Glossary · ad-metrics
What is CPM?
CPM means cost per thousand impressions — what you pay to have your ad appear a thousand times. Impressions are not people: one person scrolling past your ad four times counts as four impressions. CPM is essentially the market price of attention for the audience you asked for, and you do not set it. It is set by how many other advertisers want the same people at the same moment, how good your ad looks to them, and how narrow your targeting is. Broad, ordinary audiences are cheap. Wealthy, narrow or heavily contested audiences are dear, and the same audience gets dearer whenever advertisers pile in.
What does CPM mean for a business in Pakistan?
Pakistani CPMs are low by international standards, which is the single biggest advantage a local business has. They do not stay flat, though — in our own client accounts the price climbs steadily through the last ten days of Ramadan and again through wedding season, because every brand in the country is bidding at once. Targeting overseas Pakistanis in the Gulf or UK costs several times more than targeting Islamabad.
A worked example
The same Reel promoted by an F-10 café costs PKR 95 CPM in early February and PKR 210 CPM in the last week of Ramadan. Buying 100,000 impressions therefore costs PKR 9,500 in February and PKR 21,000 in Ramadan. Same creative, same audience, different auction.
Terms that go with this one
These come up in the same conversations and are worth reading together.
- CPCCPCCPC means cost per click: total money spent divided by the number of clicks it bought. Read the label carefully, because Meta reports two versions.…
- Paid reachpaid reachPaid reach is the number of accounts that saw your content because money was spent to place it in front of them. You choose the group — an age band,…
- FrequencyfrequencyFrequency is impressions divided by reach: the average number of times each person saw your ad during the date range you are looking at. It is a…
- Ad spendad spend / ishtihaar ka kharchaAd spend is the money that goes to the platform itself — Meta, TikTok or Google — in exchange for showing your ads. It is not the same thing as an…
- Brand awarenessbrand awareness / pehchanBrand awareness is how many people know you exist and can recall your name at the moment the need turns up. As an ad objective it optimises for being…
CPM — quick answers
What does CPM mean?
CPM means cost per thousand impressions — what you pay to have your ad appear a thousand times. Impressions are not people: one person scrolling past your ad four times counts as four impressions.
CPM ko Urdu mein kya kehte hain?
فی ہزار امپریشن لاگت — though in practice almost everyone in Pakistan says "CPM". Pakistani CPMs are low by international standards, which is the single biggest advantage a local business has.
Why does CPM matter for a business in Pakistan?
Pakistani CPMs are low by international standards, which is the single biggest advantage a local business has. They do not stay flat, though — in our own client accounts the price climbs steadily through the last ten days of Ramadan and again through wedding season, because every brand in the country is bidding at once. Targeting overseas Pakistanis in the Gulf or UK costs several times more than targeting Islamabad.
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