What is a CPM? 

CPM stands for "Cost Per Mille" or "Cost Per Thousand" (Mille being Latin for thousand). It's a common measurement in advertising that represents the cost an advertiser pays for one thousand impressions or views of their advertisement.

In online advertising, impressions refer to the number of times an ad is displayed on a webpage or app. The CPM model is often used in auction-based advertising, where advertisers pay for the number of times their ad is shown, regardless of whether it leads to clicks or other actions.

How to measure your CPM:

CPM is determined by dividing spend by impressions and multiplying that value by one thousand. Check out the formula:

CPM = (spend / impressions) * 1,000

Example: if you have a media spend of $500,000 for a month and achieved a total impression volume of 37,000,000, you have a CPM of $13.51. 

Why are CPMs important to marketers?

CPM allows marketers to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of their advertising campaigns. By knowing the cost per thousand impressions, marketers can compare different advertising channels and campaigns to determine which ones offer the best value for their investment. CPM is a typical KPI across all objectives. 

Who needs to know what a CPM is:

• Digital marketers
• Content marketers
• Email marketers
• Paid search marketers
• Social media marketers
• Conversion rate optimizers
• Web designers
• Product managers
• eCommerce businesses
• SaaS companies
• B2B companies
• B2C / D2C companies

Use CPM in a sentence:

The advertising agency analyzed the CPM data to determine the most effective channels for reaching their target audience.