TikTok creative fatigues faster than anything else in paid social. Catching it a few days early is the difference between trimming waste and watching ROAS fall off a cliff.
The signals worth watching
- Frequency climbing. When the same users see an ad too often, performance decays. Rising frequency is the earliest warning.
- CTR decline. A steady drop in click-through against a stable baseline usually means the creative has gone stale.
- CPM creep with flat results. Paying more to reach the same audience for fewer outcomes is a fatigue tell.
- Watch-time falloff. On a video-first platform, shrinking completion rates signal the hook has worn out.
Thresholds, not absolutes
There is no universal “fatigue number” — it depends on audience size and budget. The reliable approach is to baseline each creative's first days, then alert when the trend bends against it. That is exactly the kind of pattern an always-on agent is good at: it watches the slope so you do not have to.
What to do about it
Once fatigue is flagged, the fix is rarely “pause everything.” It is usually a creative refresh: new hooks, new formats, a fresh angle on a proven offer. AdNexus drafts the flag and the suggested swap; you approve the ones that fit your brand.