Why can targeted advertising be smart enough to show me ads at home for something I searched on my PC at work, but not smart enough to not show me the same ad 10x in a row or for services for which I’ve already subscribed?
In: 128
Some advertisers insist on a “frequency cap” but many advertisers do not. The publisher selling the ad space would rather sell more impressions than fewer because when they sell more, they make more money. So if the advertiser didn’t ask for a frequency cap, the publisher won’t voluntarily implement one.
As for why more advertisers don’t ask for frequency caps — sometimes there is a middle layer between the advertiser and the publisher called an agency. The agency will be often be judged by the advertiser based on how cheaply they are able to buy each ad impression and since publishers want to sell more impressions than fewer, they give a discount when more impressions are bought at once. Because the agency wants to pay as little as possible for each impression and the publisher wants to sell as many impressions as possible the agency and publisher may decide not to use a frequency cap so more impressions can be part of the buy.
Even if the advertiser doesn’t work with an agency, they may also want to pay as little as possible for each impression. And some advertisers may believe or even have data which shows that showing their ad to the same person over and over is best.
Latest Answers