Frequency cap
A frequency cap limits how often a single user sees your ad over a time window, preventing audience burnout and creative fatigue.
What does Frequency cap actually mean?
A frequency cap sets a ceiling on how often a single user sees your ads in a defined window, for example no more than 3 impressions per user per week. The goal is to prevent audience burnout, conserve budget for unique reach, and reduce creative fatigue.
Meta's Advantage+ campaigns largely abstract away manual frequency caps in favor of automated optimization, but you can still set them on legacy campaign types and on TikTok and Google. Frequency thresholds vary by goal: brand-awareness campaigns tolerate frequency 5-10 per week; performance campaigns aim for 1.5-3 per week to maximize unique reach.
Frequency tracking is also a diagnostic for creative fatigue. Rising frequency without rising conversions is the canonical sign that an ad has saturated its audience. Most performance teams refresh creative when frequency exceeds 3-4 per week without hitting target CPA.
Example
A DTC brand sets a frequency cap of 3 impressions per user per 7 days on a cold prospecting campaign, ensuring no single user is shown the ad more than 3 times.
When it matters
Frequency caps prevent creative fatigue from burning budget. Most platforms now automate this, but you still need to understand the lever when troubleshooting underperforming campaigns.
Related terms
Creative fatigue
Creative fatigue is performance decay caused by users seeing the same ad too many times, measured by rising CPM and frequency.
CPM
CPM is the cost to serve 1,000 impressions of your ad. It signals audience competitiveness and seasonal demand.
Retargeting
Retargeting serves ads to users who have already interacted with your brand: visited the site, watched a video, or added to cart.
Reach
Reach is the number of unique users who saw your ad at least once during the campaign window.
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