Segment and Trait Time-to-Live Explained

How trait time-to-live (TTL) interval affects segment membership.

Time to Live

TTL defines how long a site visitor remains in a segment after the last trait qualification event. TTL is set on traits and not on segments. Visitors fall out of a segment if they do not qualify for a trait before the end of the TTL interval. The default TTL for new traits is 120 days. When set to 0 days, the trait never expires. Set the TTL value when you create or edit a trait in the Advanced Options section of the trait creation interface.

1 Day TTL Explained

When setting the TTL to 1 day, the TTL timer starts the next day after trait realization, not counting the hours left in the trait realization day.

Audience Manager calculates TTL expiration for traits with 1 day TTL based on the following formula:

24 + (24 - Hour of the day the trait was realized, in UTC)

TTL and Dropping Out of a Segment

A user falls out of a segment if they do not qualify for any of its traits within the TTL interval. For example, if you have a 1-trait segment with a 30 days TTL, the user will drop out of that segment if they do not qualify for the trait again within the next 30 days.

TTL and Segment Renewal

The TTL resets, and the user remains in a segment, if they qualify for that segment’s trait within the TTL period. Also, because most segments contain multiple traits with their own TTL intervals, a user can remain in a segment, and reset the TTL interval, as long as they keep qualifying for any traits associated with the segment.

For example, say you have Segment 1 composed of Trait A (30 day TTL) and Trait B (15 day TTL). Assuming a visitor qualifies for each trait only once, the illustration below outlines the TTL renewal process and total in-segment duration.

Audience Manager TTLs are Independent of Third-Party TTL Settings

Remember, the TTL set on your Audience Manager pixel operates independently from the TTL set on other pixels used by third parties (DSPs, ad networks, etc.).