What is Creative fatigue?

Also known as: Ad fatigue, Creative burnout

Definition

Occurs when the same ad or content is shown too often to the same audience — recognisable by rising CPM, falling CTR and weaker conversion.

In-depth explanation

Especially in paid social: an ad that had €5 CPM and €0.50 CPC in week 1 can drift to €12 CPM and €1.20 CPC by week 4. The algorithm has less room to show the ad to new people. Fix: rotate creative every 2-3 weeks for the same audience.

Example from agency practice

A client runs a video ad non-stop for 6 weeks. Week 1: ROAS 6. Week 6: ROAS 1.2. The agency refreshes the creative with a new video and hook: ROAS in week 7 = 5.8. Without rotation the budget would have been wasted.

Especially relevant for

  • Ads specialists
  • Strategists
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