Top esports tournaments by Media Value
In the fast-paced world of esports, not all tournaments are created equal. While prize pools and championship titles grab headlines, another metric is quietly redefining what makes an event truly valuable: Media Value. By estimating the cost of advertising exposure across an entire broadcast, Media Value reveals which tournaments deliver the biggest bang for sponsors — and the strongest connection with audiences.
From League of Legends’ record-shattering World Championship to iconic Majors in Dota 2, Counter-Strike, Valorant, and Overwatch, these events not only captivate millions of fans but also set the benchmark for the industry’s commercial success. In this article, we break down the top esports tournaments by Media Value, exploring what makes each one a powerhouse both on and off the screen.
Media Value estimates the cost of a 1% on-screen banner for the tournament’s entire broadcast duration, providing a standardized view of how valuable tournaments can be for sponsors. The metric takes into account various demographics with language- and region-specific CPMs, making it a practical benchmark for overviews of different events. It is important to note that these calculations are based on 2025 CPM data, meaning the values for older tournaments are current-day estimations.
At the time of publication, the 2024 World Championship was the most valuable tournament based on Media Value. We estimated its worth at nearly $80 million, and several factors contributed to this. Most notably, the event attracted a record-breaking peak audience of over 6.85 million viewers — the highest of any esports tournament to date.
The 2024 World Championship also set the industry record for total hours watched and broke multiple audience records across different languages and platforms. In short, it stands as the most popular and successful tournament in esports history, which explains its massive value. That said, the 2025 World Championship has a strong chance of outdoing its predecessor and setting new records in both viewership and Media Value. Regardless, League of Legends has maintained its undisputed leadership in the esports industry for several years running.
The second most valuable esports title by Media Value is Dota 2, with The International 10 ranking as its standout event. We estimated the tournament’s worth at just over $48 million — about 40% less than the top-ranked 2024 World Championship. Clearly, the difference between these two events is massive.
It’s worth noting that The International 10 was held in 2021, and the Media Value record for Dota 2’s professional scene has stood unchanged since then. In contrast, League of Legends consistently breaks its own records nearly every year, highlighting the game’s growth relative to its competitors in the genre.
Third on the list is Counter-Strike, represented by the FACEIT Major London 2018. Its estimated Media Value is $38.4 million — slightly below The International 10 and about half that of the 2024 World Championship. It might seem surprising that a 2018 tournament still leads in Counter-Strike, but FACEIT Major London 2018 holds the record for the longest Major in terms of Airtime. Its broadcasts totaled 150 hours — 15 hours more than the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, which comes in second for this metric.
More recent Majors have exceeded FACEIT Major London 2018 in total watch hours and peak viewership, but they still fall slightly short in Media Value. The new format results in less broadcast time, a key factor in determining both advertising effectiveness and the overall tournament value.
Fourth on the list is the team shooter Valorant, represented by the Valorant Champions 2022. This tournament is the top event for the game in terms of Media Value. It also ranks first across all viewership metrics in the series, including total hours watched, average and peak concurrent viewers, and broadcast time. Part of its broad audience appeal comes from the diversity of the final-stage participants: the tournament was held in Turkey, the finals featured teams from Brazil and the USA, and third and fourth places went to teams from South Korea and Europe.
Closing out the rankings is Overwatch League 2019: Stage 1, the most valuable Overwatch tournament by Media Value. Its strong performance came at a time when the Overwatch esports scene was hitting peak popularity in 2018 and 2019. Following the Inaugural Season, the roster of participants expanded significantly, adding more teams from the USA, China, and South Korea. The league drew a large audience and showed strong potential, but its growth was heavily hindered by external factors, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic.
These top esports tournaments show that success isn’t just measured by prize money or wins — it’s also about audience impact and commercial reach. From record-breaking viewership to massive Media Value, these events set the standard for the industry, proving which games and tournaments truly dominate both on-screen and off.
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