← DictionaryAd Fatigue
also called creative fatigue
Declining performance when an audience has seen the same creative too often.
The ad stopped working because people are sick of it.
What It Is
You will find Ad Fatigue in the Marketing layer, alongside the rest of Paid. What it actually refers to is declining performance when an audience has seen the same creative too often.
It is informal shorthand, so expect the meaning to move slightly from room to room. Once it is defined that clearly, arguments about it usually stop.
How It's Used
Most of the time Ad Fatigue is used in campaign planning, channel choices and the reporting that follows them. It is usually discussed together with Frequency, Ad Creative and Click-Through Rate. The practical test is whether it is understood by the person you are saying it to.
Why It Matters
Ignoring Ad Fatigue rarely fails loudly — it fails slowly. When it is unclear, spend keeps moving but nobody can say what it bought. It is worth pinning down before anyone builds on top of it.
It is shop talk — quick words people use because the proper phrase is too long. The ad stopped working because people are sick of it.
Termshift™
How the meaning shifts depending on who is using it, and where.
Practitioners use Ad Fatigue as shorthand and expect no explanation — declining performance when an audience has seen the same creative too often.
Outside the industry, most people would just say: the ad stopped working because people are sick of it.
Used casually it stretches to cover several nearby ideas, so it is safer spoken than written into a brief.
The Bottom Line
If you only keep one thing about Ad Fatigue: the ad stopped working because people are sick of it. Everything after that is detail.