Ever watched an esports broadcast packed with logos and overlays and wondered what that space is actually worth? Now there is a public number for that.
Esports Charts has released Media Value, a free metric that estimates how much a sponsor would pay to keep a small 1 percent banner on screen for an entire tournament broadcast. You can already see this figure on thousands of tournament pages on the Esports Charts site, no login or subscription needed.
This sounds simple, but it matters a lot. Teams want to prove their exposure, organizers need stronger pitch decks, brands need real numbers, and many fans just want to understand how the business side works. In this guide, we will break down what Media Value is, how it is calculated, how to read it, and how different people in esports can actually use it.
What Is Esports Charts’ Media Value Metric and Why Does It Matter?
Media Value is an estimate of what it would cost a sponsor to show a tiny banner, about 1 percent of the screen, for the full live broadcast of a tournament.
Instead of only saying, "this event had X viewers," Media Value turns viewership into money terms. It answers a more concrete question: if a brand wanted their logo on screen the whole time, what would that placement be worth at typical market rates?
The metric focuses on broadcast exposure. It looks at the streams Esports Charts tracks where sponsor placements are visible. It does not try to cover every possible part of a sponsorship package, like social posts or on-site booths.
The idea behind Media Value is simple: make esports more transparent and easier to understand. Sponsors get a clean benchmark, organizers and teams get an independent reference point, and the wider scene gets a clearer view of how viewership translates into commercial value.
From raw viewership stats to real-world sponsor value
For years, esports conversations have revolved around numbers like peak viewers, average viewers, and hours watched. These are useful, but they do not tell a brand how much their logo exposure might be worth.
Media Value builds on those familiar stats. It starts from audience size and watch time, then connects that data to ad pricing in different regions and languages. That means the final number looks closer to what a media buyer or agency would use when planning a campaign.
Instead of guessing how a million hours watched might translate into ad spend, Media Value does the heavy lifting and provides one number tied to a clear format: a 1 percent banner that runs the whole event.
Why open access to Media Value is a big deal for esports
Commercial estimates like this used to sit behind closed doors, inside paid dashboards or custom reports. Smaller organizers, talent, or even many teams could not see them.
Now anyone can search for a tournament on Esports Charts and see its Media Value right at the top of the page. Major world championships, regional leagues, and niche events share the same basic metric.
This helps in several ways:
- Negotiations can be more grounded, since both sides can point to a public benchmark.
- Smaller organizers get a reference instead of guessing what to charge.
- Teams and talent can sanity check claims about exposure.
In short, open access pushes esports toward a more mature and transparent market, where decisions rely less on hype and more on comparable data.
How Esports Charts Calculates Media Value in Simple Terms
So what sits behind this number? The full model is complex, but the core idea is easy to follow: estimate the market cost of reserving a 1 percent on-screen banner for the full broadcast, across all tracked streams.
In plain language, Media Value looks at:
- How many people watched and for how long.
- How many hours the tournament was live on stream.
- Which regions and languages viewers came from, since ad prices vary.
- Whether sponsor logos are actually visible in that broadcast feed.
From there, Esports Charts applies regional ad rates to the exposure and sums everything up into a single value that represents the cost of that small banner slot.
The 1 percent on-screen banner: the building block of Media Value
The 1 percent banner is the core unit of this metric. Imagine a small logo strip that covers roughly one percent of the screen, visible the whole time a match or show is live.
Media Value answers a simple question: if a sponsor wanted that space on all tracked broadcasts of the tournament, for the full duration, what would they likely pay at typical market rates?
By fixing this size and placement, Media Value gives tournaments a common unit. That makes it easier to compare a big global final with a strong regional league or a niche cup. You are not comparing different creative assets or custom bundles, just the same theoretical banner.
Key factors that shape a tournament’s Media Value score
Several drivers shape how high or low a tournament’s Media Value ends up:
1. Audience size and watch time.
The more people who watch, and the longer they stay, the more exposure that banner gets. Hours watched is a key piece here.
2. Broadcast duration.
A short weekend cup will usually have less total banner exposure than a long multi-week league, even if they hit similar peaks.
3. Regions and languages of viewers.
Ad prices differ by market. A thousand viewers in one region may be priced very differently from a thousand viewers somewhere else.
4. Actual sponsor visibility.
Media Value considers whether sponsor logos can actually appear on the stream. In-game spectator feeds or client views, such as DotaTV-style streams with no overlays, are not part of this version of the metric.
All of this combines into one figure that reflects what that 1 percent banner might cost if sold at regular media rates.
Why region and language make some viewers more valuable than others
Not every viewer is equal in ad pricing. This is where CPM, or cost per thousand impressions, comes in.
Think of CPM as the price a brand pays to show an ad a thousand times to a specific audience. Some markets have higher CPMs because brands are willing to pay more for those viewers. Others are cheaper.
Media Value bakes in these CPM differences across regions and languages. For example, many European language streams tend to have higher media prices per thousand views than some Asian language streams. So a European language audience can create more Media Value than the same number of viewers in a cheaper market.
You can see this in real tournaments. For one major Dota 2 event, the combined Media Value across all language broadcasts passed twenty million dollars. Inside that total, the Indonesian-language coverage created tens of thousands of dollars in value, while the Spanish-language coverage generated a much larger six-figure amount. Same matches, different language feeds, very different commercial weight.
This split highlights how local streams in languages like Spanish or French can carry strong sponsorship potential, even if they are smaller than the main global feed.
How to Read and Use Media Value on Esports Charts Tournament Pages
Now that Media Value is public, how do you actually use it?
On an Esports Charts tournament page, Media Value sits in the top stats block, alongside familiar metrics like peak and average viewers. That number represents the estimated market cost of a 1 percent banner on all tracked broadcasts of that event.
Beneath that headline figure, Esports Charts often shows language or region splits and the usual viewership charts. Taken together, these help you connect audience composition with commercial value.
Finding Media Value on your favorite tournaments
The basic path is simple:
- Go to Esports Charts.
- Use the search bar to look up a tournament.
- Open the event page.
Right at the top, you will see the Media Value figure. Many of the biggest events in the world already have this number, including the flagship League of Legends global championship and top mobile circuits such as MPL Indonesia, which sits near the top among mobile esports in terms of Media Value.
You can also browse historic events for the same series to see how Media Value has changed over time. That gives you a quick sense of growth or decline, beyond raw viewership.
Using Media Value to compare tournaments, regions, and languages
Media Value becomes really useful when you start comparing.
A brand could line up several tournaments in the same game, then look at which one offers higher Media Value for their budget. A regional league might look smaller in peak viewers than a global final, but still create strong Media Value for a certain language or country.
You can also compare language streams of the same tournament. If a sponsor wants to reach Spanish-speaking fans, they can check how the Spanish-language broadcast stacks up against other languages for that event. A local brand in Southeast Asia might instead look at Indonesian or Thai coverage and pick the tournament where that audience generates the strongest Media Value.
Fans can play with the same comparisons. Have you ever wondered why a certain league seems packed with sponsors while another looks empty? Checking Media Value next to viewership stats can provide a clue.
What Media Value does not show: avoiding common mistakes
Media Value is powerful, but it is not a full sponsorship calculator.
It only covers broadcast exposure for that 1 percent banner concept. It does not include:
- VOD views or highlights.
- On-site branding in arenas.
- Merch and product sales.
- In-game product placements.
- Social media and creator campaigns.
- Influencer segments or watch parties.
It also does not reveal what organizers actually earned from sponsors. Real deals can be higher or lower than the Media Value figure, depending on what is bundled.
The safest way to think about Media Value is as a baseline benchmark. It gives you a fair starting point for discussions, not a final price tag.
Why the Media Value Metric Changes the Game for Sponsors, Teams, and Organizers
Media Value is more than a new line on a stats page. It changes how different parts of esports can talk to each other about money and value.
Sponsors get a way to compare events without relying only on hype slides. Organizers gain a neutral third-party number to back up their decks. Teams and casters can better understand the exposure they help create. Fans can see which events have the strongest commercial pull.
All of this reduces guesswork and helps balance power across the ecosystem.
How brands and agencies can make smarter esports deals
Marketing teams often face a hard question: which tournament should we sponsor, and how much should we pay?
With Media Value, they can:
- Shortlist events that hit a certain exposure threshold.
- Check if a quoted price lines up with the Media Value baseline.
- Find undervalued regions or languages with strong returns.
Imagine two tournaments with similar average viewers. One pulls most of its audience from regions with lower CPMs and shorter watch time. The other has a more valuable regional mix and longer sessions. Media Value will usually be higher for the second event, even if the top-line audience looks similar.
That helps brands avoid overpaying for vanity stats and focus on steady exposure where it counts.
Helping tournament organizers build fair and convincing sponsorship decks
Organizers, especially smaller ones, often struggle to prove their worth. They may have good viewership but lack the tools or trust to turn that into strong deals.
Media Value gives them a public reference point. In a pitch, they can say, "According to Esports Charts, our event created this much Media Value for a 1 percent banner." That is easier to believe than a self-made estimate.
Regional leagues or mobile tournaments can use this to show that, while they might not hit record peaks, their audience still offers solid commercial value for specific languages or local brands. Negotiations then start closer to shared reality instead of pure guesswork.
What teams, talent, and fans can learn from Media Value
Teams and on-air talent also gain from this metric.
A team can look across the events it attends and see which ones provide the highest Media Value. That can shape decisions about where to push for invites or appearance fees, and how to argue for their share in revenue discussions.
Casters and hosts can check which broadcasts deliver the most commercial exposure. That data can support stronger contracts, especially when they are closely linked to a certain region or language feed.
Fans, on the other hand, get a peek behind the curtain. By comparing Media Value with peak viewers and prize pools, they can start to see why some events attract more sponsors or can afford bigger production. It becomes easier to connect what you see on screen with the money that keeps the scene running.
Conclusion
Media Value takes raw esports viewership and turns it into a clear money-based estimate for a small on-screen banner. Thanks to Esports Charts, that number is now free for anyone to check on thousands of tournament pages.
The metric brings more transparency, makes it easier to compare tournaments and regions, and gives brands, organizers, teams, and fans a shared language around sponsorship potential. It is not a full deal calculator, but it is a strong starting point.
As more people use open data like this, esports can grow into a more stable and trusted industry, where deals are shaped by facts instead of only hype. Next time you watch your favorite tournament, take a moment to look up its Media Value and ask yourself what that number says about the future of your favorite game.
