$14.19: the median CPM across about 35,000 ecommerce brands in 2025, up 20% year over year. The global median across $3B of tracked spend ran $20.59 through July 2026. Every figure below links to the public source it came from.
Publication periods stated per row · All figures as published by the named source
| Segment | Median CPM | Data period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| All industries, global | $20.59 | Jul 2025 to Jul 2026 | Superads |
| All industries, United States | $23.42 | Jul 2025 to Jul 2026 | Superads |
| Ecommerce, global | $13.88 | Jul 2025 to Jul 2026 | Superads |
| Retail, global | ~$16.60 | Jul 2025 to Jul 2026 | Superads |
| Entertainment, global | $7.79 | Jul 2025 to Jul 2026 | Superads |
| Marketing and advertising, global | ~$40.70 | Jul 2025 to Jul 2026 | Superads |
| All ecommerce brands (median) | $14.19 | Full year 2025 | Triple Whale |
| Health and wellness (ecommerce) | $20.70 | Full year 2025 | Triple Whale |
| Automotive (ecommerce) | $10.01 | Full year 2025 | Triple Whale |
Superads, rolling 13-month window · Accessed July 2026
| Month | Global median CPM | Source |
|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | $18.86 | Superads |
| November 2025 (peak) | $24.26 | Superads |
| July 2026 (low) | $16.47 | Superads |
Methodology: the figures on this page are published industry aggregates from the named sources, not Raintree client data. Triple Whale figures are medians across roughly 35,000 ecommerce brands for calendar year 2025, last updated April 2026. Superads figures are medians across more than $3B in tracked Meta spend over a rolling 13-month window (July 2025 through July 2026), accessed July 2026; values marked with a tilde are approximate averages of that window as published. Sources define industries differently, so compare direction and order of magnitude, not decimals.
CPM is what Meta charges you per 1,000 impressions. You do not set it. It is the output of an auction: how many advertisers want your audience, how much they will pay, and how much Meta's system expects users to engage with your ad. That last part matters. Two brands bidding on the same audience can pay very different CPMs because one runs creative people stop for and the other does not.
The spread in the table is wide for structural reasons. Entertainment advertisers pay $7.79 because their audiences are broad and their content gets engagement. Marketing and advertising offers pay around $40.70 because they target other marketers, one of the most heavily bid pools on the platform. US inventory runs $23.42 against a $20.59 global median because US buyers are worth more to every advertiser in the auction.
Check in this order: audience size (under about 1M is usually too tight for cold prospecting), creative engagement (hook rate and hold rate against your own account history), frequency (over 3 to 4 on cold traffic means saturation), and placement concentration. Fragmented account structure also inflates CPM, because five ad sets learning separately compete against each other.
Cheap impressions are not automatically good impressions. Very low CPMs usually mean broad, low-intent delivery, often heavy on Audience Network. If your CPM is well under benchmark and your CPA is still high, the problem is impression quality, not cost. Check placement reports and conversion rate before celebrating.
CPM never decides profit on its own. It is one factor in the chain: CPM sets the cost of attention, CTR decides how much of it you capture, and conversion rate decides what it is worth. Read all three together.
It depends on your segment. Published medians run from $7.79 for entertainment advertisers to about $40.70 for marketing and advertising offers (Superads, July 2025 through July 2026). Ecommerce brands cluster near $13.88 to $14.19 (Superads and Triple Whale). US-only delivery runs higher, at a $23.42 median. Judge your CPM against your segment first, then against your CPC and CPA, because a cheap CPM with weak clicks is not a bargain.
Five usual causes: a narrow audience, Q4 auction competition, low-engagement creative, restricted category status (finance, health, housing, employment), and heavy delivery in premium placements. Seasonality alone moved the global median CPM between $16.47 and $24.26 within a single year in Superads data. Check audience size and creative engagement before assuming targeting is broken.
No. CPM prices impressions, not outcomes. Low-CPM delivery often skews toward low-intent inventory. In Triple Whale's 2025 data, Automotive brands paid a $10.01 median CPM and converted at 1.30%, while Health and Wellness paid $20.70 and converted at 1.72%. Judge the whole chain: CPM, CTR, conversion rate, and CPA together.
More advertisers competing in the same auction. Triple Whale measured a 20.03% CPM increase across 2025 while median CPA rose only about 1%. Costs went up, and brands with stronger creative and conversion rates absorbed the increase. If your CPA rose in step with CPM, the account is not iterating fast enough to keep pace.
A high CPM is a symptom. Run our free tracking audit to see whether Meta is even getting clean signal from your site, or book 30 minutes and we will read your account against these numbers with you.