Top OTT Advertising Metrics: A Plain-Language Guide for Marketers

Over-the-top (OTT) advertising – those ads you see on streaming services and connected TVs – comes with a whole new set of metrics that can feel confusing at first. The good news is that OTT brings digital-style analytics to the TV world, so you’re not left guessing if your commercial had an impact. In fact, you can track everything from how many people saw your ad to how many clicked or took action afterward. This data is gold for marketers and business owners: it helps you understand what’s working and optimize your campaigns on the fly.

This guide will walk you through key streaming ad metrics like Impressions, Reach, CPM, CPR, Spend, Conversions, Cost Per Event, Conversion Rate, ROAS, Average Purchase Price, and Average Frequency. We’ll explain what each metric means, why it matters, and how you can use it to make smarter marketing decisions.

Impressions

Impressions is the total number of times your ad is shown. Every time your streaming ad appears on someone’s screen, it counts as one impression. If the same person sees your ad five times, that’s five impressions. This metric is the basic gauge of your ad’s exposure.

Why it matters: Impressions reveal the sheer volume of ad delivery. A higher impression count means your ad had more opportunities to be seen. It’s a foundational metric that feeds into others like CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and frequency (average views per person). On its own, impressions don’t tell you how many unique people saw the ad or if it was effective – they simply measure how often it was displayed. Think of impressions as the broadest measure of visibility, which you’ll refine with more specific metrics like reach and conversions.

Reach

Reach is the number of unique viewers who saw your ad at least once. Unlike impressions, which count every single viewing, reach counts each person only once. For example, if one person sees your ad five times, that’s five impressions but a reach of one. Reach answers the question, “How many different people saw my ad?”

Why it matters: Reach tells you how broad your audience is. A high reach means your campaign touched a lot of individuals, which is great for brand awareness. It puts the impression count in context: if reach is much lower than impressions, it means the same people are seeing your ad multiple times (indicating a higher frequency). By monitoring reach, you ensure you’re not just bombarding a small group with ads, but actually connecting with new potential customers. In short, reach measures how many distinct people your message reached, helping you gauge the true spread of your campaign.

CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions)

CPM (Cost Per Mile) stands for Cost Per Thousand Impressions. It tells you how much you’re paying to serve 1,000 ad impressions. CPM is calculated by dividing your total ad spend by the number of impressions (then multiplying by 1,000). For example, if you spent $500 for 100,000 impressions, your CPM is ($500/100,000)*1,000 = $5.00.

Why it matters: CPM is a standard way to measure the cost efficiency of your ad campaign. It lets you compare how expensive or cheap it is to get your ad viewed across different platforms or campaigns. A lower CPM means you’re paying less for each thousand impressions, which generally indicates more bang for your buck. However, context is important – a very low CPM might reach a broad but uninterested audience, whereas a slightly higher CPM might be targeting the right viewers. Marketers watch CPM to manage budgets and ensure they’re getting good value for their spend. It’s essentially an efficiency metric: it shows whether you’re reaching people at a reasonable cost or overspending for those eyeballs.

CPR (Cost Per Reach)

CPR means Cost Per Reach – how much it costs to reach one unique viewer. To find CPR, take your total spending and divide it by the number of unique people you have reached. For instance, if you spent $1,000 and reached 5,000 individuals, your CPR is $1,000/5,000 = $0.20 per person. This tells you the average cost to get your ad in front of each person.

Why it matters: CPR focuses on cost efficiency per individual audience member. It’s especially meaningful for campaigns aimed at awareness and maximizing unique viewers. A lower CPR means you’re reaching each new potential customer for less money, which is great when you want to spread your message widely. If CPR is high, it indicates that reaching each person is expensive – perhaps your targeting is very niche or the ad inventory is costly. By comparing CPR across campaigns, you can see which effort was more efficient at finding new eyes. In short, CPR helps ensure your budget is spent on gaining new viewers rather than repeatedly hitting the same ones.

Spend

Spend (or total ad spend) is the total amount of money you put into your OTT ad campaign. It’s simply the sum of all the dollars spent to run your ads. For example, if you budgeted $5,000 for a campaign and by the end you used $4,800, that $4,800 is your ad spend.

Why it matters: This metric shows your investment in the campaign. It’s the input that all your results are measured against. Knowing how much you spent is crucial for calculating metrics like CPM, CPR, and ROAS (return on ad spend). On its own, spending just tells you how much money is left in your pocket. But when you compare it to what you got in return (impressions, clicks, conversions, revenue), it helps you evaluate success. Keeping an eye on spend also ensures you stay within budget and can allocate your marketing dollars wisely. In essence, spend is the fuel of your campaign, and every other metric will be weighed against this number.

Conversions

Conversions are the desired actions viewers take after seeing your ad. This could be making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, downloading an app, or any other goal you set. If 50 people saw your streaming ad and then went on to perform the action you wanted (like buying your product), that’s 50 conversions.

Why it matters: Conversions show the tangible results of your ad campaign. They tie ad views to real business outcomes. High reach and impressions are great, but conversions are often the true measure of success – they indicate that viewers didn’t just watch your ad, they acted on it. For a small business, tracking conversions is critical because it directly reflects return on your advertising efforts (new customers, sales, leads, etc.). By monitoring conversions, you can judge how effective your ad is at driving people to do what you want them to do. In OTT advertising (where ads aren’t clickable), conversions might happen later on your website or store, but they’re still the key metric for evaluating if your advertising is actually working to grow your business.

Cost Per Event

Cost Per Event (CPE) tells you the average cost for each conversion (or event) your ad achieved. In other words, how much did you spend on advertising for each desired result? It’s calculated by dividing your total spend by the number of conversions. For example, if you spent $2,000 and got 100 purchases from the campaign, your cost per event is $2,000/100 = $20 per conversion.

Why it matters: Cost per event is a straightforward measure of cost-effectiveness. It shows whether your campaign is yielding conversions at a reasonable price. You’ll usually compare this cost to what a conversion is worth to you. For instance, if you earn $50 profit from each sale and your cost per conversion is $20, that’s a healthy margin. But if ads cost $60 to get one $50 sale, that campaign is losing money. By looking at CPE, you can gauge if your advertising investment is paying off on a per-customer basis. It’s also handy for comparing campaigns: maybe one ad drove sign-ups at $5 each, while another cost $15 each – that tells you which was more efficient. Overall, a lower cost per event means you’re getting results more cheaply, which is generally a sign of a successful, efficient campaign.

Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate is the percentage of people who saw your ad and then completed the desired action. It’s typically calculated as (conversions ÷ reach) × 100%. For example, if 5,000 unique viewers saw your ad and 50 of them made a purchase, your conversion rate is (50/5,000) × 100% = 1%.

Why it matters: Conversion rate tells you how persuasive and effective your ad was for the people who saw it. A higher conversion rate means a larger portion of your audience took action, which usually indicates your message or offer resonated well. This metric is great for understanding the quality of impact: are you just getting eyes on your ad, or are those eyes turning into clicks, sign-ups, or sales? For instance, a 5% conversion rate would be quite high for a streaming ad, whereas a 0.5% rate might suggest there’s room to improve the ad or targeting. By tracking conversion rate, you can identify if a campaign’s issue is in convincing the audience. It helps highlight where the issue might lie (for example, the ad’s message or call-to-action might not be compelling enough to convert viewers). In short, conversion rate focuses on effectiveness – out of the people reached, how many did what you wanted them to do.

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

ROAS stands for Return on Ad Spend – a measure of how much revenue you earn for every dollar you spend on advertising. It’s calculated by dividing the revenue generated from the campaign by the ad spend. If you spent $1,000 on ads and those ads drove $5,000 in sales, your ROAS would be 5.0 (or expressed as 5:1, meaning $5 earned per $1 spent).

Why it matters: ROAS is a critical metric for understanding the financial payoff of your campaign. It directly shows whether your advertising is profitable. A ROAS above 1.0 (above 100%) means you’re getting more revenue back than you spent – for example, a ROAS of 3.0 means $3 back for every $1 spent. A ROAS below 1.0 means you spent more on ads than the revenue you earned from those ads, which is a sign of an unprofitable campaign (at least in the short term).

Small businesses especially need to watch this number to ensure their marketing is sustainable. ROAS also helps compare performance across different campaigns or channels – you might find one platform gives you a better return than another. Overall, ROAS ties everything together into one bottom-line figure. It tells you, “For the money I put into this campaign, what did I get back out?” and that makes it one of the most telling metrics for marketing success.

Average Purchase Price

Average Purchase Price (or average order value) is the average amount of money each conversion is worth. In other words, if your ad drove sales, how much does the typical sale bring in? To calculate it, you divide the total revenue from your campaign’s conversions by the number of conversions. So if your campaign brought in 20 orders totaling $2,000, the average purchase price is $2,000/20 = $100 per order.

Why it matters: Not all conversions are equal – this metric highlights the value per conversion. A higher average purchase price means each customer is spending more, which boosts your revenue without needing more conversions. This is important for understanding your campaign’s impact on revenue. For example, two campaigns might each generate 50 sales, but if one has an average sale of $20 and the other $50, the second campaign brought in much more money. Knowing the average purchase price helps you see if you’re attracting high-value customers. It also factors into profitability: combined with cost per event, it tells you if the money spent to acquire a customer is justified by the money they spend. In summary, the average purchase price adds context to your conversion count – it shows how financially valuable each conversion is on average.

Average Frequency

Average Frequency is the average number of times each person saw your ad. It’s essentially impressions divided by reach. For example, if you have 20,000 impressions and 5,000 unique viewers, the average frequency is 20,000/5,000 = 4. That means, on average, each person saw your ad four times.

Why it matters: Frequency is about repetition. In advertising, seeing an ad multiple times can reinforce the message – a viewer might not act the first time, but after a few viewings, the message could stick. However, too many repetitions can annoy people or cause them to tune out. Average frequency helps you find that balance. If your frequency is 1, most people only saw the ad once (which might not be enough to be memorable). If it’s, say, 10, you’re likely overshowing the ad to the same audience and could be wasting budget or irritating viewers.

Many campaigns aim for a moderate frequency (for example, a few exposures per person) to maximize impact without causing ad fatigue. By tracking frequency, you can see if your campaign is off balance. For example, a very high frequency with no uptick in conversions suggests you’re oversaturating the same people, while a very low frequency means most viewers saw the ad only once (which might not be enough to stick in their memory). In short, average frequency tells you how saturated your audience is with your ad, which is key for optimizing both awareness and the comfort level of your viewers.

Bringing It All Together

When you understand all these metrics, you get a complete picture of your OTT advertising campaign’s performance. Each metric is like one piece of the puzzle: some measure how broadly and often your ad was seen (impressions, reach, frequency), others measure costs (CPM, CPR, spend), and others track results (conversions, conversion rate, ROAS, average purchase value). No single number can tell the whole story, but together they show you where a campaign shines and where it needs work.