CPM Calculator
CPM (cost per thousand impressions) is the great equalizer of media planning: it puts billboards, banner ads, radio spots, and TV on the same scale so you can compare what your money actually buys. Enter any two of the three values below and this calculator fills in the third instantly.
All figures are planning estimates. Actual delivery, pricing, and impression counts vary by vendor, placement, audience, and season.
CPM = (cost ÷ impressions) × 1000.
A campaign that costs $5,000 and delivers 400,000 impressions works out to a $12.50 CPM,
meaning you pay $12.50 for every thousand people the ad reaches.
Typical CPM by channel
General planning benchmarks, not quotes. Ranges vary widely by market, targeting, and creative, but they show how channels stack up against each other.1
| Channel | Typical CPM range |
|---|---|
| 📺 Television | |
| 📺Broadcast TV (primetime) | $45 – $49 |
| 📺Broadcast TV (excluding primetime) | $24 – $27 |
| 📺Cable TV (primetime) | $21 – $23 |
| 📺Cable TV (excluding primetime) | $13 – $15 |
| 🎙️ Radio & audio | |
| 🎙️Podcasts | $18 – $25 |
| 📻Radio | $4 – $8 |
| 🌐 Online | |
| 🖥️Digital display | $5 – $6 |
| ▶️Digital video | $11 – $13 |
| 🌟Influencer marketing | $54 – $196 |
| 📱Social media | $2 – $8 |
| 🎬Streaming | $23 – $34 |
| 🪧 Out-of-home | |
| 🪧Bulletins (billboards) | $3 – $10 |
| 🏙️Digital place-based media | $7 – $16 |
| 📋Posters | $3 – $9 (to $13 digital) |
| 🚏Transit shelters | $2 – $7 (to $8 digital) |
| 📰Magazines | $13 – $14 |
| 🗞️Newspapers | $40 – $54 |
1 Benchmark ranges adapted from Solomon’s 2025 Major Media CPM Comparison.↩
Out-of-home has one of the lowest CPMs in all of advertising
Because a single billboard or transit ad is seen by thousands of people every day, the cost to reach one thousand of them is remarkably low, often just a few dollars, in the same bracket as social media and well below broadcast television, streaming, podcasts, and newspapers. That efficiency is a big reason brands use out-of-home to build broad awareness at the top of the funnel.
Out-of-home also runs 24 hours a day and cannot be skipped, blocked, or scrolled past, so those low-cost impressions tend to stick.
Frequently asked questions
What is CPM?
CPM stands for cost per mille (mille is Latin for thousand), also called cost per thousand impressions. It is the price an advertiser pays for one thousand views of an ad. Because it is normalized to a common unit, CPM lets you compare the cost of very different media channels on an even footing.
How do you calculate CPM?
Divide the total campaign cost by the number of impressions, then multiply by one thousand. For example, a $5,000 campaign that delivers 400,000 impressions has a CPM of $12.50. You can also work backward: if you know your target CPM and budget, this calculator tells you how many impressions to expect.
What is a good CPM?
It depends on the channel, the audience, and how targeted the buy is. Broad-reach media like out-of-home and radio tend to carry some of the lowest CPMs, while highly targeted digital and premium video sit higher. A low CPM is not automatically better: the right question is how efficiently a channel reaches the people you actually want. Use CPM alongside reach and conversion goals, not on its own.
This calculator is provided for general planning purposes. CPM benchmarks are illustrative industry ranges and do not represent a quote or a guarantee of pricing, impressions, or performance.