What Is CPM (Cost per Mille)?
CPM (Cost per Mille) is the cost to serve 1,000 ad impressions. 'Mille' is Latin for thousand. CPM is how you compare ad-inventory prices across platforms, placements, and audiences — it's the auction's price signal, before anyone clicks anything.
Formula
Multiply by 1,000 because CPM is quoted per thousand, not per one. So $500 spent to serve 250,000 impressions = ($500 ÷ 250,000) × 1,000 = $2.00 CPM.
Worked example
You spend $3,000 on a Meta campaign and get 600,000 impressions. CPM = (3,000 ÷ 600,000) × 1,000 = $5.00. If your CTR is 1.2%, that produces 7,200 clicks, so CPC = $3,000 ÷ 7,200 = $0.42. Every CPM movement flows through to CPC and CPA — which is why creative that stops the scroll is the cheapest CPM lever you own.
Benchmarks
- Meta (Bangladesh / South Asia): $0.80–$3 for cold prospecting; $4–$8 for retargeting.
- Meta (US / EU): $8–$18 for cold; $20–$40 for retargeting and narrow B2B audiences.
- Google Display: $1–$4 typical; PMax varies wildly by inventory.
- LinkedIn Sponsored Content: $25–$80 — highest CPMs in the market because targeting is job-title precise.
- TikTok: $3–$10 in most markets; skews cheaper than Meta at similar reach.
Why it matters
CPM tells you two things instantly: how competitive the auction is right now, and whether your creative is holding its own. Rising CPMs with flat CTR usually mean auction pressure (Q4, election year, competitor launch). Rising CPMs with falling CTR usually mean creative fatigue — the algorithm is punishing you.
Common mistakes
- 1.Chasing the lowest CPM. A $2 CPM on an audience that never converts is worse than a $12 CPM on your buyer.
- 2.Comparing LinkedIn CPMs to Meta CPMs. Different inventories, different intents — the comparison is meaningless.
- 3.Ignoring frequency. Rising CPMs on a fatigued audience are the platform charging you more to keep force-feeding the same people.
- 4.Reading CPM in isolation. Always look at CPM → CTR → CPC → CPA together.
Put CPM to work
Free calculators
Related services
FAQs about CPM
What does CPM stand for?
Cost per Mille — mille is Latin for thousand. It's the cost of serving 1,000 ad impressions.
What is a good CPM?
A 'good' CPM is one that produces a profitable CPA — not the lowest number. LinkedIn CPMs are 10× Meta CPMs and can still be profitable because the audience quality is 10× higher.
Why did my CPM suddenly go up?
Four usual causes: (1) creative fatigue, (2) narrow audience being saturated, (3) auction pressure — Q4, election, holiday, (4) a low relevance/quality score. Refresh creative first; it's the cheapest lever.
Is CPM the same as CPC?
No. CPM is per 1,000 impressions (people who saw the ad); CPC is per click. You can have a $2 CPM and a $20 CPC if nobody clicks.
Does Meta charge me per impression or per click?
Almost all Meta campaigns bill on impressions and report CPM. The bid is per outcome (conversion, lead), but delivery cost is impression-based.
Related terms
Ad spend divided by clicks — what one click into your site costs.
Clicks ÷ impressions — measures how often your ad earns a click.
Number of times your ad was rendered on a screen.
Average number of times a person saw your ad in a window.
When an audience has seen the same ad enough that CTR/CVR drops.
Revenue attributed to ads ÷ ad spend — the fastest efficiency read.