Why CPM matters
CPM tells you the cost of getting in front of people, independent of whether they click. For awareness and reach campaigns, that is the entire job, you are buying eyeballs. For performance campaigns, CPM is the upstream price of every click and conversion in the funnel: a 30% CPM jump with no improvement in CTR will quietly raise your CPC and CAC.
CPM is also the metric that most directly reflects auction pressure. When Q4 sales season hits and every brand floods Meta with budget, CPMs spike before anything else changes.
How CPM is calculated
CPM = (Total Spend ÷ Total Impressions) × 1,000
If you spend €500 to serve 250,000 impressions, your CPM is €2. The ad platforms calculate this for you and surface it in every reporting view.
What a “good” CPM looks like
Benchmarks vary heavily by:
- Channel. TikTok and Meta typically run €5–€15 CPMs for broad audiences. LinkedIn and premium publishers can be €40+.
- Audience. Tight retargeting pools have much higher CPMs than broad prospecting audiences because the auction is small.
- Season. CPMs in November–December often double their Q1 baseline.
- Format. Video CPMs differ from static. In-feed differs from stories.
The right way to evaluate CPM is per channel, per audience, over time.
How to lower CPM
- Broaden audiences when prospecting, narrow pools fight for the same impressions and bid prices up.
- Refresh creative weekly, fatigue tanks your relevance score, which pushes CPMs up.
- Diversify placements, letting Meta serve into Reels, Stories, and feed instead of feed-only typically lowers CPM.
CPM vs CPC
CPM and CPC are two angles on the same auction. The platform always charges you a CPM under the hood. CPC is what that CPM resolves to once you factor in CTR. If two campaigns have the same CPM but one has double the CTR, the higher-CTR campaign has half the CPC.
FAQ about CPM (Cost Per Mille)
How is CPM calculated?
CPM equals total ad spend divided by impressions, multiplied by 1,000. €500 spent for 250,000 impressions equals a €2 CPM.
What is a good CPM?
Wildly channel-dependent. TikTok and Meta typically sit at €5–€15 for broad audiences. LinkedIn can be €40+. Compare CPM against the same channel and audience over time, not across channels.
CPM vs CPC, which should I optimise for?
Neither in isolation. Optimise for the downstream metric (CAC, ROAS). CPM is the upstream price of impressions. CPC depends on CPM and CTR together.