An impression is a measurement. It isn’t the inventory.
CPM is useful.
Advertisers understand it. Agencies plan with it. It gives buyers a common way to compare very different kinds of media.
So Foro supports it.
But there is an important distinction between measuring media in impressions and pretending that impressions are the thing a venue actually owns.
They aren't.
A shopping centre owns screens in particular places. A retailer owns screens across its estate. A venue can give an advertiser a defined share of those screens for a defined period of time.
That is the inventory.
The impressions are an estimate of the audience that inventory is likely to deliver.
The distinction matters.
If a screen is expected to generate 18,000 opportunities to see an ad during a day, and an advertiser buys 20% of its loop, we can estimate the advertiser's share of those opportunities.
We can express the resulting campaign as an estimated CPM.
We can also work backwards. A buyer can tell Foro roughly how much they want to spend, or roughly how many impressions they want, and Foro can help assemble an appropriate campaign.
But underneath, Foro is still reserving something concrete.
Screens. Dates. Time. Share of voice.
We think that is a healthier foundation for venue media.
It means the venue always knows exactly what it has sold. It means two buyers cannot accidentally be promised the same piece of the same loop. It means a campaign remains intelligible even if the audience estimate changes later.
And importantly, it avoids turning an estimate into a guarantee.
A footfall model can improve. A sensor can be recalibrated. A better audience source can become available. Yesterday's estimate of 20,000 opportunities may become tomorrow's estimate of 24,000.
The physical campaign did not change.
The advertiser still bought the same screens, on the same dates, with the same presence on them.
This is how we think CPM belongs in venue media.
As a translation layer between the way buyers plan and the physical inventory venues actually control.
Not as a replacement for it.