2018 Major leads all Counter-Strike events in sponsor value

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Recently, Esports Charts launched our Media Value metric, available for free across thousands of pages in our database. A reflection of a tournament’s sponsorship potential, this data can be used to compare events across the industry and also within specific games or series. In this article, we dive into the highest value Counter-Strike majors event, which might surprise you, with top events going back all the way to 2018. 

While Counter-Strike’s most popular moments have undoubtedly come in the past handful of years, peak concurrent viewership is not indicative of a strong Media Value. While these moments of peak excitement are a valuable tool for measuring event success, how long viewers are watching — and who is watching — is more integral for Media Value calculations. Of course, recent Counter-Strike 2 Majors have been wildly successful, but other highly-watched, and sometimes forgotten, events rank highly here.

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 includes considerations for various demographics with language- and region-specific CPMs, making it a practical benchmark for overviews of various events. It is important to note, these calculations are done with 2025 CPM data, meaning values of older tournaments are current-day estimations.

The highest value Counter-Strike Major of all-time is the FACEIT Major London 2018 with a Media Value of $38,467,232 by today’s numbers. The United Kingdom’s first and only Major, it marked Astralis’ second title and the beginning of their run of three back-to-back Majors. While the London Major does not even rank in the top 10 Majors by Peak Viewers, it still accumulated a substantial watch time, and crucially, a vast amount of English-language viewership.

At the FACEIT London Major, North American organizations Team Liquid and compLexity Gaming advanced through both the Challengers and Legends stage to qualify for playoffs, outperforming the reigning champions and regional rival Cloud9. While compLexity was eliminated in the quarterfinals and Team Liquid was dispatched by ultimate champions Astralis in the semifinals, their run through the event engaged a large English-language viewership. This audience is highly valuable for sponsors, and its watch time contributed significantly to the event’s total Media Value.

Following behind the FACEIT Major are two BLAST.tv events, firstly the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Held in North America, the event set the current record for the most-watched Major with over 76,000,000 Hours Watched; this viewership came from the usual trio of Counter-Strike esports, English, Russian, and Portuguese, but also further audiences across Europe and Asia. BLAST’s recent Majors in CS2 have been wildly successful, and their Austin Major 2025 impressed with a Media Value of $34,719,282. 

The BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 also achieved an industry-leading Media Value of $33,771,685 as of 2025 data, and with substantially less watch time than its Austin peer. The noticeable difference between the two events is the distribution of their viewership, which was more concentrated in valuable region and language CPMs for the Paris Major 2023. As the last Major hosted in CS:GO before making the jump to CS2, many nostalgic fans tuned in for the final chapter of their favorite game. 

  The BLAST.tv Austin Major was a highlight in Counter-Strike esports broadcasting, image via BLAST   

Moving back into CS:GO for the final spots on our ranking, the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 is a record-holding tournament in Counter-Strike’s viewership history, still holding the Peak Viewers record for the game at over 2,748,000 concurrent viewers. Held at the tail-end of the COVID-19 lockdowns, the tournament enjoyed a significant boost in viewership from Counter-Strike fans stuck at home. This effect saw the Stockholm Major 2021 reach a Media Value of $33,678,467 by 2025 CPMs, almost matching the excitement behind CS:GO’s final Major in Paris.

The IEM Rio Major 2022 enjoyed a similar, albeit less potent, boost in viewership to the Stockholm event, and although it couldn’t come close to its record-breaking peak viewership, it earned a similarly massive watch time and still ranks as the third-most-watched Major ever. Naturally, a large portion of its viewership came from Portuguese-language viewers for Brazil’s first and only Major, but this event still received considerable watch time from international audiences. The Rio Major finished off our ranking with a Media Value of $33,236,946.

The top Counter-Strike Majors by Media Value presents a list of current and past highlights for the Counter-Strike esports scene. Moments like the pandemic-boost with fans in lockdown are highlighted, as well as historic events such as the UK’s only Major and Brazil’s, too. The recent Majors for CS2 have been wildly successful, and 2026 or the coming years could soon see another CS2 event topple the FACEIT Major from the top of this ranking. Keep an eye on the evolving esports scene with Esports Charts’ vast tournament database.