Glossary

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.

How to read it

Reach next to impressions gives you frequency (impressions ÷ reach). For awareness goals, growing reach matters; for conversion goals, the right reach matters more than the biggest.

Where it misleads

Reach is modeled, not counted person-by-person; cross-device users and shared accounts blur it. Treat it as a good estimate, not a census.

Related terms

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.

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.

CPM (Cost per Mille) →

CPM (cost per mille) is the price for one thousand ad impressions. It's the standard buying unit for awareness and social campaigns, where you pay for visibility rather than clicks. CPM tells you how expensive it is to be seen by your audience.

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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