Ad RPM / Revenue Calculator
Work out revenue per thousand views, and per thousand visits.
What you provide
Optional. Adding it gives you session RPM, which is the figure to use when buying traffic.
Result
$4.50 page RPM
Page RPM and session RPM answer different questions and get mixed up constantly. Page RPM tells you what a page view is worth, which is the number to use when deciding whether more content is worth producing. Session RPM tells you what a visitor is worth, which is the number that belongs in any conversation about buying traffic, since you pay per visitor and not per page. A site with several pages per session can have a modest page RPM and a healthy session RPM at the same time.
- Page views
- 100,000
- Revenue
- $450.00
- Page RPMRevenue per thousand page views
- $4.50
- Per 10,000 views
- $45.00
- Per million views
- $4,500
What this cannot tell you
- Arithmetic on the figures you enter. It has no connection to any ad network or analytics account.
- Real earnings move with season, geography and page type, often by a factor of two or more across a year. A single period RPM is a snapshot rather than a forecast.
Take this with you
How this calculation works
Page RPM is revenue divided by page views, multiplied by a thousand. Adding a session count gives session RPM on the same basis, along with pages per session, which is what connects the two. Working the other way, entering a target RPM projects the revenue a given amount of traffic would produce. Both directions are simple arithmetic, and the value is in seeing the two RPMs side by side rather than in the calculation.
What the results mean
- Page RPM
- Revenue per thousand page views. The number to use when deciding whether producing more content pays.
- Session RPM
- Revenue per thousand visits. The number that belongs in any conversation about paid traffic, since you pay per visitor rather than per page.
- Pages per session
- What links the two figures. A site with three pages per session earns three times as much per visitor as per page view.
Common problems and fixes
- RPM dropped sharply with no change to the site
- Check the calendar before anything else. Advertising rates fall hard in January after the fourth-quarter spending finishes, and the drop is routinely 30% or more with no change in traffic quality. Then check the traffic mix, since a surge from a source with low commercial intent, or from a country with much lower rates, moves the average without anything being wrong.
- My RPM looks low against figures other publishers quote
- Confirm you are comparing the same measure. Some quote session RPM, some quote page RPM, and some quote the CPM their network reports, which counts only impressions rather than page views. Those three can differ by a factor of several on the same site. Subject matter also dominates: finance and legal pages command many times what general interest pages do.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between RPM and CPM?
CPM is what an advertiser pays per thousand impressions. RPM is what you actually earn per thousand page views or sessions, after the network share and after accounting for pages that show no ad or fewer ads than expected. RPM is the number that reflects your business; CPM describes one transaction inside it.
How do I raise RPM without more traffic?
The two levers with the most room are ad viewability and the mix of pages people land on. Ads that are never scrolled into view earn nothing, so placement matters more than count. Beyond that, pages about subjects advertisers compete for earn several times what general pages do, so writing more of what already earns well usually beats optimising layout.
Should I compare RPM month to month?
Compare the same month year on year instead. Advertising demand has a strong annual shape, peaking in the fourth quarter and collapsing in January, so consecutive months mostly measure the calendar. Year-on-year comparison strips that out and shows whether the site itself improved.
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