This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the different statuses your audience segments can have in Loop. Understanding these statuses will help you effectively monitor, manage, and activate your audiences for your marketing initiatives.
You'll find these statuses clearly displayed at the segment level within the "Segments" table in Loop.
Here you can find our segment statuses
Segment Status Overview
Here’s a quick look at the different statuses your segments can have:
Status | Definition | Volume Shown |
 | Your audience has been created but is still in the process of being populated with devices that match your defined rules. | Finding devices |
 | The segment population has exceeded the Service Level Agreement (SLA) defined for your client tier. | Finding devices |
| Your audience has been successfully populated with devices and is ready for activation, but it hasn't been assigned to any external destination yet. | - Normal segments: XX devices - Activation only / File import: No volume |
Adding destination | Your audience is currently being shared to one or more external platforms (DSPs, social platforms, etc.). This status indicates the sharing process has begun but is not yet complete for all selected destinations. | - Normal segments: XX devices - Activation only / File import: No volume |
| Your audience is fully populated and is actively being shared across all selected external destinations. Data is flowing smoothly, ready for your campaigns. | - Normal segments: XX devices - Activation only / File import: No volume |
 | An issue occurred during the creation or population of your audience. This means the segment could not be built as defined. | No volume |
 | A problem occurred while sharing your audience to one or more of your chosen external destinations (seats). The audience is populated, but there's an issue with its delivery to specific platforms. | XX devices (volume is visible despite the error, as the segment itself is populated) |
 | This audience has not been activated in any platform for 90 days, or it has not generated any impressions within 180 days. Loop automatically sets these segments to "Inactive" to optimize resource usage. | No volume (the segment is no longer actively maintained or delivered) |
Detailed Segment Status Definitions
Let's explore what each status means for you and your segments:
In progress
When you first create a segment, whether through the Planner, Geo, Keywords, or by uploading first-party data, Loop starts working to find all the devices that match your audience rules. This process can take some time depending on the complexity of your segment and the volume of data. During this period, the segment will show as "In progress" and you won't see a device count yet.
Most segments resolve quickly and transition to "Ready to share" within hours. If a segment remains "In progress" for an extended period and moves to "Delayed," don't worry – it often resolves itself.
Delayed
A "Delayed" status means that the population time for your segment has exceeded the agreed-upon Service Level Agreement (SLA) for your client tier. Since SLAs can vary by client, if you have questions about a "Delayed" segment, please reach out to your Account Manager or Support team for specific details and assistance.
Ready to share
Once your audience is fully populated with devices, it moves to "Ready to share." This means the segment is complete and awaiting your action to send it to an external platform.
From here, you can activate your segment by clicking the "..." menu next to it and selecting the option to share it to your desired DSPs or social platforms.
Volume: For Normal segments (audiences created via the Planner, Geo, Keywords, or first-party data uploaded to Loop's system), you'll see the total number of devices found. For Activation only / File import segments, no volume will be displayed here, as Loop doesn't internally populate or maintain these audiences (see explanation below).
Adding destination
Once you initiate sharing your "Ready to share" segment to one or more external platforms, its status will change to "Adding destination." This indicates that Loop is in the process of pushing your audience to the selected platforms.
It's important to note that while Loop initiates the transfer quickly, the time it takes for the audience to fully appear and become available on the destination DSP or social platform depends on that platform's systems. This can range from a few hours to sometimes longer.
What if there's an issue? If even one of the selected destination seats encounters an error during this process, the segment status will change to "Activation error." If some seats are still pending, but none have outright failed, it will remain "Adding destination."
Volume: Similar to "Ready to share," you'll see device volume for Normal segments, but not for Activation only / File import segments.
Delivering data
When your segment reaches "Delivering data" status, it means your audience has been successfully transferred and is actively available across all the external platforms you selected. Your data is now flowing smoothly, ready to power your campaigns.
Volume: You'll see device volume for Normal segments, but not for Activation only / File import segments.
Creation error
This status indicates that Loop encountered an issue while trying to create or populate your audience. This could be due to various reasons related to the segment definition or data processing. Unfortunately, no volume can be displayed for segments in this state, as they haven't been successfully built. If you encounter a "Creation error," please contact your Account Manager or Support team for assistance.
Activation error
An "Activation error" means that while your segment was successfully populated (and its volume is visible), there was a problem delivering it to one or more of your chosen external platforms (seats). The error is localized to specific destinations, meaning the segment might still be successfully delivered to other platforms.
For detailed troubleshooting and common causes of activation errors, please refer to our dedicated article: How to troubleshoot activation errors
Inactive
To ensure optimal system performance and focus on actively used segments, Loop will automatically mark a segment as "Inactive" if:
It has not been activated on any external platform for 90 days.
It has been activated, but has not generated any impressions within 180 days.
If a segment is actively being used in a DSP and is "Delivering data," it will never go inactive.
How to Reactivate: If you wish to use an "Inactive" segment again, simply click the "..." menu next to it and choose "Reactivate." When you reactivate a segment, Loop repopulates it using its original definition, making it available again for sharing.
Understanding Volume: Normal vs. Activation Only Segments
You've noticed that "Volume Shown" differs for "Normal segments" and "Activation only / File import" segments. Here's why:
Normal Segments: These are the audiences you create using Loop's standard data sources, such as the Loop Javascript Tag, API integration, or audiences built through the Planner, Geo, or Keywords features. For these segments, Loop actively processes, enhances, and maintains the audience data within our systems, allowing us to accurately display the device volume.
Activation Only / File import Segments:
This advanced method enables you to create audiences solely from personally identifiable information (PII) that you’ve hashed and uploaded. With "Activation Only" segments, you're bypassing Loop’s standard data enhancement and internal population features. Instead, Loop acts as a secure conduit: we take your hashed PII data and send it directly "as is" to your selected DSPs/SSPs for activation. Because we don't maintain or process this data in our internal systems, we don't have a device count to display. Learn more here
Conclusion
Understanding the various segment statuses in Loop empowers you to efficiently manage your audiences and ensure your campaigns are always running with the most relevant data. By monitoring these statuses, you can quickly identify when a segment is ready for activation, troubleshoot any issues, or reactivate past audiences, keeping your data strategy agile and effective.