Ad Frequency
The average number of times each unique person in your target audience has seen your ad.
Formula
Why it matters
Frequency is the leading indicator of creative fatigue. As the same audience sees the same ad repeatedly, CTR drops and CPA rises. Monitoring frequency lets you rotate creatives before performance degrades.
How to improve Ad Frequency
Introduce new creatives when frequency exceeds 3 for cold audiences, expand the target audience size to distribute impressions more broadly, or use frequency caps in ad settings.
For prospecting campaigns: 1.5–3. For retargeting: 4–8. Above 8 typically signals creative fatigue.
Prooflytics tracks Ad Frequency automatically from your connected sources and flags it in your daily briefing when it moves significantly.
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Calculate frequency from impressions and reach
Frequency
Frequency = Impressions ÷ Reach
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Frequently asked questions
At what frequency does creative fatigue start?
For cold prospecting audiences on Meta, creative fatigue typically begins when frequency exceeds 3–4. CTR starts to drop and CPM rises as the algorithm recognises declining engagement. For retargeting, audiences tolerate higher frequency (6–10) before fatigue sets in.
How do I reduce frequency?
Three options: expand your target audience size, rotate new creatives into the ad set, or set a frequency cap in campaign delivery settings. Rotating creatives is usually most effective for maintaining performance.