CPM CalculatorCalculators
Cost per thousand impressions, solved for any value.
How much can a website earn from ads? Work it out from CPM
Ad income comes down to two numbers you can check: how many ad impressions your pages serve and what you earn per thousand of them. Multiply one by the other and you have an estimate to plan with.
Traffic alone does not say what a site earns
Two sites with the same page views can earn very different amounts. One shows three ad units per page and the other shows one. One audience draws advertisers who pay more per impression than the other's. Income estimates based on page views alone, or on another site's figures, lead to plans that don't add up.
What you can measure is impressions and the rate per thousand. Advertisers call that rate CPM, cost per mille. Publishers usually see it in their reports as RPM, the revenue per thousand page views or impressions after the ad network takes its share.
Use the CPM Calculator to solve for revenue
The CPM Calculator solves for CPM, cost, or impressions. On the publisher side, the cost is what advertisers spend on your impressions, so choose Solve for cost and enter your impressions and the rate you earn per thousand. At $2.50 per thousand, 200,000 impressions come to $500. At $8 per thousand, 1,000,000 impressions come to $8,000.
The calculator assumes every impression earns the same rate. Real auctions vary by audience, time, and placement, and some impressions are never seen. Rates also differ widely by platform and audience, from under $2 per thousand for broad display to $20 or more for niche social or video, so use the rate from your own ad network's report.
Estimate your website's ad earnings
- Take your monthly page views from your analytics.
- Multiply them by the number of ad units each page shows to get ad impressions.
- Find the rate your ad network actually pays you per thousand, from its earnings report.
- In the CPM Calculator, choose Solve for cost and enter the impressions and that rate.
- Read the result as an estimate of monthly earnings, then run it again with a lower and a higher rate to see the range.
What the estimate leaves out
- Ad rates change with the season, the audience, and the network. The result is an estimate, not a forecast.
- Not every impression is filled or seen, and those earn less or nothing.
- Taxes, payout thresholds, and network fees are not included.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate ad revenue from CPM?
Multiply the number of impressions by the CPM and divide by 1,000.
How much does a website earn per 1,000 views?
That figure is its RPM. It depends on the ad network, the audience, and how many ads each page shows, so read it from your own earnings report.
What is the difference between CPM and RPM?
CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 impressions. RPM is what the publisher earns per 1,000 page views or impressions.
Can I estimate earnings before my site has traffic?
Only roughly. Try a range of rates, such as $2.50 and $8 per thousand, and treat the result as a guess until real reports come in.
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