Average CPV (cost per view)

Source: Google Ads Help, Cost-per-view (CPV): Definition.

Google works it out on the video ads that earn views. Spend on bumper or non-skippable ads, bought per thousand impressions, buys no views. Dividing a whole video budget by views therefore gives a larger, different figure.

You set the price with a bid strategy aimed at views, such as target CPV. Google's help notes that its Video views campaigns are moving to multi-format ads with a target CPV strategy.

Since October 2025, Google Ads calls its views TrueView views and its average cost per view TrueView average CPV. Google's help on video ad formats says the rename changes neither billing nor how a paid view is counted.

What moves it

Competition for the audience first: narrow, valuable audiences cost more per view, because more advertisers want them. View rate next: if fewer people watch, each counted view carries more of the cost. Then the placements, the country and the time of year.

A worked example

A cookware brand runs a video campaign to a broad cooking audience. In March it pays €1,200 for 25,000 views, an average CPV of €0.048. Site visits from the video come to 300.

In April it narrows the audience to past site visitors. Views drop to 6,000 for €480, a CPV of €0.08. Site visits rise to 420. The view costs two thirds more, yet the cost per visit falls from €4 to €1.14. The dearer view was the better buy.

1. Open Campaigns, click the Columns icon, then Modify columns.
2. Type TrueView in the column search and add TrueView views and TrueView average CPV.
3. Add Cost beside them to check the sum on each row.
4. Compare ads at the Ads level, not the account: formats bought per impression have no CPV.

Optizads reads Avg. CPV as Google totals it for the days you choose, and keeps that figure for 30 minutes. When Google cannot be read, it rebuilds the period from stored days. Each day's CPV times its views gives that day's view cost, and the sum of those costs is divided by the sum of views. It never averages daily CPVs.

Avg. CPV is in the Video group of the metric picker. The other buying models have their own: Avg. CPM and Avg. CPE in Costs, and Viewable CPM in Active View.

On the Overview, set Avg. CPV beside Video views with the Line display and a comparison with last year. Optizads reads about 25 months of history after an account connects, newest months first. Last year's price of a view is there once the first nights have filled it in.

• Dividing the whole video budget by views, bumper spend included, and calling it CPV.
• Chasing the cheapest view with audiences that never visit or buy.
• Comparing CPV across countries or audiences without the view rate and what followed.
• Judging a campaign that bids on conversions by its CPV, as if views were its goal.

• YouTube ads: Video ads shown on YouTube through Video, Demand Gen or Performance Max campaigns.
• Video campaign: A campaign that shows video ads on YouTube and video partner sites, for reach or views.
• Bid strategy: How a campaign sets its bids: by hand, or automatically toward a goal such as clicks, conversions, conversion value, a target CPA or a target ROAS.

• Video view rate: Video view rate is the share of your video ad impressions that became views: views divided by impressions.
• Average CPM: Average CPM is what a thousand impressions of your ads cost on average: spend divided by impressions, times 1,000.
• Interaction rate: Interaction rate is how often people interact with your ad once it is shown: interactions divided by impressions.