Facebook CPM 2026: Average Costs, Benchmarks & How to Lower Your CPM
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Facebook CPM 2026: Benchmarks & How to Lower Costs
Average Facebook CPM: $5 to $15
CPM = Cost Per 1,000 Impressions
Your CPM depends on industry, audience, and placement. This guide shows you exactly what to expect and how to pay less. Affiliate marketers should also see our Facebook Ads for Affiliate Marketing Guide for compliant campaign strategies.
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Start your free trialQuick Answer: What's a Good Facebook CPM?
Facebook CPM by Industry
Some industries pay more due to competition:
A clothing brand is paying $12 CPM. Is this good, average, or high?
CPM by Placement
Where your ad shows affects cost:
Quick tip: Automatic placements usually deliver lowest overall CPM.
CPM by Campaign Objective
You want the lowest CPM possible. Which campaign objective should you choose?
What Makes CPM Go Up?
Five factors increase your costs:
1. Small Audiences
Fewer people = more competition. Expand targeting to lower CPM.
2. Poor Ad Relevance
Low engagement raises CPM. Test different creative angles.
3. Q4 Holiday Season
October to December = peak competition. Budget accordingly.
4. High-Value Demographics
Executives and decision-makers cost more. Wealthy zip codes cost more.
5. Ad Fatigue
Same creative too long. Refresh every 2 to 3 weeks.
7 Ways to Lower Your CPM
1. Expand Your Audience
Current: 500K people targeted
Better: 2 to 5M people targeted
Larger audiences create less bidding competition.
2. Use Automatic Placements
Let Facebook optimize where to show your ad. Manual placement often costs more.
3. Test Video Creative
Video typically gets:
- Lower CPM
- Higher engagement
- Better delivery
Keep videos under 30 seconds with captions.
4. Improve Ad Relevance
Facebook rewards engaging ads with lower costs.
Track these metrics:
- Quality Ranking (aim for Above Average)
- Engagement Rate Ranking
- Conversion Rate Ranking
5. Avoid Q4 if Budget-Constrained
6. Refresh Creative Regularly
Rotate 3 to 5 ad variants to prevent fatigue.
7. Try Manual Bidding
Set a cost cap at 80% of your current CPM. Increase if under-delivering.
Your CPM doubled this week. What's the most likely cause?
CPM Calculator
Formula:
CPM = (Ad Spend ÷ Impressions) × 1,000
Example:
- Spent: $500
- Impressions: 75,000
- CPM = ($500 ÷ 75,000) × 1,000 = $6.67
When High CPM is Actually Fine
Don't obsess over CPM if:
- Your ROAS exceeds target
- Lead quality is strong
- Conversion rates are high
- You're reaching hard-to-find audiences
CPM is an efficiency metric, not a success metric.
CPM Troubleshooting
CPM Suddenly Spiked
Check:
- Frequency (above 3?)
- Creative age (over 3 weeks?)
- Audience size (too narrow?)
- Season (Q4 competition?)
CPM Higher Than Competitors
Possible causes:
- Narrow targeting
- Low relevance scores
- Wrong objective selected
CPM Lower Than Expected
Verify quality:
- Are leads converting?
- Is traffic quality good?
- Check actual ROAS
Your CPM is $4, but your leads aren't converting to sales. What should you do?
Key Takeaways
- Good CPM: $5 to $10 for most industries
- Expand audiences to reduce competition
- Refresh creative every 2 to 3 weeks
- Use automatic placements for efficiency
- Avoid Q4 if budget-constrained
- CPM matters less than actual business results
Related Resources
Tools
Facebook Advertising Guides
- Facebook Business Manager Guide
- How to Create a Facebook Business Account
- Facebook Ad Library Complete Guide
- Facebook Carousel Ad Specs
- Find Competitors' Facebook Ads
- Facebook Ads Split Testing Mistakes
Related Advertising Guides
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