How does frequency capping work in CTV advertising?

Frequency capping limits how many times the same ad is shown to the same viewer within a defined time period. Without frequency capping, a CTV campaign can serve the same creative 20+ times to the same household within a single day — wasting budget and irritating viewers. CTV frequency capping works at the device ID level: the DSP tracks how many impressions have been served to each device ID within the cap window (e.g., 3 impressions per device per day) and stops bidding for that device ID once the cap is reached. Setting an appropriate frequency cap — typically 3–5 impressions per device per week for awareness campaigns, 1–2 per day for performance campaigns — is one of the most important optimisation levers in India CTV.

Web advertising frequency capping uses browser cookies — a well-established identity layer that persists across sessions on the same device. CTV frequency capping uses device advertising IDs (GAID, TIFA, AFAI), which have two structural limitations: approximately 30–40% of India CTV impressions lack a valid device ID, meaning these impressions cannot be frequency-capped at all; and device IDs are device-level, not person-level, so a household's shared smart TV has one device ID even though multiple family members watch it. Frequency capping at 3 impressions per device per week may still feel excessive to a light viewer who shares the TV with 4 family members, all of whom see those 3 impressions.

Cross-publisher frequency capping in India CTV is not reliably achievable. If a campaign runs on both Zee5 and SonyLIV via DV360, DV360 can manage frequency across the impressions it has visibility into — but JioHotstar's direct inventory is outside DV360's frequency management. A household could receive 3 impressions from the DV360-managed buy on Zee5/SonyLIV and another 5 impressions from a separate JioHotstar direct IO, with no system linking the two to enforce a combined cap. For cross-publisher campaigns, build frequency caps conservatively on each individual publisher, recognising that the actual per-household frequency will be higher across all publishers combined. An 8–10 impression total per household per week is a common planning assumption for multi-publisher India CTV campaigns.