Benchmarks
Average CPM rates by channel
By Oliver Wakefield-Smith · updated October 2026
Benchmarks reviewed October 2026 · next review January 2027
The short answer
Three channels have citable, dated benchmarks right now: Meta ($10.02 in December 2025, Facebook and Instagram combined), TikTok ($2.84, same month, same tracker) and podcast host-reads ($18 to $22 for 30 seconds, $24 to $26 for 60). Everything else is quote-only, and this table says so instead of guessing. Every cell carries its source and retrieval date.
Rules of the table: a number appears only with a named source and date. Where a platform publishes no rate and no third party we consider citable tracks one, the cell reads no published rate. That is a finding, not a gap: 13 of 19 rows are quote-only, which is the honest state of ad pricing in 2026. The Meta and TikTok rows are an agency's observed averages, not prices either platform sets, and they cover December 2025, the latest month the tracker publishes.
Creator-side rates (what the seller of the impression receives) are a different number on the same event; those live in the /earn lane and the conversion math is at CPM vs RPM.
How to read a benchmark without hurting yourself
- Averages hide distributions. Your CPM legitimately sits anywhere around the median depending on audience, objective and season; the diagnostic page covers the spread.
- Season moves the number more than most levers: Meta's tracker average was $8.06 in June 2025 and $10.02 in December 2025. Region moves it too, and these averages blend countries.
- Verdict logic: measure yourself against the median, then decide whether above-median is a problem at what is a good CPM.
Every figure's full provenance, review cadence and next-review date: the source ledger. Year-over-year movement: CPM trends 2026.