Submit a ProgramSign inJoin free
Commissions & payoutsAffiliate glossary

What is CPM (cost per mille)?

"Mille" is Latin for a thousand. If a network sells popunder traffic at a $2 CPM, an advertiser who buys 500,000 impressions pays $1,000, whether or not anyone converts.

For affiliates who buy traffic, CPM is a cost: to profit, the commissions from those impressions must beat the price. For publishers who sell ad space on their site, CPM is income, and the number they watch is eCPM, the effective earnings per 1,000 views across all ads.

CPM prices depend on the ad format, the GEO, the device and how many advertisers compete for the same audience. Tier 1 countries are usually the most expensive.

Related terms

eCPM · Effective cost per mille
eCPM (effective cost per mille) shows how much a publisher earns per 1,000 ad impressions, whatever pricing model the ads actually used.
Advertising network
An advertising network is a platform that buys ad space from many websites and apps and sells it to advertisers, usually per impression or per click.
Popunder
A popunder is an ad that opens a new browser window or tab behind the page the visitor is viewing, so it is seen when they close or switch tabs.
Push ads
Push ads are short clickable messages that look like system notifications and appear on a user’s phone or desktop, bought as traffic from ad networks.