CPM calculator
Know two of the three numbers and this finds the third: your CPM, what a campaign will cost, or how many people it can reach for your budget.
Free, no sign-upInstant answerSources listed
Example result
Your CPM is $5.00: every 1,000 impressions cost $5.00.
CPM tells you what attention costs, not what it earns. Put the result next to your click rate and sales before you scale a campaign.
- Cost per single impression
- $0.0050
- Impressions per $1
- 200
- Formula
- CPM = cost ÷ impressions × 1,000
The CPM formula
CPM means cost per mille, or cost per thousand impressions. Divide what you spent by the impressions you got, then multiply by 1,000. Spend $250 for 50,000 impressions and your CPM is $5.
Turn it around to plan: cost = CPM × impressions ÷ 1,000, and impressions = cost ÷ CPM × 1,000.
Two sides of the same number
If you buy ads, a lower CPM means cheaper reach. If you sell ad space, on a blog or a YouTube channel, CPM is what advertisers pay for your audience, and a higher one is good news.
On YouTube you'll also see RPM, revenue per mille. RPM is what you keep per 1,000 views after the platform's share, so it is always lower than the CPM advertisers paid.
What moves a CPM
The same ad can cost very different amounts depending on:
- Audience: business, money and software buyers cost more to reach than broad entertainment audiences.
- Country: ads shown in the US, UK, Canada and Australia usually cost more.
- Season: CPMs climb in November and December as retail budgets pile in, then drop in January.
- Placement and format: video and premium spots usually cost more than banner space.
Questions people ask
How do you calculate CPM?
Divide total cost by total impressions and multiply by 1,000. $500 for 200,000 impressions is a $2.50 CPM.
What is a good CPM?
It depends on the platform, country, season and audience. Compare against your own past campaigns and judge it by cost per sale, not CPM alone.
What's the difference between CPM and CPC?
CPM is the price of 1,000 impressions. CPC is the price of one click. Divide CPM by (click rate × 1,000) to estimate CPC.
What's the difference between CPM and RPM?
CPM is what the advertiser pays per 1,000 impressions. RPM is what the publisher or creator earns per 1,000 views after fees.
Sources
- Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM): Definition, Google Ads Help
Guides that go with it
Affiliate marketing build-in-public
How to start affiliate marketing (the order I'm following)
Pick one lane, join two or three programs, build a site and an email list you own, write pages that answer buyers' questions, and track every click. Don't pay for traffic until a page converts for free.
Start here
The honest version of how online income works, in the order I wish someone had shown me: offers, traffic, email, and tracking from day one.
Resource
My toolkit: the tools I run this business on
What I use, what it costs me, and who should skip it. Free plans first, and I'll tell you when I cancel something.
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