Metrics
What Is Impressions?
Impressions are the number of times your ad was rendered on a screen — whether the user actually saw it or not. It's the raw denominator of CPM, CTR, and reach calculations.
Impressions in context
300,000 impressions × 1.2% CTR = 3,600 clicks. At $6 CPM, that's $1,800 spend and $0.50 CPC. Every downstream metric — CPC, CTR, CPA, ROAS — starts from impressions, so measurement hygiene here matters.
Benchmarks
- MRC viewable impression = 50% pixels visible for 1 continuous second (2 seconds for video).
- Viewability benchmark: > 70% viewable impressions is healthy.
- Below 40% viewable = fraud, bots, or bad placements.
Why it matters
Impressions are the input. Everything else — CTR, CPC, CPA — is derived. Bad impression quality (bots, fraudulent placements) silently corrupts every downstream metric.
Common mistakes
- 1.Treating impressions as a success metric. It's a raw count, not a KPI.
- 2.Not filtering viewable vs served impressions on Display / GDN.
Put Impressions to work
Free calculators
FAQs about Impressions
Impressions vs views?
Impressions = ad rendered. Views (video) = user actually watched a defined threshold (3 seconds, 50%, etc.).