What is a Good CPM by Industry?

What counts as a good CPM depends on your industry and platform. Legal: $18.90 avg. Finance: $17.50. Ecommerce: $9.80. C...

A 'good' CPM is relative to the value of the audience you're reaching. A $65 CPM on LinkedIn is excellent for B2B SaaS targeting VP-level decision-makers, and terrible for a $20 consumer product. These benchmarks help you contextualize your CPM within your vertical.

Why CPM Varies by Industry

CPM is determined by audience competition — advertisers bidding for the same audiences drive up prices. Finance, legal, and healthcare audiences attract many high-budget advertisers, inflating CPM. Broad consumer audiences (retail, ecommerce) have more inventory supply, keeping CPM lower.

Legal CPM Benchmarks

Average: $18.90. Range: $12–$28. Highest CPM of any vertical — extreme LTV per case justifies the auction competition. Legal CPM is relatively stable seasonally, unlike most verticals, making year-round campaign pacing viable.

Finance CPM Benchmarks

Average: $17.50. Range: $11–$26. Q1 tax season drives peak CPM (+25% vs annual avg). Finance advertisers should consider Bing as an underpriced channel — similar demographic to Google at 30–40% lower CPM.

Healthcare CPM Benchmarks

Average: $15.80. Range: $10–$24. Elevated by regulatory complexity reducing advertiser supply. Meta's healthcare targeting restrictions post-2023 mean fewer eligible advertisers, inflating CPM for compliant campaigns.

SaaS CPM Benchmarks

Average: $14.20. Range: $9–$22. LinkedIn CPM ($50–$90) looks expensive but is justified by precise B2B targeting unavailable elsewhere. Google and Meta CPM for SaaS runs $10–$18 — comparable to mid-range consumer verticals.

Ecommerce CPM Benchmarks

Average: $9.80. Range: $6–$14. Q4 spike to $13–$18 as holiday competition intensifies. Meta dominates ecommerce CPM efficiency for visual catalog ads. Google Display retargeting delivers the lowest CPM for in-funnel audiences.

Retail CPM Benchmarks

Average: $9.20. Range: $5–$15. Closely mirrors ecommerce with an even sharper Q4 spike. Google Local Inventory Ads typically achieve lower effective CPM than national display for location-targeted retail.

Travel CPM Benchmarks

Average: $10.20. Range: $6–$16. Q3 summer peak adds 30–40% to baseline CPM. Lock in programmatic deals early before summer inventory tightens. Q4 CPM drops 25–30% below annual average — ideal for awareness-stage campaigns.

How to Evaluate Your CPM

Compare your CPM to the range for your industry and platform. If above the high end: review audience breadth (too narrow can inflate CPM), placement mix (premium placements cost more), and timing (Q4 raises all CPMs). If well below: check for low-quality placements, broad audiences, or off-peak timing that may indicate poor ad delivery quality.