Flighting Media Schedule: What It Means in Advertising

Flighting is an advertising schedule strategy where campaigns run in intentional bursts called “flights” with pauses, or “hiatuses,” in between. Instead of running ads continuously, flighting focuses spending during high-impact periods and goes dark when reach is less likely to result in conversions.

This gives marketers greater control over budget, timing, and creative fatigue, especially in campaigns with seasonal demand, fluctuating budgets, or audience engagement windows that are fleeting.

How Flighting Works in Advertising

In a flighting schedule, your campaign is divided into active and inactive phases:

• Flights: Ads run at full frequency to maximize exposure during peak moments (e.g., holidays, product launches, enrollment periods).

• Hiatuses: Ads pause completely to conserve spend and reduce audience burnout.

This approach is common in:

• Retail and hospitality during seasonal spikes

• Healthcare and finance during regulated windows (like open enrollment or tax season)

• SMBs optimizing limited budgets for local or time-sensitive campaigns

Flighting applies across channels, including CTV, audio, mobile, and display, and plays exceptionally well with programmatic buying, where ad delivery can be finely tuned to calendar windows, audience behavior, and regional trends.