The 90-Day Rule: Why Smart Advertisers Rotate Their Creative
You spent real money on that commercial. Good production, solid message, looks great on screen. You put it into rotation and watched the early numbers come in — strong views, decent engagement, people actually paying attention. New customers are saying they saw it and the analytics reports back that up. Awesome, it’s working as it should.
Then somewhere around month three, something quietly changed. The views are still there, but the engagement dropped. People aren't clicking, aren't calling, aren't doing anything. Your commercial became wallpaper.
This is called media fatigue, and it's one of the most common — and most preventable — ways advertising budgets get quietly wasted.
The 90-Day Cliff
Here's what the analytics actually show: most audiences start tuning out a repeated commercial after about 90 days of consistent exposure. It's not that your ad is bad. It's that the human brain is wired to stop processing things it's already seen. After enough exposures, your commercial stops registering as information and starts registering as background noise to tune out.
Think about the last time you actually watched a commercial you'd seen a hundred times. You didn't. You looked at your phone.
Your potential customers are doing the same thing to your ad right now and that’s money wasted.
The fix isn't complicated, but it does require a shift in how you think about production. Instead of treating one commercial as a finished product, treat it as a campaign. Two or three variations — can even be the same message, but let’s mix it up with different visuals, maybe a different call to action, or a special offer. Or, if you use testimonials in your commercial, use different ones.
This gives you the ability to rotate fresh creative into your media buy and keep audiences actually watching. The production cost of a second or third version is almost always far less than the wasted spend of running a fatigued ad for six more months. AND, typically if we plan ahead we can shoot multiple commercials at the same time, so you only pay for the additional editing, not another day of filming.
You're Also Probably Talking to the Wrong People
Even if your creative stays fresh, there's another problem worth addressing: who's actually seeing it.
Traditional broadcast TV was a blunt instrument. You bought a time slot, crossed your fingers, and hoped the right people were watching. A lot of them weren't. You were paying to reach people who would never be your customer, had no interest in what you sell, and were already reaching for the remote.
Connected TV — CTV and OTT platforms like streaming services and smart TV apps — changed that completely. Today, your commercial can be targeted to specific demographics, zip codes, income levels, purchasing behaviors, and interests. If you sell kitchen remodeling services in Greenwich CT, your ad can run specifically for homeowners in the area who've recently been browsing home improvement content. Not just anyone who happens to have the TV on.
The ROI difference is significant. You're not buying eyeballs anymore — you're buying the right eyeballs. Every impression is working harder because it's reaching someone who actually has a reason to care and because of that, they are less likely to tune out when your commercial comes on.
Pair that targeting with fresh creative that rotates before fatigue sets in, and you've got a media strategy that actually compounds over time instead of quietly fading out.
Don't Forget Who Else Is Watching
Here's one more thing that's often left on the table: multicultural audiences.
The NY tri-state area and Long Island is one of the most diverse media markets in the country. Spanish-speaking households, South Asian communities, East Asian communities — these are real, reachable audiences with real buying power, and most of them are being ignored by advertisers who only produce content in English. When they see a commercial in their native language, they take notice.
A Spanish-language version of your commercial isn't a niche play. It's reaching a massive, underserved audience that's significantly less saturated with competing messages. The response rates on well-targeted multicultural campaigns consistently outperform their English-language counterparts for this exact reason — the competition for attention is lower and the relevance is higher and price for air-time is usually lower.
If your competitors aren't doing it, that's an opening. If they are, you can't afford to ignore it.
Make It Easy for People to Act
One last thing, and it sounds simple because it is: put a QR code in your commercial.
Someone's watching your ad on their TV. They're interested, but we want them to act right away and not have to remember your url for later. A QR code lets them pull out their phone right then, scan it in two seconds, and land directly on your site, your contact page, or a specific offer. They can bookmark it, share it, or fill out a form while your commercial is still playing.
It's a tiny production detail that closes the gap between "I saw that ad" and "I actually reached out." Don't leave that step out.
The Bottom Line
A great commercial is only as effective as the strategy around it. Rotate your creative before fatigue sets in. Target your media buy so you're reaching people who actually want what you offer. Don't leave multicultural audiences on the table. And make it easy for interested viewers to take the next step.
If you want to talk through what a fresh campaign rotation looks like — or what targeted CTV could do for your specific market — we've been doing this for over 25 years in the NY tri-state area. Let's figure out what's right for your budget and your goals.
Author Bio:
Mike Meyerson, owner of Absolute Motion, helping businesses and organizations in NY and beyond, for over 25 years.
