CPM question

1. 75

   Stephanie36posted 4 years ago

   Hi,
   I was wondering, is CPM sitewide? I know how impressions compared to CPM work, but I don't know how CPM itself is determined. Is it the same ($0.50, $2.75, etc.) for every account that day, or is everyone's different each day? And if so, what makes it go up or down?
   Thanks

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   1. 89

      wildernessposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      CPM is a calculated figure and comes from your income divided by your impressions.
      
      As ads are not the same for every article they will vary widely between authors and between articles.  They may be based on the article topic or they may be based on reader history.  Or on something else entirely.
      
      They will also vary by the time of year and even month - as advertiser budgets run out for the month they may fall, and Xmas time CPM usually goes way up.  Followed by a big fall in January/February.

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2. 75

   Stephanie36posted 4 years ago

   Thank you for the response!
   So, CPM generally  would go up with traffic? But I'm  assuming amazon clicks and sales would not affect it?

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   1. 77

      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Amazon does not affect CPM.
      ,
      CPM does not go up with traffic. CPM is basically how much you earn per 1000 visits. Whether you get 1 or 1000 visits does not really affect the CPM. It is controlled by many other parameters some of which Wilderness pointed out.
      
      Many authors here see a drop in CPM with increased traffic and this tends to happen because very often an increase in traffic is due to social media traffic and for some reason it seems that this traffic is not as high paying as search engine traffic. But this is just a hypothesis out there for a few years now.

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3. 96

   PaulGoodman67posted 4 years ago

   Wilderness and Brandon speak the truth! CPM varies a lot. I have more than one account and you can definitely earn more with less views for some topics. Other topics, you can get lots of views but earn comparatively little. The more the earning potential though, the more competitive it is as a general rule. You can get a rough idea how much certain keywords or phrases are worth comparative to others by researching them on sites like Ubersuggest.

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      eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      It would be nice if we knew what each article earned, then we wouldn't have to waste time trying to increase traffic to the least lucrative ones.

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      1. 89

         wildernessposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         In very general (very general) terms I would suspect that articles about expensive things will have a higher CPM.  An article about making a cake, where you might see ads for kitchenware, should pay less than an article on woodworking where you might see ads for power tools.
         
         But that has to be tempered (a lot) when ads are targeted to the readers browser history, which I think is common.

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4. 75

   Stephanie36posted 4 years ago

   Thanks Paul, and everyone! That's very helpful! ☺️

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5. 90

   Will Apseposted 4 years ago

   One reason I don't bother commenting much these days is that so many other people nail the issues. And I am rather lazy.
   
   One thing to say about CPM, not mentioned, is that general economic conditions are the ultimate driver of a writer's income. If people stop buying luxury goods because of a downturn, there will be fewer ads for that sector and CPM's will fall.
   
   When you notice that your DIY candle making niche is doing well, it is a sure sign that we are all doomed.

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