Retail Media Rate Card Template: CPC, CPM, CPA & Tenancy
Build a retailer rate card with placement units, pricing, availability, fees and makegoods. Compare CPC, CPM, CPA and tenancy using clear worked examples.
Retail media rate-card template: CPC, CPM, CPA and tenancy
A useful rate card explains what an advertiser buys, what makes delivery billable and what happens when a campaign cannot deliver. Start at placement level, separate asking price from realised yield, and keep your traffic, conversion and sell-through assumptions visible. The example rates below are illustrative, not market benchmarks.
Specify the product before the price
Name the placement, page type, device coverage, eligible products, format and booking period. State whether inventory is exclusive, shared or auctioned. A homepage tenancy and a sponsored click are different products even if the expected revenue is similar.
For every line, record the currency, chargeable unit, rate or auction floor, minimum commitment, availability, included services and billing source. Add the rules for creative approval, cancellation, underdelivery and makegoods. If an impression must meet a particular definition before billing, include that definition in the order.
PA's Fixed Tenancy proposition describes hourly placement bookings. A time-based booking should not be presented as a guaranteed number of impressions unless the agreement also makes that commitment.
Compare models on an explicit basis
CPM charges for a defined quantity of impressions. CPC charges for agreed billable clicks. CPA needs an exact action definition, attribution rule and treatment of reversals. Tenancy charges for an agreed placement and period.
Expected revenue per thousand impressions can help compare pricing assumptions. With a CPC model, multiply CPC by expected click-through rate and by 1,000. With a click-attributed CPA model, multiply CPA by click-through rate, post-click action rate and 1,000. These calculations require compatible definitions; they are not automatically the auction or invoice formula.
Normalising cost types is established industry practice; Kevel's documentation provides one implementation. Each platform and commercial contract still needs checking.
A synthetic comparison
For illustration, suppose 100,000 delivered ad impressions meet the agreed measurement definition:
Model — Assumptions — Modelled revenue
CPM — £8 per thousand impressions — £800
CPC — 1% CTR; £0.60 per click — £600
CPA — 1% CTR; 5% post-click action rate; £10 per action — £500
Tenancy — £25 per hour for 24 booked hours — £600
The tenancy row assumes the same 100,000 impressions only for comparison; payment is based on time. Expected revenue per thousand impressions is £8, £6, £5 and £6 respectively. These are arithmetic examples, not recommended prices or guaranteed outcomes.
Keep sell-through and realised yield separate
Available inventory is not sold inventory. Apply the relevant eligibility and sales assumptions before projecting delivered volume. Then compare the rate-card price with actual billable revenue, net of agreed discounts and credits. Do not add an auction forecast and a tenancy forecast for the same exclusive inventory.
Use the rate card in a commercial conversation
Give suppliers a clear route from objective to product: discovery, consideration, trial or repeat purchase. Explain the reporting they will receive and what the price excludes. Review rates using observed demand and delivery evidence, rather than treating the first spreadsheet as a permanent market truth.
Illustrative example
SYNTHETIC, GBP, excluding tax: 100000 impressions. CPM:100000/1000*8=800. CPC:100000*0.01*0.60=600. Click-attributed CPA:100000*0.01*0.05*10=500. Tenancy:24 hours*25=600. eCPM revenue/100000*1000 =>8,6,5,6. These are four alternative uses of inventory, not additive revenue.
Downloads
- pa-retail-media-rate-card-template.xlsx (illustrative template)
Sources
- Fixed Tenancy, checked 2026-10-25
- Retail Media Guide, checked 2026-10-25
- Retail Media Revenue Calculator, checked 2026-10-25
How Particular Audience does it
Frequently asked questions
Should a new retail media network start with CPC or CPM?
Start with the product you can define, deliver and measure reliably. CPC suits a click-based buying proposition; CPM suits specified impression delivery. Neither removes the need for relevant inventory, clear event definitions and credible reporting. Use supplier objectives and evidence rather than a universal launch rule.
Is a rate-card price the same as realised yield?
No. The rate card states a quoted price, floor or booking rate. Realised yield reflects delivered billable volume and the actual agreed rate after discounts, credits and commercial terms. Report both so an optimistic asking price does not become a revenue forecast.
Can fixed tenancy promise impressions?
Only if the contract includes that commitment. A period-based reservation normally defines access to a placement for specified times. If it also guarantees volume, record how that volume is measured and what remedy applies when delivery falls short.
Related guides
- Retail media billing and reconciliation checklist: Reconcile retail media bookings, delivery, billable amounts, invoices and cash. Use a worked example with clear owners for credits, makegoods and disputes.