratings worldwide in 2009 across five continents in three categories: Drama TV Series, Comedy TV Series and Telenovelas/Soap Operas.The nominees were pre-selected among the 15 best imported fiction programs in 68 countries, i.e. almost 1.7 billion potential viewers. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" gathered more than 73.8 million viewers worldwide beating out last year’s winner “House.”