<b>Q: I just created an audience. Why is it nearly empty when I know thousands of users qualify?</b>

<b>Q: I just created an audience. Why is it nearly empty when I know thousands of users qualify?</b>

A: Audiences populate going forward and only backfill a little.
— On creation, GA4 retroactively adds users from roughly the last 30 days who match, then grows daily. Older matching users never join.
— Membership also depends on the data still being in the lookback window and the user being identifiable.

If you need an instant full list, build it in an Exploration with the same conditions, that reads all historical data; the Audience is for forward-looking activation (Ads, etc.).

TL;DR: Audiences backfill ~30 days then grow forward. For full history, use an Exploration segment instead.

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