€115 million for MOONTON Games. €130,000 for OMR Festival. Hundreds of millions tracked across nine years of sports and esports partnerships.
Those numbers are media value. The metric that turns "great visibility" into actual euros sponsors can justify to their CFO.
But here's what most people get wrong: media value isn't the same as earned media value. One measures sponsorship exposure (your logo on a jersey during a broadcast). The other measures unpaid amplification through social media channels or press (a fan posting match highlights on Instagram, press coverage showing the football striker's front sponsor jersey during a goal).
Different metrics. Different methods. Different outcomes.
This guide covers what media value actually is, how it differs from EMV, and how to calculate it properly for sponsorship measurement in 2026.
What is Media Value?
Media value puts a price tag on visibility. Simple as that.
Your logo appears on a player's jersey for 4.2 seconds during a match watched by 2 million people? That's worth something. Specifically, it's worth whatever it would've cost you to buy that same exposure through traditional advertising.
The calculation tells sponsors one thing they actually care about: what would this visibility cost if we'd paid for it as an advert?
When you sponsor a football club, esports team, or major event, your brand shows up everywhere—jerseys, LED boards, broadcasts, social media. Media value measures all of it and translates exposure into euros based on audience reach, duration, placement quality, and engagement.
No more "we got great exposure" conversations. Just numbers that finance teams understand.
Media Value vs. Earned Media Value: Not the Same Thing
Most articles about "media value" actually talk about earned media value (EMV). That's the metric for measuring Instagram likes and influencer campaigns.
Different game entirely.
Earned Media Value (EMV)
Earned media value measures social media engagement and organic digital exposure. Think influencer campaigns, viral posts, and user-generated content.
What it measures:
- Unpaid exposure: Mentions, shares, reviews, influencer posts, user-generated content, organic social media posts
- Monetary equivalent: What you'd pay for the same reach through paid advertising (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram promotions)
- Organic performance: Effectiveness of PR campaigns, influencer marketing partnerships, and social media strategies
The calculation focuses on cost per engagement (CPE)—likes, comments, shares, saves—across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and X. You're measuring how much buzz your brand generates organically through social channels and what that buzz would cost if you'd paid for it through advertising.
Media Value
On the other hand, media value measures brand exposure through partnerships. Think jersey logos, LED boards, and broadcast presence.
What it measures:
- Visual placements: Logos on jerseys, LED boards, product placements, signage during broadcasts and streams
- Broadcast exposure: Brand visibility across TV, streaming platforms, OTT services, and live events
- Monetary equivalent: What you'd pay for the same audience reach through traditional advertising (TV commercials, streaming ads, broadcast sponsorships)
- Partnership performance: Effectiveness of sponsorship deals, asset placement strategies, and brand integration activations
The calculation focuses on cost per thousand impressions (CPM) based on actual audience reach. You're measuring sustained brand visibility across owned and broadcast media throughout the duration of a partnership.
Both metrics have value. The key is knowing which one answers your question. Track EMV for influencer campaign performance. Track sponsorship media value for broadcast and event exposure. And we measure both, giving you the complete picture across all channels.
The Sponsorship Media Value Formula
Calculating media value comes down to four core components multiplied together. The more accurate your data on each component, the more precise your final media value.
Here's the formula:
Each component captures a different aspect of brand exposure:
Impressions
How many people saw the brand exposure. Add up broadcast viewers, streaming audiences, and social reach. This is your base number—everything else adjusts it up or down.
CPM (Cost Per Thousand)
CPM stands for "cost per mille" (mille is Latin for thousand). It represents what advertisers pay to reach 1,000 people on a specific channel.
Why "per thousand"? Advertising costs are typically too small to express per single impression, so the industry standard uses per 1,000 impressions as the unit of measurement. A platform might charge €5 CPM, meaning €5 to reach 1,000 people.
Different platforms command different CPM rates based on audience value, engagement levels, and market demand. Broadcast TV typically has higher CPM than streaming platforms like Twitch or YouTube. OTT services have different rates than social media channels like Instagram, TikTok, or X. Geographic markets also affect rates—advertising in Europe costs more than emerging markets.
The CPM you apply depends on where the brand exposure occurred and what comparable advertising would cost on that channel.
Duration Factor
Exposure time matters. Longer brand visibility generates more value because audiences have more time to register and recall the brand. A 5-second logo appearance creates more impact than a 1-second flash.
Duration adjustments ensure brief glimpses aren't valued the same as sustained visibility.
Placement Factor
Not all placements receive equal attention. A centre chest sponsor on a jersey gets more visual focus than a small background logo. Prominent placements command higher value because they're more likely to be noticed and remembered.
Placement adjustments reflect the reality that different positions generate different levels of brand awareness.
Engagement Factor
Audience interaction amplifies value. When fans discuss brands in live chat, share content featuring sponsor logos, or create posts mentioning partners, that engagement extends reach beyond the initial impression.
Higher engagement indicates stronger audience connection with the content, increasing overall media value.
These five components work together to produce your final media value. Understanding how each factor influences the calculation helps you optimise sponsorship placements, price partnerships accurately, and demonstrate clear ROI to sponsors.
Higher CPM channels (premium sports broadcasts) generate more media value per impression than lower CPM channels (regional streams). This reflects actual advertising market rates.
How Shikenso Measures Media Value
We track three ways brands show up: what you see, what you hear, and what you read.
Visual Exposure
AI-powered computer vision catches every logo, jersey sponsor, LED board, and product placement in every single frame. 30 frames per second. Zero missed moments.
When we tracked the MLBB M6 World Championship, we monitored 14 different brand assets frame-by-frame throughout the entire broadcast. The caster desk branding alone? Nearly a third of total media value.
Audible Exposure
Audio detection captures verbal brand mentions—commentary callouts, product references, sponsor shoutouts. Our AI processes 200+ languages, so it doesn't matter if your commentator's speaking English, Mandarin, or Portuguese.
Every time someone says "Red Bull" during live commentary? That's media value we measure.
Legible Exposure
Text analysis monitors what people write—live chat, social media posts, comments, hashtags. When your brand sparks conversation, that amplifies sponsorship impact.
OMR Festival case: we tracked 300+ social accounts and captured every brand mention in Instagram captions, TikTok comments, and X posts. Result: €130,000 in total media value from digital channels alone.
This multi-modal approach catches everything. Traditional methods might track visual logos but completely miss audio commentary or social amplification. That's leaving 20-30% of your media value on the table.
Why Traditional Measurement Doesn't Cut It Anymore
Sponsorship measurement has evolved dramatically. Manual tracking methods that worked a decade ago can't keep up with today's multi-channel, real-time sponsorship landscape. Here's what separates old-school approaches from AI-powered platforms:
The practical impact of this difference:
Mid-Event Decisions
AI-powered tracking lets you optimise whilst events are still happening. See which sponsor placements perform best during the actual broadcast, then adjust camera angles or asset positioning based on live data.
Instant Transparency
Give sponsors real-time dashboards showing current media value as campaigns run. No more "we'll send you a report next month" conversations.
Complete Picture
Traditional methods measure visual logos but completely miss verbal mentions and social discussions.
What gets overlooked: Commentary callouts like "welcome to the Allianz Arena" or "live from the O2"—naming rights sponsors receiving valuable exposure. Social media discussions amplifying brand reach. Our audio tracking captures these moments across 200+ languages.
That's 20-30% of total media value left unmeasured by traditional methods—euros you can't report to sponsors because you never tracked them.
Strategic ROI
When OMR Festival—one of Europe's largest marketing conference with 70,000+ attendees in Hamburg—tracked 20 brand partners simultaneously across 300+ social accounts, organisers could see exactly which activations delivered the highest media value. That real-time visibility enabled strategy adjustments during the event, maximising partner ROI.
Manual tracking wasn't wrong for its time. It's just insufficient for modern sponsorship complexity across broadcast, streaming, social, and digital channels.
The Bottom Line
Media value turns “we got great exposure” into actual euros. It gives rights holders proof of partnership value, brands clear ROI, and decision-makers data they can stand behind.
For sponsorship professionals across sports, esports, and entertainment, media value is what proves performance, justifies investment, and drives smarter growth.
For nine years, Shikenso has measured hundreds of millions in sponsorship media value. Our AI tracks visual, audible, and legible exposure in real time — replacing assumptions with clarity brands, rights holders, and agencies can act on.
Book a demo to see how it works.
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