What is Frequency Capping?

What is Frequency Capping? 

Frequency capping, referred to as an F-cap, is the number of times a single user has seen an ad within a given timeframe. F-caps are optimized by carefully analyzing audience behaviors, and considering factors such as reach sizes, campaign goals, and daily budgets. Campaigns with more narrow audience targeting settings may be set to unlimited F-caps, while larger audiences may be set to serve up to 3 ads within a 10 minute browsing session to achieve maximum brand impact.

Additional FAQ’s

If I have an F-Cap set, am I guaranteed to serve a certain number of impressions served to an account within a given time period?

F-caps should be viewed as a limit, not a goal, and are not guaranteed. They are completely dependent on the browsing patterns of targeted users; if users don’t appear online, we will not be able to serve them ads. 

If my F-cap is set to one impression per hour,  is it possible to exceed that limit?

Yes, this is possible. Supply Side Publishers* have different bid request protocols. They will sometimes send multiple bid requests for different ad sizes on a single page, therefore making it possible to win several bid requests at the same time, prior to the f-cap being enforced. 

*A supply-side platform is used to sell advertising in an automated fashion. SSPs are most often used by online publishers to help them sell display, video and mobile ads.

Do I need to tell my CSM what I want my F-cap settings to be?

Not at all, we’ve got you covered! Our dedicated Ad Operations team regularly evaluates F-caps as an integral part of the optimization routine, and proactively evaluates performance metrics to make frequent adjustments that will drive more quality traffic to your site.