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Decoding the Jargon

Creative fatigue

Also called ad fatigue

Performance marketingTerm

When an audience has seen the same ad so often that it stops responding, so results fall and costs rise. Meta flags it in Ads Manager when an ad set's creative is being shown too often to the same people.

Example

After three weeks of the same festive carousel to past customers, Meera's frequency reached 15 and her CTR fell by more than half. She swaps in new photos and the CTR recovers.

How you'll hear it

“That ad's fatigued; frequency is up and CTR is down, so let's rotate in the new shoot.”

Don't confuse it with

  • Frequency: the number that often signals fatigue.
  • A bad ad: performs poorly from day one; a fatigued ad worked well and then declined.

Related terms

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Sources

  1. Creative fatigue recommendations in Meta Ads Manager, Meta Business Help Center
  2. Frequency, Meta Business Help Center

Checked 1 October 2026. Examples use a fictional business; figures are illustrative.

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