> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.smaq.io/documentation/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.smaq.io/documentation/features/creative-intelligence/ad-fatigue-detector.md).

# Ad Fatigue Detector

Ad fatigue happens when the same audience sees the same creative too many times — engagement drops, CTR slides, costs creep up. SMAQ's Ad Fatigue Detector monitors your active Meta ads and flags the ones showing the fatigue signature: rising frequency, falling CTR.

### What you need

* A Meta Ads connection.
* Enough ad history for SMAQ to compute a baseline (at least 14 days of running ads).

### Configuration

> **\[Screenshot needed]** Ad Fatigue Detector config form with lookback days, frequency threshold, and CTR decline % fields.

#### Lookback days

How many days of data SMAQ uses to compute the trend. Default: 14 days. Increase to 30 if your run rates are slow.

#### Frequency threshold

The frequency level above which SMAQ considers an ad "saturating." Default: 3.0 (each user has seen the ad on average 3+ times).

* Lower threshold (2.0) → more sensitive, catches early fatigue.
* Higher threshold (4.0+) → only flags severely fatigued ads.

#### CTR decline percentage

How much CTR has to drop, week-over-week, for SMAQ to flag the ad. Default: 20% decline.

### Output

* Email listing fatigued ads with: frequency, CTR trend, CPM trend, last-7-day spend on that ad.
* Snapshot with the same data plus creative thumbnails.
* AI-written recommendation per ad: "Consider pausing — frequency 4.2, CTR declined 35% over the past week, $1,200 spent at 1.1% CTR."

> **\[Screenshot needed]** Example email output with three fatigued ads listed and an AI recommendation under each.

### Tips

* **Default thresholds are conservative.** If you're not getting enough findings, lower the frequency threshold or the CTR decline %.
* **Pair with** [**Audience Decay Monitor**](/documentation/features/creative-intelligence/audience-decay-monitor.md)**.** Fatigue and saturation often co-occur — fatigue is creative-level; saturation is audience-level.
* **Don't pause immediately on a single signal.** Cross-check spend and conversion data first. Some ads stay efficient at high frequency.

### Tier availability

* **Starter** — Ad Fatigue Lite (narrow scope, weekly).
* **Scale & Agency** — full Ad Fatigue Detector.

### Related

* [Audience Decay Monitor](/documentation/features/creative-intelligence/audience-decay-monitor.md) — companion automation focused on audience saturation.