Free calculator
Ad frequency calculator. How many times did each person see it?
Enter impressions and reach to get your average frequency. Or plan ahead: the reach your impressions buy at a set frequency, or the impressions and budget a reach goal needs. Free, in any currency. We ask for a work email once, before the first result.
Frequency = impressions ÷ reach
Your result
3.00
times each person saw the ad, on average
The maths
Reach counts unique people, so it does not add up across days. Frequency over 30 days is higher than the average daily frequency for the same ads, so compare like with like: same ads, same date range.
Reading the number
What a frequency number can and cannot tell you.
Frequency is an average
A frequency of 3 can mean everyone saw the ad three times, or that a small group saw it ten times while most saw it once. Watch the trend and the results next to it, not one number on its own.
Rising frequency with falling CTR is the warning
High frequency alone is not a problem. When it climbs while click-through rate falls and cost per result rises, the same people keep seeing an ad they have stopped responding to. That is ad fatigue.
Small audiences climb fastest
A retargeting audience of a few thousand people reaches a high frequency within days, even on a small budget. Broad audiences take far longer. Judge each by its own pattern.
FAQ
Ad frequency, answered.
What is ad frequency?
Ad frequency is the average number of times each person saw your ad over a period. Frequency = impressions ÷ reach. 360,000 impressions across 120,000 people is a frequency of 3.
How do you calculate frequency in digital marketing?
Divide total impressions by reach, the number of different people who saw the ad. Take both numbers from the same campaign and the same date range.
What is a good ad frequency?
No single number fits every account. It depends on audience size, the offer and how fast the creative tires. Watch frequency next to CTR and cost per result: the point where results start to slip as frequency climbs is your limit for that audience.
What is the difference between reach and frequency?
Reach is how many different people saw the ad. Frequency is how many times each of them saw it, on average. Multiply them and you get impressions: impressions = reach × frequency.
Why is my ad frequency so high?
Usually the audience is small for the budget, the same creative has run for a long time, or it is a retargeting audience. Widen the audience, add new creative, or move budget away from that ad set.
Can I cap frequency on Meta ads?
For some campaign types. Awareness campaigns set to maximise reach, and Engagement campaigns set to maximise ThruPlay views, let you set a frequency cap or a target frequency. Reservation buying lets you plan frequency in advance. Most sales and leads campaigns have no cap, so you manage frequency through audience size, budget and fresh creative.
High frequency is the symptom. A tired creative is the cause.
Marxx scores fatigue on every creative in your account from CTR, CPM, ROAS and frequency together, and shows which kind of hook, angle and format to make next, from your own results and your competitors' ads.