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Meta Ads Creative Fatigue & Frequency Decay Estimator

Interactive diagnostic to model creative frequency curves, calculate First-Time Impression Ratio (FTIR) decay, and forecast CPA escalation.

By Gordon Geraghty·MIT Licence·Updated: 21 August 2026·INTERMEDIATE·GitHub Mirror ↗

Meta Ads Creative Fatigue & Frequency Decay Estimator

Paid Media Diagnostic

Model creative saturation, first-time impression ratio decay (FTIR), and CPA escalation across Meta Ads audience segments. Identify your burnout threshold before efficiency drops.

Campaign & Audience Parameters

Fatigue Diagnostics & CPA Impact

Estimated Frequency
1.28x
177,778 total impressions
First-Time Ratio (FTIR)
88.2%
FRESH Status
Projected CPA
$44.64
+2.8% vs $43.44 baseline
Days to Burnout
86 Days
Risk: LOW
Efficiency Decay Comparison
  • Estimated Unique Reach:139,392 users (40% of pool)
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR):1.8% (from 1.85%)
  • Conversion Rate (CVR):2.8% (from 2.8%)
  • Auction Saturated CPM:$22.5 (from $22.5)
  • Cost per Acquisition Escalation:+$1.20 / order (+2.8%)
Fatigue Action Plan
  • Creative is fresh and delivering strong efficiency. Maintain current budget pacing and monitor weekly frequency trends.
Built by Gordon Geraghty, Head of PerformanceZero Data Sent to Server

Why First-Time Impression Ratio Outperforms Raw Frequency

Average campaign frequency hides audience concentration. In large audiences, a frequency of 2.5 often means 20% of users saw the ad 8 times while 50% saw it once. Tracking the First-Time Impression Ratio identifies creative fatigue earlier than aggregate frequency metrics.

Implementation Code & Script

Creative Fatigue Decay Modelcreative-fatigue-model.tstypescript

Calculates first-time impression ratio decay and projected CPA escalation across ad sets.

export function calculateFtirDecay(frequency: number, formatHalfLife: number = 1.0): number {
  const excessFreq = Math.max(0, frequency - 1.0);
  const rawRatio = Math.exp((-0.45 * excessFreq) / formatHalfLife);
  return Number((Math.max(0.05, Math.min(1.0, rawRatio)) * 100).toFixed(1));
}

How to cite and attribute this tool

MIT Licence

This resource is free, open and un-gated under the MIT Open Source Licence. You are encouraged to use, integrate and cite it with attribution:

Geraghty, G. (2026). Meta Ads Creative Fatigue & Frequency Decay Estimator. Gordon Geraghty Resources Hub. https://gordongeraghty.com/resources/performance-media/meta-ads-creative-fatigue-estimator
BibTeX Format
@misc{geraghty_meta_ads_creative_fatigue_estimator,
  author = {Geraghty, Gordon},
  title = {Meta Ads Creative Fatigue & Frequency Decay Estimator},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://gordongeraghty.com/resources/performance-media/meta-ads-creative-fatigue-estimator},
  note = {Head of Performance, Empire Amplify}
}

Changelog & Version History

  • v1.0.0Initial release of creative fatigue calculator with FTIR decay modeling.