CPM Calculator
Solve for CPM, campaign cost or impressions from the other two, then add clicks to get CPC and CTR. Includes a table of what your budget buys at each CPM.
CPM Calculator: with the default inputs, answer is 5.
Total ad spend. Ignored when finding cost.
Times the ad was shown. Ignored when finding impressions.
Cost per thousand impressions. Ignored when finding CPM.
- CPM
- $5.00
- Campaign cost
- $500.00
- Impressions
- 100,000
- Cost per impression
- $0.00500
Assumptions
- Impressions are counted the same way across every figure you enter.
- When finding impressions, the result is rounded down to a whole impression.
- CTR and CPC use the same impressions and cost as the CPM calculation.
| CPM | Impressions | Clicks (enter clicks for CTR) |
|---|---|---|
| $1.00 | 500,000 | — |
| $2.00 | 250,000 | — |
| $5.00 | 100,000 | — |
| $10.00 | 50,000 | — |
| $15.00 | 33,333 | — |
| $20.00 | 25,000 | — |
| $30.00 | 16,666 | — |
| $50.00 | 10,000 | — |
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Free CPM Calculator from CalculateItNow
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How this is worked out
The formula
CPM = Cost ÷ Impressions × 1,000 Cost = CPM × Impressions ÷ 1,000 Impressions = Cost ÷ CPM × 1,000 CTR = Clicks ÷ Impressions × 100 CPC = Cost ÷ Clicks
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Find
- Choose one of 3 options.CPM (from cost and impressions) · Cost (from CPM and impressions) · Impressions (from cost and CPM)
- Campaign cost
- Total ad spend. Ignored when finding cost.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 500
- Impressions
- Times the ad was shown. Ignored when finding impressions.0 or more · whole numbers only · defaults to 100000
- CPM
- Cost per thousand impressions. Ignored when finding CPM.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 5
- Clicks(under More options)
- Enter clicks to get click-through rate and cost per click.0 or more · whole numbers only · defaults to 0
What you get back
- Answermain answer
- CPM
- Campaign cost
- Impressions
- Cost per impression
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Cost per click (CPC)
What this assumes
- Impressions are counted the same way across every figure you enter.
- When finding impressions, the result is rounded down to a whole impression.
- CTR and CPC use the same impressions and cost as the CPM calculation.
About this calculator
CPM — cost per mille, Latin for thousand — is what an advertiser pays for every 1,000 times an ad is shown. It's the standard price unit for display, video, social, podcast and print advertising, and the common yardstick for comparing channels that bill in different ways. This calculator solves the CPM formula in any direction: give it two of cost, impressions and CPM, and it finds the third.
How to use it
Pick what you want to find:
- CPM — you know what a campaign cost and how many impressions it delivered.
- Cost — you have a rate card's CPM and a target number of impressions, and want the budget.
- Impressions — you have a budget and a quoted CPM, and want to know your reach.
The field you're solving for is ignored. Open More options and enter clicks to get the click-through rate and cost per click too — the numbers you need to compare a CPM buy against a cost-per-click campaign.
How to calculate CPM by hand
Divide the cost by the impressions and multiply by 1,000. A $500 campaign that served 100,000 impressions has a CPM of $500 ÷ 100,000 × 1,000 = $5.00. Going the other way, $2,000 at a $8 CPM buys $2,000 ÷ $8 × 1,000 = 250,000 impressions.
Reading the results
- CPM lets you compare unlike buys on one scale. A podcast spot, a newsletter sponsorship and a social campaign all reduce to "dollars per thousand people reached."
- Cost per impression is the CPM divided by 1,000 — usually a fraction of a cent.
- CTR shows how often an impression turns into a click; CPC is what each click cost. CPC = CPM ÷ (CTR × 10) when CTR is in percent, which is why a cheap CPM with a weak CTR can produce expensive clicks.
- The budget table shows how many impressions your spend buys across a range of CPMs, so you can see what a different placement or audience would do to reach.
Caveats
CPM measures price, not results. A low CPM on an audience that never converts is worse than a high CPM on one that does, so pair it with CTR, cost per acquisition or revenue per thousand impressions. Platforms count impressions differently — some count an ad as served, others only when it's viewable — so compare CPMs from the same counting method. Publishers use the same formula as RPM or eCPM to describe what they earn per thousand impressions.
Frequently asked questions
▸What is the CPM formula?
CPM = total cost ÷ total impressions × 1,000. Rearranged, cost = CPM × impressions ÷ 1,000, and impressions = cost ÷ CPM × 1,000.
▸What does CPM stand for?
Cost per mille — mille is Latin for thousand — so it means cost per thousand impressions. An impression is one showing of an ad.
▸How do I convert CPM to CPC?
Divide the CPM by the number of clicks per thousand impressions. At a $5 CPM and a 1% CTR you get 10 clicks per thousand, so each click costs $0.50.
▸What's the difference between CPM and eCPM?
CPM is the price an advertiser pays per thousand impressions. eCPM (or RPM) is the same calculation done by a publisher on what they earned, whatever the ads were actually billed on.
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