What Role Does Frequency Capping Play in TV?

This Addressable series is brought to you by Project OAR, the consortium of media companies aligned to bring standards for addressable advertising in linear TV. Learn more about the consortium here.

As addressable advertising heats up, one focus area will be frequency capping of brand spots, and how addressable handles this in a manner that traditional TV advertising cannot.

TV[R]EV's Alan Wolk explains more about addressable in the video above, discussing its role in TV and its importance for brands looking to make smarter ad buying decisions.

According to Alan, a major reason addressable TV advertising is growing right now is not so much to hit targeted audiences, but for frequency capping purposes.

Using a hypothetical example: If Ford is running ads, and somebody has just been binge-watching a show, and they could've seen 40 Ford ads over the course of eight episodes. Then, they're going to watch live linear TV, and see even more Ford ads there.

That consumer isn't going to care that the network and Ford didn't know they had just binge-watched and are now (accidentally) inundating them with messaging. They're just going to be annoyed that Ford is to sort of hammering them with ads. So addressable is a great way to indicate, “hey, this person has seen enough ads.” And, by the same token, can let you know when someone hasn't seen enough ads. If they were missing the other instances when Ford was targeting, Ford can make up for it on another airing or show.

If you'd like to learn more about addressable advertising, check out TV[R]EV's addressable hub, including our most recent reports on the topic.