Business & pricing
eCPM: Definition, Formula and Example
eCPM expresses advertising cost or revenue per 1,000 impressions; the reporting viewpoint and impression denominator must be specified.
Scope: Advertising reporting concept; AdSense’s current RPM terminology is distinguished from historical eCPM naming.
Other names and related labels: Effective cost per thousand impressions; Ad impression RPM.
How it works
For a publisher, effective revenue per thousand ad impressions can summarize mixed advertising revenue. AdSense uses RPM terminology in its current reports; page RPM uses page views, while ad RPM uses ad impressions. A page can contain several ads, so these measures need not match.
Publisher ad eCPM = ad revenue / ad impressions × 1,000
Use revenue and impressions from the same period, currency and reporting scope. Advertiser cost-based eCPM uses spending instead of publisher receipts.
$120 earned from 40,000 ad impressions
Assume the revenue and impression counts use the same reporting basis.
- Revenue per impression: $120/40,000 = $0.003.
- Per thousand: $0.003 × 1,000 = $3.
The illustrated ad eCPM is $3; it is not revenue per visitor or per page view.
Hypothetical publisher revenue; no claim about future earnings, fill rate or a network payout.
This example uses publisher revenue and ad impressions. Page views are a different denominator.
An effective average is not a guaranteed CPM bid
Revenue can change with geography, device, demand, fill and reporting adjustments. Do not multiply page views by ad eCPM without accounting for the number of counted ad impressions. This site does not currently offer an advertising-report calculator.
Sources and checks
- Google AdSense: Revenue per Thousand Impressions
- Google AdSense: Understanding eCPM and RPM (2011 terminology note)
Definition and example arithmetic checked . Sources explain the concepts; numerical examples use the assumptions stated above.
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