Cost per thousand (CPM), also known as cost per mille, is a term used in digital advertising to describe the average price of an advertisement per 1,000 impressions. An impression is when someone sees the ad on a webpage, app, or streaming service. CPM is just one of several pricing options for digital advertising; other options include cost per click (CPC) and cost per action (CPA). Each serves their own purpose.
What is cost per thousand (CPM)?
Cost per thousand is the most common pricing method for digital advertisements, with advertisers paying every time an ad loads on a website, app, or streaming service. The big digital advertising companies, including Meta Platforms’ (META -1.16%) Facebook and Alphabet’s (GOOG -3.14%) (GOOGL -3.22%) Google offer advertisers the chance to bid on ad inventory with CPM pricing.
Advertisers may be able to use certain targeting data to limit the audience that sees their ads, making each impression more effective for their campaign. In that case, however, they’ll usually pay a higher CPM rate than an advertiser that’s willing to show their ad to just about everyone. Still, it may be a more efficient use of their ad budget because they can achieve a higher click-through rate.
Click-through rate measures the percentage of people who saw the ad and decided to click on it. Some advertisers value a high click-through rate; others are merely looking to spread their name and brand. CPM pricing is most valuable for spreading the word, while advertisers seeking a high click-through rate may be more apt to use a different pricing method like cost per click (CPC).
Paying attention to ad pricing at Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms reveals changes in its average price per ad impression during its quarterly earnings calls. Management will also provide some insight into the factors affecting its average ad pricing.
Social Media
For example, when the social media company started showing ads in Reels, its short-form video format, it had a negative impact on its average cost per thousand impressions. That’s because it hadn’t yet figured out targeting and advertisers hadn’t quite figured out the best way to use the format for ad creatives.
Other factors affecting Meta’s ad pricing include faster growth in regions like Asia-Pacific and the Rest of the World categories, which don’t command the same ad prices as more developed regions like the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, fluctuations in demand as the economy grows faster or slower will have an impact on Meta’s average ad pricing, along with everyone else in the advertising industry. If fewer marketers are spending less money on ads, prices must come down if supply remains roughly the same.
Paying attention to these factors and understanding cost per thousand (CPM) can help you become a better investor in digital advertising stocks.
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