Reach & Frequency Calculator
This calculator estimates reach, average frequency, and gross rating points from your campaign budget, CPM, and audience universe size. It is a standard media planning tool for anyone constructing a campaign brief or evaluating whether a media plan delivers adequate coverage of the target audience. The tool models the diminishing returns on reach as frequency increases, so you can see where additional budget shifts from expanding reach to building frequency — a distinction that matters for both brand and direct-response objectives.
Inputs
Results
How this is calculated
Enter your total impressions or budget and CPM, your target audience universe size, and the calculator produces estimated reach percentage, average frequency, and GRPs, along with a reach-curve visualization of how additional impressions distribute.
Every model runs locally in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between reach and frequency?
Reach is the number or percentage of unique people in your target audience who are exposed to your ad at least once during a campaign. Frequency is the average number of times each reached person sees the ad. Total impressions equal reach multiplied by frequency. Reach matters for awareness objectives where you want broad coverage; frequency matters for persuasion and recall objectives where repetition is needed to shift attitudes or drive action.
What is an effective frequency for advertising?
The concept of effective frequency — a minimum number of exposures needed to produce an effect — has been debated in media planning for decades. The historic rule of three exposures comes from Herbert Krugman's 1972 research but is widely considered too simplistic for modern multi-channel environments. Research by Binet and Field suggests that for brand-building campaigns, reach should generally be prioritized over frequency, while direct-response campaigns benefit from higher frequency to identified in-market audiences.
How do GRPs relate to reach and frequency?
Gross Rating Points, or GRPs, equal reach percentage multiplied by average frequency. A campaign with 60% reach and an average frequency of 3 delivers 180 GRPs. GRPs are a summary measure of campaign weight that allows media planners to compare the overall delivery of campaigns without specifying the reach-frequency split. Target Rating Points (TRPs) are the same calculation applied only to your target demographic rather than the total population.