Definition
Frequency capping limits how many times the same user is shown a given ad, campaign or creative within a defined period — for example, no more than three impressions per user per day. Its purpose is to avoid over-exposing an audience: past a certain point, additional impressions to the same person stop adding incremental response, start causing irritation and banner blindness, and waste budget that could reach fresh users.
The right cap depends on the format and the objective. Prospecting benefits from a low cap because the goal is reach and the marginal impression to an already-saturated user is low-value.
Retargeting can tolerate a higher cap because the audience is warm and a few reminders are useful, but even there an uncapped retargeting campaign that follows a user around the web for weeks damages brand perception. Caps are set per creative, per campaign, and sometimes account-wide.
In context
For iGaming, frequency capping intersects with both efficiency and responsible-gambling considerations. On the efficiency side, push and native campaigns to the same subscriber base fatigue quickly, so a per-user cap slows the CTR decay and stretches how long a creative stays viable.
On the responsible-gambling side, regulators and codes in several markets expect operators to avoid excessive or relentless exposure, and some require caps or cooling-off logic in retargeting and CRM messaging, particularly toward users showing risk indicators.
Frequency management also matters for measurement. An uncapped campaign concentrates impressions on a small heavy-viewing segment, which inflates frequency, depresses reach, and makes the campaign's cost-per-result look worse than a capped version reaching more distinct users would.
Buyers monitor average frequency alongside reach and CTR, and a rising average frequency with a falling CTR is a standard signal to lower the cap, refresh creatives, or expand the audience.
Worked example
A retargeting campaign runs uncapped for a month; average frequency reaches 22 impressions per user, CTR has fallen 60%, and the same 8% of the audience is absorbing most of the budget. Setting a cap of 3 per day and 15 per week restores reach to fresh users, CTR recovers, and cost per re-registration drops by a third.
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