Always-On vs Burst
Paid MediaAlso: Continuous vs Flighted Media · Sustained vs Campaign-Based Spend
Quick definition
Always-on and burst are two ways of scheduling paid media spend. Always-on keeps campaigns running continuously at a steady budget. Burst concentrates spend into short, intense windows around launches, sales or seasonal peaks, then pauses in between.
How it varies across Australia
Australian businesses with longer sales cycles or subscription models lean toward always-on to keep pipeline steady. Retail and events-driven categories lean toward burst around key seasonal windows. Most mature accounts we review run a blend rather than committing fully to either approach.
See acquisition patterns across Australian industries →What it actually means
Always-on is a tap left running. Burst is turning the tap on full for an hour then off again. Both move water, but the pipe behaves differently depending on which one you choose.
Always-on campaigns run continuously at a steady CPA or ROAS target. The advantage is compounding. Platforms like Meta and Google need conversion data to optimise, and pausing a campaign resets that learning. Always-on avoids the learning phase penalty that hits every time you switch a burst campaign back on.
Burst campaigns concentrate budget into short windows tied to a sale, a launch or a seasonal peak. They're built for moments when demand genuinely spikes, like end of financial year or Black Friday. The risk is that the algorithm is relearning from a cold start every time, which often means the first few days of a burst are inefficient by design.
The real decision isn't either or. It's what percentage of budget sits in each bucket, and whether your brand and conversion rate can support a spend spike without the funnel underneath it buckling.
Burst campaigns win the moment. Always-on campaigns win the muscle memory the algorithm needs to perform well in that moment.
The Australian context
Australia's smaller advertising market means auction volatility hits harder during burst periods. When every retailer bursts spend around the same seasonal windows, like Christmas or EOFY, CPMs spike because everyone is bidding into the same limited inventory at once. Always-on advertisers often get comparatively cheaper inventory the rest of the year, which partly offsets the missed seasonal peaks.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
Which is cheaper, always-on or burst?
Always-on is usually cheaper per acquisition over a full year because it avoids repeated learning-phase penalties and doesn't compete in the most expensive seasonal auction windows. Burst can look cheaper on a single campaign report while costing more once the whole year is accounted for.
Should small businesses run always-on or burst?
Small budgets often can't sustain meaningful always-on spend and genuine seasonal peaks at the same time. Most small businesses are better served by a modest always-on base with occasional bursts layered on top for real demand spikes rather than an arbitrary calendar.
Does burst spend hurt my always-on campaigns?
It can. A poorly timed burst can pull budget and audience overlap from your always-on campaigns, distorting both sets of results. Structure them as separate campaigns with clear budget splits so each one's performance data stays clean.
How long is the learning phase platforms reset after a pause?
It varies by platform and conversion volume, but Meta and Google Ads both typically need several days of consistent conversion data to re-stabilise delivery after a significant pause or budget change. That inefficiency is the real cost of stop-start burst scheduling.
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About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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