🔥 Tier 1 - Must KnowID: flightingScheduling
Flighting & Campaign Scheduling
How advertising spend is timed and paced across calendar periods
In Simple Words (Zero Jargon):
Timing your ad spend strategically throughout the year (e.g. saving budget for festival sales like Diwali instead of spending the exact same amount every day).
Why It Is Critical
Spreading budget evenly across every day is often inefficient. In India, the October-December festive period (Navratri to Diwali) drives massive consumer spending. CPMs rise 30-80%, meaning smart marketers build awareness in August-September and concentrate conversion spend during peak festival weeks.
Calculation Example & Benchmark Matrix
| Schedule Type | What It Means | Best Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous | Consistent spend every day throughout the period | Always-on brand campaigns, evergreen performance with steady demand |
| Flighting | Periods of heavy activity alternating with zero spend | Seasonal categories, event-based campaigns with limited budgets |
| Pulsing | Continuous low-level baseline with strategic spikes | Most common in India - baseline presence with spikes for Diwali/launches |
| Burst / Blitz | Maximum spend concentrated in a very short window | Product launches, 24-hour flash sales, competitive conquesting |
'The cheapest impressions are not always the most valuable ones. Spending in July when CPMs are low but purchase intent is also low is less efficient than spending more in October when CPMs are high but intent is at its peak.'
What You Get: A spend schedule that concentrates budget when the audience is most receptive and most likely to convert - not simply a flat daily budget spread across the calendar.