Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A number of blind decodings of a search space set for control information are defined. A search space of the search space set includes a subset of blind decodings. A reduction factor is determined. The reduction factor is applied to the subset of blind decodings to obtain a reduced subset of blind decodings for the search space. A reduced number of blind decodings of the search space set is identified based at least in part on the reduced subset of blind decodings for the search space. The control information is transmitted in a decoding candidate of the reduced number of blind decodings of the search space.