Glossary

Frequency

Frequency is the average number of times each reached person saw your ad: impressions divided by reach. It measures repetition: some repetition builds memory, too much burns budget and goodwill. Frequency is the early-warning metric for creative fatigue on Meta.

Formula: Frequency = Impressions ÷ Reach

How to read it

When frequency climbs while CTR falls, the audience has seen the creative too often. Refresh creatives or widen the audience before raising budget.

Where it misleads

Average frequency hides distribution: an average of 3 can mean most saw it twice and a small group saw it thirty times. Check frequency over shorter windows.

Related terms

Reach →

Reach counts the number of unique people who saw your ad at least once, as opposed to impressions, which count every display. Reach answers 'how many different people did we touch?', the core question of awareness campaigns, primarily reported on Meta.

Impressions →

Impressions count how often your ad was displayed, regardless of whether anyone clicked or even consciously saw it. Every appearance on a search results page, feed, or placement counts once. Impressions are the top of the advertising funnel: without them, no clicks, no conversions.

CTR (Click-Through Rate) →

CTR (click-through rate) is the percentage of ad impressions that resulted in a click. It measures how well your ad matches what the audience wanted in that moment. A high CTR means the message resonates; a low CTR means the ad, the audience, or the moment is off.

Metrics explained are nice. Metrics watched are better.

HeyMetrix monitors all of these across Google and Meta, with alerts and a nightly AI briefing.

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