CPM (cost per mille)
What is CPM?
CPM stands for cost per mille, Latin for thousand. It is the price of a thousand impressions or views: total cost divided by impressions, times 1,000. It is used for ads and for influencer deals, where views stand in for impressions.
CPM says nothing about clicks or sales; it only prices attention. That makes it useful for comparing a creator’s quote with what the same views would cost in ads.
Why CPM matters
Creator prices are quoted per post, which is hard to compare. Turning a quote into a CPM using the creator’s average views shows whether a deal is cheap or expensive next to other creators and to paid ads.
How to calculate CPM for a creator
- Find the creator’s average views over recent posts.
- Divide the quoted price by the average views.
- Multiply by 1,000.
- Compare with other creators and with your ad CPMs on the same platform.
CPM example
A creator quotes $400 for a video and averages 50,000 views. CPM = $400 ÷ 50,000 × 1,000 = $8.
Related marketing terms
Impressions count how many times content was shown on screen, including repeat views by the same person, unlike reach, which counts people.
Cost per engagement is what you pay for each like, comment, share or save a sponsored post or ad receives: total cost divided by engagements.
An influencer rate card lists a creator’s prices for each type of content and extra, such as videos, stories, usage rights and exclusivity.
Earned media value estimates what the attention from organic or influencer content would have cost to buy as advertising.
Reach is the number of unique people who saw a piece of content or a campaign at least once, as opposed to impressions, which count views.