What is CPM?
CPM = cost per thousand views. Every time Facebook or Instagram shows your ad to someone, that is a view (an impression). CPM is the price of 1,000 of those views.
The platform sets it, by auction, according to how many advertisers are targeting the same people at the same moment. Neither you nor I decide it. That is exactly what makes it useful: it is a market price, and it can be checked.
My real CPMs
| Period | Ads | Views | Average CPM | Cheapest | Most expensive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 to 2025 | 26 | 4.6 million | €5.63 | €3.16 | €11.79 |
| 2026, figures as of 9 November | 17 | 952K | €5.30 | €4.20 | €7.06 |
“Average CPM” means total spend ÷ total views × 1,000. The median per ad is close: €5.24 over 2023-2025, €5.37 in 2026. In Épernay, for a Facebook form ad, I paid €3.09.
So for job ads in France on Facebook and Instagram, I paid from €3.16 to €11.79 per 1,000 views depending on the ad, and most often around €5 to €6. These figures only apply to Facebook and Instagram: LinkedIn, for example, cost me €23.48 per 1,000 views for office profiles, against €7.68 on Facebook and Instagram for the same jobs (I compare them here).
The envelope test
Many offers are sold as a “campaign envelope”: an overall amount presented as the campaign budget. To find out what you actually bought, ask for two figures: the total amount you paid and the number of views obtained. Then divide:
An invented example to make it concrete: you paid €6,000 and the report shows 300,000 views. The calculation gives €20 per 1,000 views, nearly four times what I paid in 2026.
What should you do with the result? Not make an accusation: ask a question. A gap can come from a highly contested job, from another channel (LinkedIn costs more per view), or from work included in the envelope: the ad, the visuals, the follow-up. It is normal for a provider to be paid, I am too. What is not normal is being unable to answer the question “how much went to Facebook?”.
How I do it
Your Rafa invoice has two lines:
- Ad delivery, paid to the platforms. For businesses, I take no margin on it.
- The subscription, from €0 (Open door) to €235 a month (Max), which pays for my work: the ad, the page, the questions, the follow-up.
So the CPM you pay is Facebook's and Instagram's, for your ad, on your dates.
The question to ask anyone
- How much went to Facebook? An amount, not a vague percentage.
- How many views? The platforms count them to the last one.
- What CPM did I pay? If the answer is “we do not disclose that figure”, you have your answer.
In summary
- CPM is the price of 1,000 views, set by auction by the platform.
- On Facebook and Instagram, I paid €5.63 on average from 2023 to 2025 (26 ads) and €5.30 in 2026 (17 ads).
- Amount paid ÷ views × 1,000: do the calculation on your past campaigns, then ask about the gap.
- On my invoice, ad delivery and my work are on two separate lines.
