How to use the ad reach calculator
Reach is the number of people who saw your ad at least once; someone who saw it ten times still counts as one person. So the figure this page returns is unique reach, not impressions. The formula is unique reach = total impressions ÷ average frequency, which is the same relationship the ad frequency calculator solves in the opposite direction.
Average frequency must be at least 1, because by definition anyone reached was exposed at least once. With 480,000 impressions and an average frequency of 3.2, unique reach is 150,000 people.
Add a target population and you also get reach rate as a percentage. The population is the group you want in the denominator: the number of people matching your targeting criteria, or the size of your own customer list. Leave it blank and the reach rate and not-reached rows stay hidden, so only unique reach is shown. What counts as a good reach rate depends on channel, budget and audience size, so this calculator does not suggest a benchmark.
Frequently asked questions
No. Unique reach counts people, so it cannot exceed the population. If it does, one of impressions, frequency or population is wrong, and the calculator shows a message instead.
Duplicate viewers across channels cannot be removed, so the sum overstates reach. Calculate each channel separately and apply your own overlap assumption if you need a combined figure.