Frequency

The frequency states how often a campaign repeats — "2 repetitions per minute", "1 repetition per 5 minutes". Every frequency corresponds to a period, the interval between consecutive plays: 2 per minute means one play every 30 seconds. These docs use both views interchangeably; they are the same setting seen from two sides.

Frequency is the single most important setting of a campaign — everything else refines where those plays land.

Plays per block

The engine expresses frequency relative to the block:

plays per block = block duration / period
Table 1. Examples for a 60-second block
Period Plays per block Behavior

30 s

2

Two spots in every block, evenly spaced

60 s

1

One spot in every block

120 s

0.5

One spot every 2nd block

240 s

0.25

One spot every 4th block

Two regimes follow:

  • Plays per block ≥ 1 — the campaign appears in every block.

  • Plays per block < 1 — the campaign appears in some blocks only. Which blocks exactly is controlled by the starting block.

Fractional frequencies

The period does not have to divide the block evenly. You can request, for example, 7 plays per 2 minutes on a 60-second block — a period of 120/7 ≈ 17.1 seconds.

The engine honors such frequencies exactly: it finds the smallest whole number of blocks that contains a whole number of plays and plans that stretch as the loop. For 7 plays per 2 minutes, the loop is 2 blocks and contains exactly 7 spots.

You get precisely the frequency you asked for; the cost is a longer loop when the fraction is awkward.

Choosing periods that work well together

The engine handles any combination of periods, but some combinations produce better playlists than others. Two rules of thumb:

  • Relate periods to the block. Periods that divide the block (15 s, 20 s, 30 s at a 60-second block) or are whole multiples of it (120 s, 240 s) give the engine a clean rhythm to work with and keep the loop short.

  • Relate periods to each other. A mix of 60/120/240 shares a common rhythm; a mix of 45/70/240 does not, and forces a long loop with harder-to-balance spacing.

When a client asks for "about twice a minute", prefer a round 30-second period over an arbitrary 27-second one. You lose nothing observable and gain a cleaner, better-spaced playlist.

When demand exceeds capacity

If the campaigns together demand more air time than blocks provide, the mix is overbooked. What happens to frequencies then — proportional slow-down for everyone, or dropping the excess — depends on the playback policy, and can be vetoed per campaign with the Try not to lower frequency option.