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The Madison Avenue Field GuideA field guide to marketing & advertising, by Brandon Mina

GlossaryAdtech & ProgrammaticFrequency Capping

Adtech & Programmatic

Frequency Capping

A limit on how many times one person sees an ad over a set period.

By Brandon MinaCEO, BrandPilot AIUpdated November 2026

Short answer

Frequency capping is a limit on how many times a single person or device sees a particular ad within a set period, such as three impressions per day. It reduces wasted spend and ad fatigue from overexposure, and helps spread a budget across more unique people, though accurate capping depends on reliable identifiers across devices.