Creative fatigue is setting in faster than ever - especially on platforms like TikTok, where short ad lifespans demand constant innovation and fresh ideas. As marketers, staying ahead of the competition is not just about visibility - it’s about building lasting connections and driving conversions.

To hit targets, your creatives need to resonate and stay fresh to sustain their impact. Identifying and addressing ad fatigue is key. Creative analytics helps you nail this process.

What is creative fatigue? 

Creative fatigue occurs when ad performance drops due to repeated exposure to the same creative elements, leading to a decline in engagement and conversion rates. As audiences repeatedly encounter the same visuals and messaging, familiarity sets in, and attention drops, making your thoroughly created ads ineffective. 

Creative fatigue behaviors vary by ad platform given different dynamics. For instance, TikTok favors fresh, engaging content. As a result, content has a short lifespan, often leading to creative fatigue in 1-2 weeks. To prevent fatigue, Tiktok requires creatives to be refreshed weekly by editing parts of existing videos - hook, CTA, etc. On the other hand, creative fatigue develops more slowly on platforms like Meta and Google.

Creative fatigue hurts performance, but the good news is that there are strategies to prevent and counteract it.

Creative fatigue vs ad fatigue

Ad fatigue and creative fatigue are often used interchangeably, but they cover distinct parts of ad performance. 

Ad fatigue happens when audiences become desensitized to a specific ad due to excessive repetition. 

Creative fatigue, however, goes beyond a single ad. It occurs when a brand’s ads feel overly repetitive because they have similar elements (wording, message, or picture) - even if they are technically different ads. Over time, this overexposure makes the entire creative approach less impactful, reducing engagement across multiple ads rather than just one.

How to identify creative fatigue

1 - Automatic notifications

Platforms are developing notifications around creative fatigue.

For example, Meta notifies you with a warning message both before and after a campaign is active. 

However, such automatic notifications only apply to a few ad types and platforms. Thus, they are not enough. Teams need to perform manual analysis and diagnosis to identify creative fatigue. 

2 - Manual analysis and diagnosis

Manual diagnosis involves looking at various ad campaign metrics to determine whether your ad is suffering from creative fatigue.

Depending on campaign goals (e.g., reach vs conversion), teams will focus on different KPIs. Here’s an overview of key metrics.

1/ Awareness

Frequency: This metric helps identify potential overexposure. If frequency increases beyond your target range, it may signal creative fatigue.

Reach: A stagnation or decline in reach suggests that your ad is no longer reaching new users and is instead being shown to a limited audience.

Impressions: A decline in impressions indicates that the ad is being shown less frequently, often due to poor performance.

2/ Engagement

Click-through rate (CTR): A declining CTR is one of the first signs of ad fatigue. As your audience sees the same ad too often, their interest may wane, leading to fewer clicks. Monitoring CTR over time helps catch early fatigue signals, prompting a creative refresh before performance further declines.

Engagement rate: Decreased likes, comments, and shares on social platforms can indicate creative fatigue.

View-through rate: For video ads, a drop in view duration or completion (usually less than 3 seconds) rates can signal audience fatigue.

3/ Conversions

Return on ad spend (ROAS): A declining ROAS suggests that the creative is no longer effective in driving valuable actions.

Cost per acquisition (CPA): An increase in CPA suggests that you are spending more to achieve the same campaign goals, indicating inefficiency and that your ad may be losing impact. Fresh creative might be needed to reignite engagement and improve conversion rates.

Cost per mille (CPM): If your ad shows signs of fatigue, you may see an increase in CPM. The platform's algorithm typically rewards high-performing ads with lower CPMs, but as audience resonance declines, CPMs tend to rise, reflecting decreased interest in that ad.

3 - How to get ahead of creative fatigue

Staying on top of creative fatigue is a key optimization lever. However, monitoring performance is often hard, especially for teams managing many creatives across multiple platforms.

The solution? Set automated alerts based on specific thresholds to spot fatigue early on.

While the marketer's interpretation cannot be (yet) replaced, using AI and automation to detect patterns and alert marketers is definitely the way to go.

The most advanced teams are building specific scores (hook score, watch score, click score, convert score) and setting up alerts.

How to combat creative fatigue?

Combating creative fatigue is at the heart of effective creative optimization. Once you have identified creative fatigue, there are a few ways to combat it: 

• Run continuous A/B tests - Compare different versions to see what resonates best with your audience. Testing frequently and iterating on successful elements - concepts, elements, formats, hooks, CTA - keep ads engaging and aligned with your audience preferences.

• Try simple visual tweaks - Oftentimes simple changes like adjusting the ad background, font or scenery move the needle

• Establish frequency caps - Adjust the number of times a specific user sees your ad. Creative fatigue is more likely when you’re showing your ads to a smaller group of people. You can also try tactics like automatic rules, ad rotations and ad schedulers.

• Diversify your creative assets - Make different versions of your ads, and switch them around during your campaign to keep people interested. Change things like copy, colors, CTA, etc.

• Update ads regularly - Introduce fresh ad creatives, or refresh your existing assets, to provide new stimuli for your audience. You can also experiment with different ad formats (carousel ads, video ads) and try new combinations to pique the audience’s attention.

• Use dynamic ads - Dynamic ads are your typical static ads, but they change into a slightly different version each time you hit refresh. As the ad is always changing, your audience won’t get bored of seeing the same thing over and over again.

• Exclude past users for a specific time frame - In this case, past users are those who have already engaged with your posts, know what you’re advertising, and clicked through your ad but didn’t convert. If you continue showing this bunch your ad, you’ll only pester them, leading to creative fatigue. 

Key takeaways - the power of creative optimization

• Creative fatigue occurs when ad performance drops due to repeated exposure to similar creative elements, causing declines in engagement and conversion rates across multiple ads.

• Ad fatigue vs. creative fatigue: Ad fatigue results from high exposure to a single ad, while creative fatigue happens when repetitive elements appear across multiple ads.

• Identify fatigue by tracking metrics like CTR, CPA, ROAS, CPM, and impressions to spot early signs.

• Best practices to combat fatigue:

  • Run continuous A/B tests

  • Make simple visual tweaks

  • Set frequency caps

  • Diversify creative assets

  • Update ads regularly

  • Use dynamic ad formats

  • Exclude past users temporarily

Let's Dashboard it!

In one of our ‘Let's dashboard it’ episodes, we reveal how to identify creative fatigue across all your ads in less than a minute.

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