airtime

noun

air·​time ˈer-ˌtīm 

1

: the time or any part of the time when a radio or television station is on the air

2

: the time at which a radio or television broadcast is scheduled to begin

Examples of airtime in a Sentence

The committee plans to buy radio airtime for the campaign ads.

Recent Examples on the Web

Because congressional sessions and hearings represent a big portion of C-SPAN’s programming, the politicians faced diminished airtime without a deal. —David Bauder, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2025

One potential remedy now gaining traction is the media-for-equity model, a financing approach where startups trade small amounts of equity for premium advertising space or airtime. —Jaime Catmull, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025

Obviously, the overall deliveries are instrumental in establishing the average unit cost for each 30-second sliver of airtime, but when a half-minute is commanding $8 million a pop, there’s only so much extra dough that can be squeezed out of the Big Game’s sponsors. —Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 2 Sep. 2025

In Walter Boys, more of the Walter parents’ lives are explored, and Katherine’s career as a vet is one of the arcs that gets more airtime. —Julia Moore, People.com, 31 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for airtime

• bedtime
• daytime
• downtime
• enzyme
• halftime
• lifetime
• longtime
• lunchtime
• mealtime
• meantime
• nighttime
• noontime