Before we jump into the results from Hill’s Pet’s recent access to Meta’s Beta feature on target frequency, let’s talk about a metric everyone references but few brands actually know how to act on: frequency.
What is frequency in advertising?
Frequency is the number of times a single person is exposed to your ad over a specific period. Get it right and your ad is memorable, impactful, and effective. Too high, and your audience tunes you out. Too low, and you’re invisible.
Why frequency matters to brands and advertisers
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Brand Recall Frequency cements your brand in the minds of your audience. If someone isn't seeing your ad at least 3x a week, you're leaving opportunity on the table. |
Message Penetration Complex messages need repetition. If your product requires nuance to explain, a higher frequency gives you the runway to get that across. |
Action Prompting Repeated exposure nudges audiences toward action. The third or fourth impression is often what converts a passive viewer into a buyer. |
What is Meta’s Target Frequency Beta?
Target frequency helps you achieve an average weekly frequency goal. You set the average number of times per week you want people to see your ads — giving you more precision than traditional frequency caps, which historically delivered too few or too many impressions.
While target frequency has existed in reserve buys, Meta’s Beta brought it into standard auction campaigns — opening up a new realm of targeting capabilities. The goal: a more balanced frequency distribution and higher average frequency at scale.
Success for Hill’s Pet via Meta’s Target Frequency Beta
Hill’s Pet is a CPG retailer in the pet food industry. Since the 1940s, Hill’s has been prioritizing the health of pets around the globe with their iconic Prescription and Science Diet lines. At Trevant, Hill’s Pet is one of our most innovation-forward brands — constantly at the forefront of alphas, betas, and closed testing groups to accelerate their paid digital program.
Why Hill’s Pet was the right fit
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Test & Learn Mindset |
Hill's Pet constantly seeks performance improvements and new capabilities to test. |
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Upper Funnel Focus |
Frequency has been a key priority for Hill's Pet's auction-based awareness campaigns — finding the sweet spot between broad reach and optimal frequency. |
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KPI Impact |
The team was eager to test the efficacy of target frequency by reviewing impact on primary and secondary KPIs: CPM, clicks, video views, sales, and more. |
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Brand Awareness |
Hill's Pet had clear business reasons to push target frequencies across new and existing audiences: product launches, short campaign durations, and a desire to drive brand awareness. |
"Frequency plays a pivotal role in reinforcing our brand message and fostering trust and familiarity with our customers. Finding the sweet spot between exposure and repetition is a challenge we take seriously, so we appreciate that Trevant and Meta bring these new testing features to our attention so we can continue to learn and improve."
AMANDA OWENS
Social Media Strategy Manager, Hill's Pet Nutrition
The Test Design
Trevant ran a 16-day A/B split test (no holdouts required) comparing the existing frequency cap setup against Meta’s new Target Frequency feature. Target: 3x frequency per 7 days, with targeting, flighting, and budget kept consistent across both cells.
Hypothesis: Target frequency (Cell B) will maximize reach at the desired frequency level, resulting in higher average frequency.
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Cell A — Control Frequency Cap Ad Set 1: Broad Cat Interests Ad Set 2: Broad Dog Interests |
Cell B — Test Target Frequency Ad Set 1: Broad Cat Interests Ad Set 2: Broad Dog Interests |
The Results
The test confirmed the hypothesis: target frequency (Cell B) maximized reach at the desired frequency level, delivering higher average frequency over the 16-day flight.
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+76% Higher average weekly frequency |
+73% Higher single average weekly frequency |
+11% Higher video completion rate (VCR) |
Key Considerations
Target Frequency drove a 3x average weekly frequency vs. Frequency Capping’s 1.7x, and a 4x single average weekly frequency vs. 2.3x. The trade-off: increased media costs (+11% CPM) and lower overall reach (-49%). Frequency capping reached 11.9M users vs. Target Frequency’s 6.1M users over the same period.
On the back end, Target Frequency also delivered an 11% higher VCR and a 35% higher estimated ad recall rate.
Trevant’s Point of View
- We recommend leveraging Target Frequency for initiatives promoting newer products or time-sensitive messaging, where depth of impression matters more than broad reach.
- Frequency capping remains a strong default for maximizing reach and household penetration.
- If testing again, we’d recommend a lower target frequency setting (e.g., 2x/7 days or 3x/10 days) to mitigate the reach trade-off.