• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 05:24
CET 11:24
KST 19:24
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners5Intel X Team Liquid Seoul event: Showmatches and Meet the Pros10[ASL20] Finals Preview: Arrival13TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting12[ASL20] Ro4 Preview: Descent11
Community News
Starcraft, SC2, HoTS, WC3, returning to Blizzcon!28$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship5[BSL21] RO32 Group Stage4Weekly Cups (Oct 26-Nov 2): Liquid, Clem, Solar win; LAN in Philly2Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win9
StarCraft 2
General
5.0.15 Patch Balance Hotfix (2025-10-8) Starcraft, SC2, HoTS, WC3, returning to Blizzcon! TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners RotterdaM "Serral is the GOAT, and it's not close" Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win
Tourneys
- nuked - Constellation Cup - Main Event - Stellar Fest $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship Merivale 8 Open - LAN - Stellar Fest Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 498 Wheel of Misfortune|Cradle of Death Mutation # 497 Battle Haredened Mutation # 496 Endless Infection Mutation # 495 Rest In Peace
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion [ASL20] Ask the mapmakers — Drop your questions [BSL21] RO32 Group Stage BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ SnOw's ASL S20 Finals Review
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] RO32 Group B - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO32 Group A - Saturday 21:00 CET BSL21 Open Qualifiers Week & CONFIRM PARTICIPATION
Strategy
PvZ map balance Current Meta How to stay on top of macro? Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread SPIRED by.ASL Mafia {211640}
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread NBA General Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Coffee x Performance in Espo…
TrAiDoS
Saturation point
Uldridge
DnB/metal remix FFO Mick Go…
ImbaTosS
Why we need SC3
Hildegard
Reality "theory" prov…
perfectspheres
Our Last Hope in th…
KrillinFromwales
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1542 users

What do the pros earn and how?

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
1 2 3 4 5 15 16 17 Next All
Drlemur
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States153 Posts
May 02 2011 23:06 GMT
#1
The explosion of big prize pool tourneys is great for esports, but it doesn't look like there is enough tournament money for a lot of top players to live on (only about the top 10 seem to make a living on prize money). What else do the top players earn from?

Note: I'm pretty sure they aren't earning as much as they should. For the amount of entertainment they are providing us, I'd like to see these guys get paid like pro athletes --- the people running & casting TL, NASL, etc., should also be getting paid a living. Is it happening yet? If not, I hope it happens soon.

Does anybody know what pro gamers make from:
1. Team sponsorship
2. Coaching
3. Show matches/appearance fees
4. Live streaming

I'm particularly interested in #4. I'm really enjoying various SC2 live streams and I'm hoping every time I sit through a commercial, somebody is getting paid at least a little bit. Are they paid by the # of viewers? What's a 3k viewer commercial earn somebody?

I'm guessing #1 isn't made public and #2 varies a lot by player (being good at coaching and playing isn't even the same thing). Is anybody making money off endorsements? Maybe in Korea?

Looking forward to the day we see pro SC2 gamers rolling with bling and posses instead of living in dorms 8 to a room.
KDot2
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States1213 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-02 23:13:00
May 02 2011 23:12 GMT
#2
I think it depends who you are ... I think in NA Idra is making quite a bit more than the others... he gets like 8,000 viewers every time he streams and charges like 300$ for coaching because his lessons are in high demand. I'm pretty sure sponsors are the #1 reason they make a living though.

I'm pretty sure if you dont block the ads yes they are making a little bit of money from you sitting through them.
CrazyCow
Profile Joined August 2010
United States308 Posts
May 02 2011 23:14 GMT
#3
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.
JackhammerIV
Profile Joined March 2011
United Kingdom221 Posts
May 02 2011 23:14 GMT
#4
There's this wonderful site...
http://ehcg.djgamblore.com/index.php

It includes quite a lot of the showmatches
http://ehcg.djgamblore.com/events.php

Not sure of course if that's all the showmatches and events with prize pools in SC2. But at least gives a rough base amount that we know for sure they have earned up to now.
Holcan
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada2593 Posts
May 02 2011 23:16 GMT
#5
good pros: 50k-100k a year
normal pros 30-50k a year
north american pros : as much as mcdonalds pays, or less.
Reference The Inadvertant Joey, Strong talented orchastrasted intelligent character.
seffer
Profile Joined December 2010
United States143 Posts
May 02 2011 23:18 GMT
#6
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.



No... I'm almost sure it's for views. Why streamers tell people to turn off their ad blocker if it wasn't the VIEWS that earned money? Someone who takes the time to install an ad blocker isn't going to click on an ad anyways. And someone could just click on an ad 10000000 times to get money. Money per viewer makes more sense.
Drlemur
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States153 Posts
May 02 2011 23:26 GMT
#7
On May 03 2011 08:14 JackhammerIV wrote:
There's this wonderful site...
http://ehcg.djgamblore.com/index.php

It includes quite a lot of the showmatches
http://ehcg.djgamblore.com/events.php

Not sure of course if that's all the showmatches and events with prize pools in SC2. But at least gives a rough base amount that we know for sure they have earned up to now.


This is a great site. But look how quick the money drops off. By #20, it's only $15,500, which isn't really livable.

But I think in tourney sports that's not uncommon. Not that many golfers make that much in prize money per year either, they make it on endorsements.

But live streaming is a cool game-only thing. If they get 1 penny per viewer per ad, a 3k viewer commercial is worth $30 and you can earn a bit. If it's .1 cents per viewer per ad, that's only $3 and it's barely going to pay for beer. I wonder.
JiYan
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
United States3668 Posts
May 02 2011 23:31 GMT
#8
that site doesnt include salaries just fyi
Kvothe
Profile Joined September 2010
201 Posts
May 02 2011 23:33 GMT
#9
On May 03 2011 08:16 Holcan wrote:
good pros: 50k-100k a year
normal pros 30-50k a year
north american pros : as much as mcdonalds pays, or less.


Quit talking out of your ass, you have zero clue.
MoreFaSho
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States1427 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-02 23:35:37
May 02 2011 23:35 GMT
#10
I think the amount of money so far is quite impressive, but I really think none of it should be thought of as an end-goal. There aren't many other "professions" where people at the absolute top earn so little.
I always try to shield slam face, just to make sure it doesnt work
rickybobby
Profile Joined October 2010
United States405 Posts
May 02 2011 23:36 GMT
#11
there were a bunch of personal sponsorship announcments before MLG dallas like TLO and Kiwikaki and root getting sponsors like dr pepper and aw root beer and such, those probably get the players a significant amount of money
jester-
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Canada547 Posts
May 02 2011 23:39 GMT
#12
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.


Negative. Ad's pay by viewer count.
Arise, chicken sandwich.
hmunkey
Profile Joined August 2010
United Kingdom1973 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-02 23:41:18
May 02 2011 23:40 GMT
#13
On May 03 2011 08:39 jester- wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.


Negative. Ad's pay by viewer count.

Still off. Ads pay by the viewer count of those not using Adblock and within specific, targeted regions.


On May 03 2011 08:36 rickybobby wrote:
there were a bunch of personal sponsorship announcments before MLG dallas like TLO and Kiwikaki and root getting sponsors like dr pepper and aw root beer and such, those probably get the players a significant amount of money

It's doubtful any of those sponsorships are worth more than a few $1000 if even, but if a player wants to come out and disprove me please do.
Triggi
Profile Joined September 2010
79 Posts
May 02 2011 23:40 GMT
#14
There are currently 9 players playing for the TSL as of now. The two highest paid players will be Kim Won Ki AKA TSL.FruitDealer and Seo Ki Soo AKA TSL.Trickster, with 35,000,000 KRW (around 31,000 US$) and 30,000,000 KRW (around 27,000 US$) a year respectively.

Source

Thats a korean team mind you.

Destiny had an AMA where he mentioned what he got from different places.
At the moment I make about $3.5/month from the ad revenue I receive, then I make ~$1.5/month from lessons. Hopefully once my youtube channel is partnered I can generate some more money from that. There's also the occasional showmatch win/tourney placing, but those don't generate too much.

Source

Airship
Profile Joined August 2010
United States465 Posts
May 02 2011 23:43 GMT
#15
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.


I always click TV, magazine and billboard advertising. It's how all advertising works.
hellsan631
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States695 Posts
May 02 2011 23:44 GMT
#16
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.


There are 2 different forms of advertising (as par your example). Pay for each click, (CPC), and Pay for each Impression. Per impression is a lot cheaper form of advertising and works for most products and services (what non-internet companies use). I would say this is the most common form of ads seen on justin tv (pizza ads, product placement, etc).

Paying per click is mainly for internet busniess, and the market is much larger and easier to access (you have to go out to visit a store, but can just click online), thus, many large companies that offer services and products on the outside world will go for the impressions, and not clicks.

Im 90% sure that the "commercials" are per impression, meaning, if you have adblock off, you will basically be giving X amount to the person, regardless if you click or not.
MrGingerKid
Profile Joined March 2011
United States63 Posts
May 02 2011 23:56 GMT
#17
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.


Not true. I have heard on multiple streams that the streamer gets .2 cents per viewer per commercial. This could be wrong, but I have heard it from multiple mods and admins on stream. this means $2 per 1000 viewers per commercial. so a stream with 5k viewers with 4 commercials an hour can make $40 an hour. Once again this is merely what I've heard from different sources.
CrazyCow
Profile Joined August 2010
United States308 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-03 00:19:41
May 03 2011 00:16 GMT
#18
On May 03 2011 08:44 hellsan631 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.


There are 2 different forms of advertising (as par your example). Pay for each click, (CPC), and Pay for each Impression. Per impression is a lot cheaper form of advertising and works for most products and services (what non-internet companies use). I would say this is the most common form of ads seen on justin tv (pizza ads, product placement, etc).

Paying per click is mainly for internet busniess, and the market is much larger and easier to access (you have to go out to visit a store, but can just click online), thus, many large companies that offer services and products on the outside world will go for the impressions, and not clicks.

Im 90% sure that the "commercials" are per impression, meaning, if you have adblock off, you will basically be giving X amount to the person, regardless if you click or not.


The first informed reply to my post. I see the Justin.tv ads as very similar to YouTube ads and I know that YouTube ads are PPC, as that's how Google Adsense works. I would assume that Justin.tv uses the same model, however I may be wrong.

On May 03 2011 08:18 seffer wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.



No... I'm almost sure it's for views. Why streamers tell people to turn off their ad blocker if it wasn't the VIEWS that earned money? Someone who takes the time to install an ad blocker isn't going to click on an ad anyways. And someone could just click on an ad 10000000 times to get money. Money per viewer makes more sense.


Deactivating the ad blocker also increases the chance for clicks if the ad is relevant. And of course all online advertising tracks IPs so that you cannot click one ad several times - the only revenue is generated by unique clicks.

Also, yes you can come up with a eCPM (Effective Cost Per Mille) for the ad revenue generated from 1,000 views but that's just used to predict revenue, that's not the actual revenue. The actual revenue comes from the clicks. eCPM is simply the average money earned per thousand views.
SpinmovE
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada119 Posts
May 03 2011 00:41 GMT
#19
On May 03 2011 09:16 CrazyCow wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 03 2011 08:44 hellsan631 wrote:
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.


There are 2 different forms of advertising (as par your example). Pay for each click, (CPC), and Pay for each Impression. Per impression is a lot cheaper form of advertising and works for most products and services (what non-internet companies use). I would say this is the most common form of ads seen on justin tv (pizza ads, product placement, etc).

Paying per click is mainly for internet busniess, and the market is much larger and easier to access (you have to go out to visit a store, but can just click online), thus, many large companies that offer services and products on the outside world will go for the impressions, and not clicks.

Im 90% sure that the "commercials" are per impression, meaning, if you have adblock off, you will basically be giving X amount to the person, regardless if you click or not.


The first informed reply to my post. I see the Justin.tv ads as very similar to YouTube ads and I know that YouTube ads are PPC, as that's how Google Adsense works. I would assume that Justin.tv uses the same model, however I may be wrong.

Show nested quote +
On May 03 2011 08:18 seffer wrote:
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.



No... I'm almost sure it's for views. Why streamers tell people to turn off their ad blocker if it wasn't the VIEWS that earned money? Someone who takes the time to install an ad blocker isn't going to click on an ad anyways. And someone could just click on an ad 10000000 times to get money. Money per viewer makes more sense.


Deactivating the ad blocker also increases the chance for clicks if the ad is relevant. And of course all online advertising tracks IPs so that you cannot click one ad several times - the only revenue is generated by unique clicks.

Also, yes you can come up with a eCPM (Effective Cost Per Mille) for the ad revenue generated from 1,000 views but that's just used to predict revenue, that's not the actual revenue. The actual revenue comes from the clicks. eCPM is simply the average money earned per thousand views.


You're wrong about YouTube ads as well. I know for a fact that all partnered channels get paid based upon views and not clicks, It's somewhere in the region of $2.50 per 1000 views.
jester-
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Canada547 Posts
May 03 2011 00:55 GMT
#20
On May 03 2011 09:16 CrazyCow wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 03 2011 08:44 hellsan631 wrote:
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.


There are 2 different forms of advertising (as par your example). Pay for each click, (CPC), and Pay for each Impression. Per impression is a lot cheaper form of advertising and works for most products and services (what non-internet companies use). I would say this is the most common form of ads seen on justin tv (pizza ads, product placement, etc).

Paying per click is mainly for internet busniess, and the market is much larger and easier to access (you have to go out to visit a store, but can just click online), thus, many large companies that offer services and products on the outside world will go for the impressions, and not clicks.

Im 90% sure that the "commercials" are per impression, meaning, if you have adblock off, you will basically be giving X amount to the person, regardless if you click or not.


The first informed reply to my post. I see the Justin.tv ads as very similar to YouTube ads and I know that YouTube ads are PPC, as that's how Google Adsense works. I would assume that Justin.tv uses the same model, however I may be wrong.

Show nested quote +
On May 03 2011 08:18 seffer wrote:
On May 03 2011 08:14 CrazyCow wrote:
Do note though that they get money for ad clicks on their stream, not views. That's how almost all advertising works.



No... I'm almost sure it's for views. Why streamers tell people to turn off their ad blocker if it wasn't the VIEWS that earned money? Someone who takes the time to install an ad blocker isn't going to click on an ad anyways. And someone could just click on an ad 10000000 times to get money. Money per viewer makes more sense.


Deactivating the ad blocker also increases the chance for clicks if the ad is relevant. And of course all online advertising tracks IPs so that you cannot click one ad several times - the only revenue is generated by unique clicks.

Also, yes you can come up with a eCPM (Effective Cost Per Mille) for the ad revenue generated from 1,000 views but that's just used to predict revenue, that's not the actual revenue. The actual revenue comes from the clicks. eCPM is simply the average money earned per thousand views.


How exactly is it the first informed reply to your post? Everyone has said the same thing; you're wrong in thinking that Justin.tv pays via ad clicks and not views/impressions.

If you actually watched a stream with ad blocker disabled, you'd see that when the streamer types /commercial it runs a commercial which, "...directly supports <insert streamer here>". It's not like it asks if I want a commercial then I click on play; the commercial plays and the streamer is credited based on the amount of people that watched the ad and where they live (It may not even play in non-targeted areas, I'm not sure).

If anything I'd say your posts are the least informed on the subject in this thread.
Arise, chicken sandwich.
1 2 3 4 5 15 16 17 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 37m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Nina 168
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 7778
Jaedong 666
TY 360
BeSt 335
Stork 218
Light 187
Leta 160
JYJ143
PianO 140
Pusan 124
[ Show more ]
Mini 120
Aegong 108
sSak 88
Larva 73
soO 65
EffOrt 64
Rush 50
Sharp 48
Backho 41
sorry 28
yabsab 27
NotJumperer 17
Bale 12
Noble 8
Terrorterran 8
HiyA 7
Dota 2
Gorgc5395
KheZu197
XcaliburYe190
League of Legends
JimRising 408
Reynor179
Counter-Strike
fl0m1634
zeus142
taco 83
Other Games
summit1g15938
singsing1094
ceh9439
crisheroes185
Happy164
Sick115
XaKoH 95
NeuroSwarm47
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick509
Counter-Strike
PGL161
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 32
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 1
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos3590
• Stunt613
Upcoming Events
OSC
1h 37m
LAN Event
4h 37m
Lambo vs Harstem
FuturE vs Maplez
Scarlett vs FoxeR
Gerald vs Mixu
Zoun vs TBD
Clem vs TBD
ByuN vs TBD
TriGGeR vs TBD
Korean StarCraft League
16h 37m
CranKy Ducklings
23h 37m
LAN Event
1d 4h
IPSL
1d 7h
dxtr13 vs OldBoy
Napoleon vs Doodle
BSL 21
1d 9h
Gosudark vs Kyrie
Gypsy vs Sterling
UltrA vs Radley
Dandy vs Ptak
Replay Cast
1d 12h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 23h
WardiTV Korean Royale
2 days
[ Show More ]
LAN Event
2 days
IPSL
2 days
JDConan vs WIZARD
WolFix vs Cross
BSL 21
2 days
spx vs rasowy
HBO vs KameZerg
Cross vs Razz
dxtr13 vs ZZZero
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
3 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Kung Fu Cup
5 days
Classic vs Solar
herO vs Cure
Reynor vs GuMiho
ByuN vs ShoWTimE
Tenacious Turtle Tussle
5 days
The PondCast
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Solar vs Zoun
MaxPax vs Bunny
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Classic vs Creator
Cure vs TriGGeR
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 21 Points
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
Eternal Conflict S1

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
SOOP Univ League 2025
YSL S2
Stellar Fest: Constellation Cup
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual

Upcoming

BSL Season 21
SLON Tour Season 2
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXVIII
RSL Offline Finals
WardiTV 2025
RSL Revival: Season 3
META Madness #9
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.