What advertising channels say they charge
A table collecting the cost and minimum spend each channel has been reported as charging in the marketing press, so you can see where a quote or a campaign figure sits against what others have published.
Check a test result with the A/B Test Significance Calculator Work out your own monthly spend with the Ad Budget CalculatorWhat advertising channels say they charge
Each line is quoted as its source published it, often in US dollars and not specific to the UK, with the date it was checked noted alongside.
| Channel | How it charges | Minimum spend |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Ads | Cost-per-click model with average CPCs ranging from $0.50 to $3.00 depending on product category.Clicks Geek, read 2026-10-15 | $1,000/month minimum recommended; varies by ad typeWeb Tonic, read 2026-10-24 |
| LinkedIn Ads | Minimum daily budget $10; typical CPC $5–$15; CPM $30–$50; higher costs reflect professional audience valueWeb Tonic, read 2026-10-27 | LinkedIn states advertisers can start with a $10 minimum daily budget.New Path Digital, read 2026-11-02 |
| TikTok Ads | Average CPC of $1 and average CPM of $10.AdRoll, read 2026-10-30 | Campaign-level daily budgets above $50; ad-group daily budgets above $20.New Path Digital, read 2026-11-02 |
| Meta Ads | Auction-based pricing; typical CPM (cost per thousand impressions) ranging from $5 to $15.Clicks Geek, read 2026-11-02 | $500/month minimum recommended; $1/day campaign minimum.Web Tonic, read 2026-11-02 |
| Google Ads | Pay-per-click pricing; advertisers only pay when someone clicks their ad.Clicks Geek, read 2026-11-02 | No platform minimum spend required; advertisers control daily budgets completely.Clicks Geek, read 2026-10-30 |
| Spotify Ads | CPM typically $15–$25 for audio.Web Tonic, read 2026-09-17 | Self-serve campaigns described with a $250 starting point.New Path Digital, read 2026-10-30 |
| Amazon Advertising | CPC for sponsored ads averaging $0.50–$3.00; CPM for display; minimum $100/day for DSP campaignsWeb Tonic, read 2026-10-27 | No cited figure |
| TikTok Ads | No cited figure | Campaign-level daily and total budgets must be at least $50; ad-group daily budgets must exceed $20.New Path Digital, read 2026-10-12 |
| YouTube Ads | CPV (cost-per-view) and CPM models; typical CPV $0.10-$0.30Web Tonic, read 2026-09-22 | No cited figure |
| The Trade Desk | Platform fees as a percentage of media spend, typically 15–20%; minimum spend generally $10,000/month.Web Tonic, read 2026-09-17 | Minimum spend generally $10,000/monthWeb Tonic, read 2026-09-16 |
How to read the cost table above
A cost figure next to an advertising channel only means something once you know which kind of cost it is measuring. A published number might be a price per thousand impressions, a price per click, a price per view, a fee taken as a slice of total spend, or simply the smallest amount a platform will let an advertiser commit to in a day or a month. Each one answers a different question, and lining a cost-per-click figure up against a cost-per-thousand figure tells you nothing at all.
What the cost models mean
- CPM (cost per thousand impressions): what an advertiser pays for every thousand times an ad is shown, whether or not anyone clicks it.
- CPC (cost per click): what an advertiser pays each time someone clicks through, with the impressions themselves costing nothing.
- Cost per view: used mainly for video, charged when someone watches past a set point.
- A platform fee taken as a share of spend: a percentage kept from the budget on top of whatever the media itself costs.
- A minimum daily or monthly budget: the smallest commitment a channel will accept before it runs a campaign at all, separate from what each impression or click ends up costing.
Why the same channel shows different prices
Most of the channels covered in the directory price through an auction, so a published figure is an average taken at one moment. Prices rise when more advertisers are chasing the same audience, which is part of why costs climb in the run-up to Christmas and ease off outside it. Prices also move with who is being targeted. A broad, general audience is cheaper to reach than a narrow professional one, and a crowded sector pushes its own prices up regardless of the time of year. A figure read in one month can look quite different a few months on.
Checking a published figure before you rely on it
Before setting a quote or a campaign result against a published figure, there are three things worth checking.
- The currency it is quoted in. A figure in US dollars is not the same number once converted and re-based for a UK budget.
- Whether the figure describes UK advertisers and UK audiences at all.
- The date it was read. An auction-priced figure starts to age the moment competition or season shifts.
The figures in the table above are drawn from marketing publications, and are best read as a sense of where other advertisers' numbers sit.
Now put your own figures through it
A rate on a chart only tells you where other advertisers landed. What your own spend buys, and whether a result you're seeing is real, depends on the numbers you put in.