Frequency
In advertising, frequency is the average number of times the same person is exposed to an ad or campaign over a given period
What it means, how it is used and where it comes up, with its related concepts.
What it is and how it works
It is calculated by dividing total impressions by reach, that is, by the number of different people who saw the ad at least once. If a campaign achieves 300,000 impressions among 100,000 people, average frequency is 3.
Alongside reach, it is a cornerstone of media planning. Too low a frequency may prevent the message from being remembered, while too high a frequency causes fatigue and annoyance, so many platforms allow it to be capped. Online, measurement per person is an estimate that depends on cookies, identifiers and signed-in sessions.
Also known as
Ad frequency, Average frequency
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