Skip to content

Impressions Calculator

By Thuong Le · Reviewed

Enter your ad budget and the CPM to see how many impressions it buys, or work back to the spend for a target number of impressions.

Your ad budget: what you will pay.

Cost per 1,000 impressions.

Impressions
≈ 125,000

Compare scenariosSave up to three versions and compare them

Scenario A

Scenario B

Scenario C

How it works

An impression is one time an ad is shown. When you pay by CPM, you pay a set price for every 1,000 impressions, so the impressions a budget buys are the budget divided by the CPM, times 1,000. To plan the other way round, multiply the CPM by the impressions you want and divide by 1,000.

impressions = ad spend × 1000 ÷ CPM

ad spend = CPM × impressions ÷ 1000

Worked example

Example numbers, not benchmarks: you set aside $1,000.00 and the CPM you are quoted is $8.00.

  1. 1Impressions$1,000.00 × 1,000 ÷ $8.00 = ≈ 125,000

Already have the numbers and want the price? Use the CPM calculator.

What CPM should I plan with?

Benchmarks vary by industry and platform, so this page gives no number. Use the CPM from your own past campaigns on the same platform and audience, or the price the platform quotes you.

Questions

What is an impression?

One time an ad is shown. Platforms count it in slightly different ways, so check how yours defines it before you compare numbers.

Does an impression mean someone saw my ad?

Not necessarily. It means the ad was served or displayed under the platform's rules, and a person may have scrolled past it. Use your platform's help pages for its exact definition.

Why is the impressions answer marked as approximate?

The answer is rounded to a whole number. $500 at a $7 CPM is exactly 71,428.57 impressions, which shows as ≈ 71,429.

How do I work out the CPM itself?

Use the CPM calculator, linked in the worked example above, with your spend and impressions. It solves for the CPM and shows the formula.

What happens when the CPM is 0?

Impressions divide by the CPM, so the result is not defined at 0. It stays blank and the page asks for a CPM above 0.

More in Advertising metrics

Often used together