# Campaign Budget Calculator

> Size the right creator-marketing budget for a target CPM and view count, including creator fees and optional agency margin.

Source: https://influtics.com/llm/tools/campaignBudget.md

The Campaign Budget Calculator answers a single question: "given a target
reach and a CPM, how much should I plan to spend?" It also separates creator
fees from agency margin so the user can see how much money actually reaches
creators vs. how much is overhead.

## Formula

`total_budget = (average_views_per_creator × creator_count × CPM) / 1000`

If an agency is involved, an agency-fee percentage is added on top:

`total_budget_with_agency = total_budget × (1 + agency_fee_percent / 100)`

The creator-fees line is the same number as `total_budget` when there is no
agency; when there is, creator fees are `total_budget` (the agency fee is a
markup, not a separate pool).

## Inputs

- **Average views per creator** — expected reach per creator over the
  campaign lifetime. Use the creator's last 5–10 posts median or pull from
  Influtics's analytics for tracked creators.
- **Number of creators** — how many creators the campaign will engage.
- **CPM (USD)** — cost per 1,000 views. Typical range $5–$30 for organic
  influencer content; up to $60+ for tightly-targeted finance or B2B SaaS.
- **Agency fee (%)** — leave 0 if running in-house; set to your agency's
  typical markup (commonly 10–25%).

## Output

- **Total budget** — what to put on the SOW
- **Creator fees** — what reaches creators
- **Agency margin** — the agency's cut, when applicable

## When to use it

- Sizing a campaign budget from a reach target: "I want 5M views, CPM is
  $12, how much should I plan to spend?"
- Comparing in-house vs. agency: drop the agency fee in, see how much
  overhead it adds
- Pitching a campaign to a client: "to hit the target reach we need X
  creators at an average CPM of Y, total budget Z"
- Sanity-checking a creator-marketing invoice against the campaign plan

## Worked example

A SaaS brand wants 4,000,000 views over a 6-week campaign. Average views per
creator is 250,000 (typical for a micro-tier). They want 16 creators. CPM is
$14. The campaign is run in-house, so agency fee is 0%.

total_budget = (250,000 × 16 × 14) / 1,000
             = (4,000,000 × 14) / 1,000
             = 56,000,000 / 1,000
             = **$56,000**

With a 20% agency fee:

total_budget_with_agency = 56,000 × 1.20
                         = **$67,200**

creator_fees = $56,000 (unchanged)
agency_margin = $11,200

## Limitations

- The formula assumes a fixed CPM, but in practice CPM varies wildly by
  creator tier and platform. Use the CPM Calculator to sanity-check the
  rate-card assumption if needed.
- Organic reach on Instagram and Facebook has been declining since 2018;
  CPM estimates calibrated to 2024 data may overstate what a similar
  campaign delivers today.
- This calculator does not include production costs (b-roll, editing,
  approvals) — those typically add 10–25% on top of creator fees.

## Related

- Rate Card Calculator: https://influtics.com/llm/tools/rateCard.md
- CPM Calculator: https://influtics.com/llm/tools/cpm.md
- Campaign ROI Calculator: https://influtics.com/llm/tools/campaignRoi.md
- Page: https://influtics.com/tools/campaign-budget