Digital Lexicon Hub

A control that limits how often an individual or identifier is eligible to receive an advertisement within a defined period.

Frequency caps protect budget and brand perception by stopping spend from concentrating on a few people who have already seen an ad many times, which shifts delivery toward unique reach.

A display campaign sets a cap of 3 impressions per user per day and 10 per week. After a visitor sees the ad three times on Monday, the platform stops serving it to that user until the next day.

Caps rely on identifiers such as cookies or signed-in IDs, so users across devices or browsers may exceed the intended limit. Caps set too low can restrict delivery and raise costs, and the right frequency varies by format and goal.

A frequency cap specifies a maximum number of impressions or views per user within a time window, such as per day, week or month, and can apply at campaign, ad group, line item or creative level. The ad server counts exposures against an identifier and removes the user from eligibility once the limit is reached. Some platforms also apply caps across formats in the same campaign, for example combining in-stream and in-feed video views.