Ad impressions calculator
Impressions = (budget / CPM) x 1,000. Type a budget and a CPM and the calculator gives the number of impressions the money buys; type a target and a rate and it gives the budget instead.
Below it: budgets worked through by channel, the difference between impressions, reach and frequency, how to turn an impression count into a click count, and what the same budget buys on a board where reach is printed on the position.
$1,000 at a $8.00 CPM buys about 125,000 impressions.
- Clicks at that rate
- 6250.5% of 125,000
- Cost per click
- $1.60the same money, counted by the click
The CPM you typed, against where a CPM usually lands by channel.
What an impression is
An impression is one delivery of a placement to one screen. It is counted when the placement is served, and on most platforms it is counted whether or not a person was looking; a viewable impression is the stricter count, usually at least half the pixels on screen for at least a second.
Impressions are the raw material of every paid channel. A budget buys a number of them at a price per thousand, some fraction of them become clicks, and some fraction of the clicks become whatever the campaign was for. Working from the budget forward, this is the first number.
The formula, three ways
- Impressions = (budget / CPM) x 1,000. The most common question: what does this money buy.
- Budget = (impressions / 1,000) x CPM. What a target reach costs.
- CPM = (budget / impressions) x 1,000. What you paid per thousand, after the fact.
The calculator solves whichever field you leave for it. Leave impressions empty and it fills them; type impressions and clear the budget and it prices them.
What a budget buys, by channel
| Budget | At $4 CPM (display) | At $12 CPM (social) | At $25 CPM (video) | At $45 CPM (LinkedIn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | 25,000 | 8,333 | 4,000 | 2,222 |
| $500 | 125,000 | 41,667 | 20,000 | 11,111 |
| $1,000 | 250,000 | 83,333 | 40,000 | 22,222 |
| $5,000 | 1,250,000 | 416,667 | 200,000 | 111,111 |
| $25,000 | 6,250,000 | 2,083,333 | 1,000,000 | 555,556 |
Read across a row and the spread is more than ten to one. The same thousand dollars is a quarter of a million display impressions or twenty-two thousand on LinkedIn, and neither number means anything until it is beside the click rate and the cost per result of the same channel.
Impressions, reach and frequency
Impressions count showings. Reach counts the people shown. Frequency is the ratio: impressions divided by reach, or how many times the average person saw it.
A campaign with 100,000 impressions and 20,000 reach has a frequency of five. Whether that is good depends on the job: a launch wants breadth, so a frequency near two spreads the budget over more people; a message that takes a few viewings to land wants a higher one. Past about ten, the extra impressions are being served to people who have already decided, and the cost per result climbs.
From impressions to clicks
Multiply impressions by the click rate to get clicks. The calculator does this in the line under the result once you type an expected click rate, and gives the cost per click that follows.
| Impressions | Click rate | Clicks | At a $1,000 budget, cost per click |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250,000 | 0.5% | 1,250 | $0.80 |
| 83,333 | 1.2% | 1,000 | $1.00 |
| 40,000 | 1.0% | 400 | $2.50 |
| 22,222 | 0.6% | 133 | $7.50 |
The four rows are the four channels from the budget table above, at a plausible click rate for each. Display buys the most impressions and the cheapest clicks; LinkedIn buys the fewest of both, and pays for it with an audience that display cannot reach.
What the same budget buys on The Board
The panel under the calculator places your budget on the board live. Rank is decided by what each brand has paid, so the amount you typed as a budget is a position on the ladder right now, and the panel shows the brand holding that position with the impressions and clicks it has earned while it held it.
On an auction, impressions are a forecast. Here they are a record: every listing carries the impressions and clicks it has been served, and the site's own traffic is counted by Fathom and published. A budget buys a position, and the position's reach is printed on it.
Questions people ask about a ad impressions calculator
How many impressions does $1,000 buy?
How do I calculate impressions from a budget?
What is the difference between impressions and reach?
What is a good frequency?
How many impressions do I need for 1,000 clicks?
Are impressions counted when nobody sees them?
How are impressions counted on The Board?
More free tools
All of them are on the free tools page. Every one is free, asks for no account, and stores nothing of yours on our side. A listing on The Board is a logo, a line and a link, from $1, and every number on the board is public.