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What you need first

• Seller's CPM rate card for the specific placement (pre-roll/outstream, duration, skip setting) — from the seller media kit or programmatic seat rate card
• Video completion rate (VCR) for that placement — from the seller's ad server reporting or third-party verification (IAS, DV, MOAT)
• Buyer's target CPV benchmark — from prior campaign performance or the client KPI brief
• Campaign budget — from the client insertion order
• Agency discount grid or rate floor, if one applies — from the trading desk

The procedure

1. Pull the placement's CPM rate card and its reported VCR, producing the two figures needed for conversion
2. Convert CPM to effective CPV using CPV = CPM ÷ (1000 × VCR), producing a per-view price comparable to the target
3. Compare effective CPV to the buyer's target CPV, producing a gap in € and %
4. Back-solve the CPM the seller must offer to hit the target CPV, producing a negotiation ask
5. Negotiate the rate down to that CPM or document the residual gap against budget, producing a locked rate
6. Convert the campaign budget into projected completed views at the locked CPM and VCR, producing the number that goes into the buy
7. Write a VCR floor and post-campaign reconciliation clause into the IO, producing protection against under-delivery

Worked through with numbers

Seller quotes CPM €25 on a 15s non-skippable pre-roll placement, reported VCR 70%. Effective CPV = 25 ÷ (1000 × 0.70) = €0.0357. Buyer's target CPV from the last quarter's campaigns is €0.030, so the gap is (0.0357 − 0.030) ÷ 0.030 = 19% over target. Back-solving: target CPM = 0.030 × 1000 × 0.70 = €21.00, a 16% cut from the €25 rate card. Buyer negotiates the seller down to CPM €21. Campaign budget is €50,000, so impressions = 50,000 ÷ 21 × 1000 = 2,380,952, and completed views = 2,380,952 × 0.70 = 1,666,667 — which matches budget ÷ target CPV (50,000 ÷ 0.030 = 1,666,667), confirming the conversion is internally consistent. Read it as: at the negotiated rate the buyer clears its CPV target exactly, and 1.67M completed views is the number to write into the IO, not the 2.38M impressions.

Where it goes wrong

• Confirm the VCR's measurement source before applying it, not just the seller's dashboard figure — a platform's own player can report VCR 5-10 points higher than third-party verification, which understates effective CPV
• Build a post-campaign reconciliation on delivered VCR into the IO, not a one-time historical figure — VCR moves with creative length, device mix and season, so paying CPM against a stale VCR overpays if actual completion comes in lower
• Compare CPV only within the same skippability and duration, not across formats — non-skippable inventory posts a structurally higher VCR than skippable outstream, so an unadjusted comparison makes it look cheaper per view than it is
• Match the seller's definition of 'completed view' to the buyer's KPI before comparing prices, not just the label — a 3-second or 15-second completion standard produces a different CPV than a true 100%-complete standard on identical delivery

How to know it is right

Terms used

• CPV
• CPM

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