About

In advertising, the tradeoff between Reach (how many people see the ad) and Frequency (how often they see it) defines the campaign strategy. A high frequency ensures brand recall, while high reach expands brand awareness. This calculator assists media planners in determining the necessary budget to hit specific targets or, conversely, estimating the potential audience size given a fixed budget and CPM (Cost Per Mille/Thousand). Balancing these variables is critical to avoiding ad fatigue or insufficient market penetration.

Formulas

The relationship between money, views, and people is governed by these linear equations:

Impressions = (BudgetCPM) × 1000

Reach = ImpressionsFrequency

Budget = Reach × Frequency × CPM1000

Reference Data

Variable	Symbol	Definition	Typical Unit
Budget	B	Total ad spend allocated	$ USD
CPM	CPM	Cost per 1,000 Impressions	$ 5 - 50
Impressions	I	Total number of times ads are shown	Count
Frequency	f	Avg. views per unique person	1 - 8
Reach	R	Unique people exposed	People

Frequently Asked Questions

This depends on the campaign goal. For brand awareness, a frequency of 1-2 might suffice. For direct response or sales, the "Rule of 7" suggests a user needs to see an ad roughly 7 times before taking action. However, digital platforms often cap frequency at 3-5 to prevent user annoyance.

If you don't know your CPM, divide your total ad spend by the total impressions and multiply by 1000. Example: ($500 / 100,000 views) * 1000 = $5.00 CPM.

This tool calculates "Gross Reach" based on mathematical averages. In multi-channel campaigns (Facebook + Google + TV), there is significant duplication. This tool assumes a single channel or deduped data environment.

Impressions count every single view, including multiple views by the same person. Reach counts unique individuals. If Frequency is greater than 1, Reach will always be lower than Impressions.