As more people spend more time watching YouTube, especially on their home TV sets, frequency capping has become a bigger consideration – because seeing the same ad over and over again is just annoying, and can hurt brand reputation and impact.

In line with this, Google has today announced that it’s adding new frequency control options into YouTube campaigns, providing more ways for advertiser to manage how often their promotions are displayed to each user.

As explained by Google:

“Earlier this year, we announced our frequency management solution on Display and Video 360 that allows marketers to manage the number of times people see their ads across YouTube and third-party networks. We’re now taking that a step further to revolutionize reach and frequency-buying on YouTube. This will help advertisers optimize towards more precise reach and frequency, while ensuring that we continue to provide a suitable advertising experience for viewers.”

Under the new process, advertisers will be able to select a weekly frequency goal, which will then enable YouTube’s systems to optimize towards maximum unique reach at the desired rate.

Though, of course, you should also probably have some idea of how much is too much in this respect, because repeated exposure can actually be good for branding, until it isn’t.

According to research conducted by Nielsen, traditional TV advertisers’ return on investment decreases by 22% when audiences see their ads more than 5 times in one week, and 41% when frequency exceeded 6+ weekly impressions.

That’s slightly different with online channels, but there is going to be a level where it’s too much, and frequency capping provides an option to manage this, and mitigate ad fatigue to optimize performance.

It could be a good way to maintain brand awareness, without going too far, and it could be a valuable addition to your planning.

You can learn more about YouTube frequency capping here.