E-Marketer ran an article on April 24 by Grace Harmon, “Spray-and-Pray Tactics and Ad Repetition Risk Alienating Audiences,” that sounded very familiar. The last two Januarys, I conducted ad hoc content analyses for this column while streaming local broadcasts of NHL games on the ESPN app. The repetition of spots in a 2½-hour game was ridiculous. A major agency’s research now says the same thing.
The article cited a recent Omnicom study that raised the specter of “negative reach.” It is defined as “the point at which repeated impressions frustrate consumers and damage brand perceptions.” Per Omnicom, over 60% of consumers report seeing the same ad multiple times in a single session on streaming and social platforms, resulting in rising frustration.
Supposedly, half would pay something to avoid seeing the same ad multiple times in a single piece of content. However, it’s OK to see the same ad across platforms.
In my 2026 ESPN analysis, I was presented with 15 spots for Tremfaya, ten spots for TikTok, and nine for Kalshi. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 34 spots for just three advertisers. If memory serves, Tremfaya had more than one execution, but both TikTok and Kalshi offered me the same commercial each time.
When Streaming Ads Wear Out Their Welcome
Last weekend, we watched the last two episodes of this season’s The Pitt on HBO Max. Did you know that ro.com offers a GLP-1 equivalent? We do, because Serena Williams told us — and told us again, sometimes multiple times in the same break.
What’s the fix for this serious problem in streaming advertising? E-Marketer had some advice:
- AI can help by making minor variations of copy, visuals, and formats based on geography, recent browsing activity, and audience segments to keep creative fresh while maintaining relevance.
- Agencies can then be used to refine top performers and preserve brand quality by adding strategic oversight and creative polish. They can also help develop high-impact campaign concepts that can be iterated on at scale through AI.
What brilliant suggestions! Let’s have AI fix the problem! If only TikTok’s agency had used AI to modify the spot enough so that I would have enjoyed the ten spots they ran in a single hockey game. Perhaps AI could fix it for ro.com when their agency ran three spots in a three-spot break.
Am I stupid (don’t answer that) or does this article appear to say that far too much frequency is ok if the spots are changed just a bit by AI? This reveals something sad about the thought process in the advertising world today. Rather than question whether this is the best use of an advertiser’s budget, let’s just modify the creative a bit using AI and keep wasting additional money on streaming. I’m not suggesting that streaming advertising doesn’t work, just that overdoing it — which costs money — is wasteful.
Radio and Audio Deserve a Seat at the Budget Table
Wouldn’t the more logical answer be “Perhaps we can repurpose some of our budget to other media?” Could radio or audio be an option? While I understand that pharma is much tougher to do in audio because you can’t hide all those awful potential side effects in unreadable text on a screen, could TikTok or Kalshi put some money into audio? Just tell your agency that you don’t need a ten frequency in a single sports event.
If one medium is saturated, try spreading the message around and find the people that don’t use — or are light users of — the first medium.
Meanwhile, Omnicom’s report points to their efforts to get around the problem in the programmatic space. Their release heralds the company’s collaboration with leading streamers such as Amazon, Disney, Fox, NBCU, and others on a content planning capability to better manage frequency. Sounds good.
But to my mind, that means that with the same budget, the spots might be spread around more streams. Which might mean landing on less desirable or less appropriate content for the message. I’ve seen Dove spots on streamed hockey games (and not Dove for Men). Yeah, that works.
The Fix?
Agencies sometimes do strange things, and that hasn’t changed since the early days of electronic media. The burden falls on the advertisers to understand where their dollars are going and why.
Let’s reframe the old John Wanamaker quote about not knowing which half of his advertising money was wasted.
Instead, ask: “I know half of my impressions are overkill and bothering my potential customers, but I don’t know which half?”
The answer to that question is: in an age of massive data, go find out. And when you do, ask how other media can supplement your message, reach more light users, and improve your sales.
Let’s meet again next week.
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