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CPM (cost per mille)

CPM is the price paid for 1,000 ad impressions. Common in display and video advertising, rarer in affiliate marketing, which pays for results.

CPM (cost per mille, or cost per thousand impressions) is the price an advertiser pays for every 1 000 times an ad is shown. A banner bought at a 2 € CPM costs 20 € for 10 000 impressions, whether anyone clicks or not.

CPM in affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing usually pays for results (CPA, CPL, CPS), so the risk sits with the affiliate. CPM appears on the cost side: many media buyers buy traffic by CPM (push, pop, native and display networks) and send it to CPA offers.

Comparing CPM with what an offer pays

To know if CPM traffic is profitable, turn it into a cost per click:

cost per click = CPM ÷ (1 000 × CTR)

At a 2 € CPM and a 0.5% click-through rate, each click costs 0.40 €. If the offer's EPC is higher than that, the campaign has a positive ROI.

In RastroAff

RastroAff tracks clicks and conversions, not impressions. Affiliates pass the traffic source and campaign in sub IDs and compare the results with their costs.