Cost Per Impression

CPM is cost per 1,000 impressions, you pay for views regardless of clicks.

Cost Per Impression is a digital advertising pricing model measuring the cost paid for every 1,000 times an ad is displayed (expressed as CPM or cost per mille), regardless of whether viewers click, calculated as (Total Ad Spend / Total Impressions) x 1,000.

The CPM formula

The mathematical formula is:

CPM = (Total Ad Spend / Total Impressions) x 1,000

Or rearranged to calculate total impressions from a fixed budget:

Total Impressions = (Total Ad Spend / CPM) x 1,000

Worked example

A company runs a LinkedIn employer brand campaign with a $5,000 budget delivering 800,000 impressions.

• CPM calculation: ($5,000 / 800,000) x 1,000 = $6.25 CPM
• Interpretation: The company paid $6.25 for every 1,000 impressions of its employer brand content.

CPM vs CPC vs CPA: when to use each

Practical implication: most mature recruitment marketing combines CPM for upper-funnel employer brand, CPC for active job ad campaigns, and CPA for performance-based programmatic media.

Viewable CPM: the industry’s accountability standard

A significant proportion of historically-counted impressions were never actually visible. The industry addressed this with ‘viewable CPM’ (vCPM) standards:

• IAB / MRC standard. An impression is ‘viewable’ when at least 50% of the ad’s pixels are within the visible browser viewport for at least one continuous second (display) or two continuous seconds (video).
• Large display ads. For ads of 242,500 pixels or larger (e.g., 970×250), the standard requires 30% of pixels visible for one second.
• Brand safety dimension. Modern vCPM measurement also addresses ad placement on brand-safe content, particularly relevant for employer brand campaigns.
• Pricing implication. Viewable CPM is typically higher than traditional CPM because non-viewable impressions are excluded.

Recruitment marketing platform CPM benchmarks (2025-2026)

Using CPM in employer brand and recruitment marketing

• Employer brand awareness campaigns. LinkedIn Sponsored Content with employer brand video and culture content. CPM fits because the goal is awareness in the target professional audience.
• Recruitment marketing funnels. CPM for top-of-funnel awareness; CPC for middle-funnel job interest; CPA for bottom-funnel application completion.
• Geographic expansion announcements. CPM-based campaigns announce hiring in new geographies before active hiring begins.
• Talent community building. CPM-based campaigns drive sign-ups to talent communities, newsletter lists, and employer brand subscriber bases.
• Counter-poaching defence. Targeted CPM-based campaigns to current employees of competitors, building awareness of opportunity.
• Event-driven campaigns. CPM campaigns around industry events, university recruiting cycles, and conference seasons.

Common CPM mistakes

• Optimising only for low CPM. Lowest CPM often means low-quality audiences; high CPM on the right audience is a better investment.
• Using CPM where CPC fits better. Active job ad campaigns aimed at driving applications should use CPC or CPA pricing.
• Ignoring viewable CPM. Paying for traditional CPM that includes non-viewable impressions wastes 30-50% of budget.
• No connection to downstream metrics. CPM is a top-of-funnel metric; without measuring downstream clicks, applications, and hires, optimisation is blind.
• Brand safety negligence. Employer brand campaigns appearing next to controversial content damage employer reputation.
• Audience targeting overlaps. Running CPM campaigns across multiple platforms hitting the same individuals wastes budget; cross-platform frequency management matters.

See also Cost Per Hire for the downstream recruiting cost metric, Cost-Benefit Analysis for ROI evaluation, Big Data in HR for marketing analytics, and Artificial Intelligence in HR for programmatic ad targeting.

Frequently asked questions