How many times should a household see your ad? Too few and they won’t remember you. Too many and you’re wasting budget (and annoying people). CTV lets you control this balance with precision broadcast can’t match.
What is Frequency Capping?
Frequency capping limits how many times a specific household sees your ad within a time period. You might set a cap of 3 impressions per day or 10 impressions per week.
Without frequency capping, some households could see your ad dozens of times while others see it once. That’s inefficient. The 25th impression to one household adds less value than the 2nd impression to a new household.
Optimal CTV Frequency
Most CTV platform guidelines suggest:
Weekly frequency: 4-8 impressions per household Daily frequency: 1-3 impressions per household
These numbers aren’t absolute. They vary by:
- Campaign goals (awareness vs. response)
- Creative wear-out (how quickly ads get stale)
- Competitive noise (busier markets may need more)
- Flight length (longer campaigns can afford lower weekly frequency)
But as a starting point, 4-8 weekly impressions is reasonable for most law firm campaigns.
CTV vs Broadcast Frequency Control
This is where CTV significantly outperforms broadcast.
Broadcast frequency control:
- Based on GRP estimates and panel data
- Market-level averages, not household specifics
- No way to cap individual household exposure
- Heavy viewers get over-exposed, light viewers under-exposed
CTV frequency control:
- Household-level precision
- Actual impression counts, not estimates
- Caps enforced per household across your campaign
- Cross-publisher capping (same household, different apps)
On broadcast, if someone watches a lot of TV, they might see your ad 30 times while someone else sees it once. You can’t prevent that. On CTV, you can cap at 10 impressions and ensure no household goes beyond that while you reach additional households instead.
Reach vs Frequency Tradeoffs
With any fixed budget, there’s a tradeoff:
High frequency, lower reach: Fewer households see your ad, but they see it many times High reach, lower frequency: More households see your ad, but fewer times each
Neither extreme is ideal:
- Too low frequency: Households see your ad once or twice and don’t remember
- Too high frequency: You’re paying to reach the same households repeatedly while missing others
The sweet spot balances enough frequency for recall without burning budget on over-exposure.
Diminishing Returns
The first few impressions to a household do the most work. Each subsequent impression has less incremental impact.
Impression 1: Household learns you exist Impression 2-3: Reinforces memory, builds familiarity Impression 4-6: Deepens awareness, may prompt action Impression 7+: Diminishing incremental lift Impression 15+: Minimal additional value, potential annoyance
The exact curve varies, but the principle holds: More impressions to the same household yields diminishing returns.
Setting Frequency Caps for Law Firms
Here’s a practical approach:
Start Conservative
Begin with a weekly cap of 5-7 impressions per household. This provides enough frequency for recall without extreme over-exposure.
Monitor Delivery
Watch how your campaign delivers. If you’re hitting caps quickly and can’t reach new households, you may need to lower frequency to extend reach.
Adjust by Creative
If you have multiple creative versions, you can tolerate slightly higher total frequency because viewers see variety. With single creative, wear-out happens faster.
Consider Flight Length
Short flights (2-4 weeks) can afford higher weekly frequency. Longer flights should moderate frequency to avoid fatigue.
Cross-Publisher Capping
Ensure your DSP or platform caps frequency across publishers, not just within each one. Otherwise, a household could see your ad 5 times on Hulu AND 5 times on Peacock.
The Bottom Line
CTV’s frequency control is a major advantage over broadcast. You decide how many times each household sees your ad, and the platform enforces it.
For most law firm campaigns, aim for 4-8 impressions per household per week. Start there, monitor performance, and adjust based on results. The goal is enough frequency to be remembered, without wasting budget on over-exposure.