Ad frequency
Also called frequency, frequency cap
What is ad frequency?
Ad frequency is the average number of times each person who saw an ad has seen it over a period. It is calculated as impressions divided by reach. If an ad got 30,000 impressions across 10,000 people, its frequency is 3. Ad platforms report it for every campaign, ad set and ad.
Frequency is an average, so it hides a spread: some people may have seen the ad once and others ten times. It rises fastest when the audience is small and the budget is large, as in retargeting campaigns.
A frequency cap is a limit you set on how often one person can see an ad in a given time. Some campaign types, such as reach campaigns, let you set one directly; others manage frequency automatically.
Why ad frequency matters
People rarely act the first time they see an ad, so some repetition helps memory and brand awareness. Too much repetition causes creative fatigue: results drop, costs rise and people may hide the ad or comment negatively.
Watching frequency next to click-through rate tells you when to refresh creative or widen your audience before money is wasted.
How to manage ad frequency
- Calculate it as impressions divided by reach, for the same date range.
- Track it over time alongside CTR and cost per result.
- If frequency climbs while CTR falls, rotate in new creative.
- For small audiences, lower the budget, widen the audience or set a frequency cap where available.
- Accept higher frequency for warm audiences such as recent site visitors, who expect to see you again.
Ad frequency example
Frequency = impressions / reach
48,000 impressions / 12,000 people = 4.0Ad frequency FAQ
What is a good ad frequency?
There is no universal number. Cold audiences often tire sooner than warm ones. Instead of a fixed target, watch for the point where more frequency stops bringing results and starts raising costs.
What is the difference between reach and frequency?
Reach is how many different people saw the ad. Frequency is how many times, on average, each of them saw it.
Related terms
Creative fatigue is when an ad stops performing because the audience has seen it too often, so clicks fall and costs per result rise.
Impressions are the total number of times content was shown on screen, counting repeat views by the same person. Reach counts people.
Reach is the number of unique people who saw a post or ad at least once. Impressions count every view, including repeats.
Retargeting shows ads to people who already interacted with your business, such as site visitors or video viewers, to bring them back to buy.
CPM, or cost per mille, is what an advertiser pays for 1,000 ad impressions. It is the standard way to compare the price of reach across platforms.