A limit set on how many times a single user can be shown a specific ad within a defined period, to prevent the same person from seeing the same ad excessively.
Why it matters
Without a frequency cap, an ad can be shown to the same small pool of people so many times that it becomes annoying or invisible (banner blindness) rather than effective — a frequency cap helps manage ad fatigue and spread budget across a wider audience.
In a sentence
"We set a frequency cap of three views per week per person after noticing performance dropping when the same ad appeared too often."
Related terms
- Often confused with: Reach (a frequency cap is a setting that limits repeat exposure; reach is the resulting metric measuring how many unique people were shown the ad).