Buying ad space, can someone explain the CPM thing?

[Duende]

Can someone please explain... I am purchasing advertising space on a larger site. The order form says for 100k impressions, I will pay a purchase price of $400 for a month of advertising at $4.00 CPM.

I am fine with that price, but don't understand what the $4.00 part means, or what happens if I don't hit 100k visitors, or if I go OVER.

Thank you.

EDIT: Also I'm very curious how SVTP charges for ad space if anyone knows and could break it down for me.

 

[mysterio]

In advertising terms, CPM has usually meant cost per thousand.

 

[Duende]

Still unclear... Thanks for your response.

Does the paying for 100k impressions part mean that they only show my ad to 100k people clicking onto the site, and then move on to a different advertisement? The site I'm advertising on sees about 550k visitors a month.

 

[ford_racer]

$4 per every 1000 views.

Multiply each by 100, you get $400 for 100,000 views.

It's just a simplified rate. It could also be $2 for every 500 views, $1 for every 250 views, $.50 for every 125 views, etc.

 

[Duende]

Okay, I think I understand. I know this must be an unbelievably simple topic, I'm not sure why I'm having such difficulty grasping it...

The impressions part changes the bottom line obviously, I put in 100k and got the $400 purchase price. But I don't understand what that means, I can choose between 10k and 130k impressions which goes from $40 to $520.

But what am I determining by those impressions? If I pick 10k, what does that mean? My ad is only seen by 10k viewers? I'm guaranteed 10k visitors? Or I only get paid if I go over the 10k number? I just want an ad up for a month or so, I don't get the impressions part and what exactly I'm purchasing when I choose one of those numbers. Hope I clarified, thank you for bringing it a little closer for me to grasp.. I'm almost there.

 

[ford_racer]

I assume by impressions, it means that everytime someone visits a page that your advertisement is on, that would be one impression.

 

[Duende]

Gotcha, thanks!

 

[MFE]

An impression is a page view. If one person views a page 5 times, that's 5 pageviews, or 5 impressions. If 5 people view the page one time each, that's still 5 pageviews, or 5 impressions. That's where reach and frequency come in, but that's another topic.

In any case, M is roman numeral for 1000. CPM = Cost Per Thousand impressions. So take your impressions, divide by 1000, x your CPM, and you get your cost.

100,000 impressions
100,000 / 1,000 = 100
100 x $4.00 CPM = $400.



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