What does flighting mean?
Flighting is primarily a term from advertising and media planning describing a scheduling approach in which campaigns run in concentrated bursts — known as flights — separated by periods with no advertising at all. It contrasts with continuity scheduling, where a steady level of advertising is maintained year-round. Advertisers choose flighting when demand is seasonal, when budgets are limited, or when they want each burst to coincide with peak purchasing periods, accepting the risk that brand awareness may fade during the gaps. A related, older sense survives in British field-sports writing, where flighting refers to shooting game birds, such as wildfowl or pigeons, as they fly between roosts and feeding areas. The word derives simply from 'flight', the act of flying. Though narrow in its modern usage, flighting is essential vocabulary for anyone working in marketing, media buying, or traditional shooting sports.
An advertising scheduling strategy in which campaigns run in intermittent bursts separated by periods of no advertising.
"The client's seasonal sales cycle made flighting a far more efficient use of the media budget than continuous scheduling."
Used almost exclusively by media planners, advertisers, and marketing professionals.
The action of birds flying, especially as hunted or shot while on the wing (traditional British field-sports usage).
"Evening flighting over the estuary offered fine sport as the wildfowl came in to roost."
Now largely confined to traditional British shooting literature.
Rarely used in the plural; the singular is standard even when referring to the general practice. Plural forms occasionally appear in technical media-planning contexts referring to multiple separate flighting schedules.
"The two brands followed different flightings across their respective fiscal years."
Advertisers borrowed 'flighting' from the idea of birds taking wing: your ads don't fly all year — they take off in scheduled bursts.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of flighting
Flighting derives from 'flight', a noun formed in Middle English from the Old English verb 'flygan' ('to fly'), which traces back through Germanic roots shared with Dutch 'vlucht' and German 'Flucht'. The word originally denoted the act or manner of flying. The advertising sense arose in twentieth-century American media planning, when marketers began calling each scheduled burst of ads a 'flight' and the overall burst pattern 'flighting'. The older British field-sports sense — shooting birds in flight — reflects the word's long association with the movement of birds through the air.
Related word forms
How flighting is actually used
Flighting is chiefly a technical term within media planning and advertising; outside that field it is rare. In older British hunting writing, 'flighting' describes shooting birds as they fly to and from feeding grounds. The plural is not commonly used except in specialist contexts referring to individual flights.
Easily confused with flighting
Frighting means terrifying or frightening someone, whereas flighting refers to burst-based ad scheduling or the action of flying.
Alighting means descending from or landing (as from a vehicle), while flighting concerns bursts of activity or things in flight.