Objective

This article clarifies how Segment Linked Audiences behave when using the Import audience conditions option in the "Part of an audience" builder, specifically explaining whether dependent audiences inherit logic updates made to base audiences. When creating a Linked Audience that references an existing audience, marketers must choose how the audience calculates membership. This guide explains the difference between importing conditions versus using membership traits and confirms how editing a base audience impacts dependent audience execution.

Product

Segment

Environment

Segment Console

User Account Permission/Role(s) Required 

Workspace Owner

Procedure 

Step 1: Understand the two audience reference options
When building a Linked Audience that includes the Part of an audience condition, the Segment Console displays a configuration dialog with two execution methods:

• Import audience conditions: This setting copies the underlying filtering conditions from the referenced base audience and dynamically generates a combined SQL query at runtime. Because it queries the core data warehouse tables directly, it eliminates the normal data warehouse sync delay.  
• Use audience membership traits: This setting references the base audience's calculated membership trait table in your data warehouse. This option saves compute costs but requires the dependent audience to wait for the base audience to finish recomputing before it can see updated membership data.

Step 2: Understand what happens when you edit a base audience
If Audience B references Audience A using Import audience conditions, any logic changes made to Audience A are automatically inherited by Audience B on its next scheduled run.

When the product documentation notes that an audience using this setting "will run independently, even if the original audience is disabled or updated later," this refers strictly to compute execution schedules, not definition edits:

• If you disable Audience A or schedule it to run at a later time, Audience B does not wait for Audience A to compute.
• Audience B executes its own combined SQL query on its own independent schedule while automatically pulling the most up-to-date filtering rules from Audience A.

Step 3: Verify the active conditions of a dependent audience
Because dependent audiences dynamically compile the latest logic from their base audiences at runtime, you can verify the exact rules being applied directly in the Segment Console:

1. Navigate to Engage > Audiences and select your dependent Linked Audience.
2. Click the Builder tab to view the configuration.
3. Locate the Part of an audience condition block. The interface dynamically displays the active, real-time filtering rules it is inheriting from the referenced base audience.

Additional Information 

• The Import audience conditions configuration modal is exclusive to Linked Audiences (warehouse-connected mode) and does not appear when building classic real-time or batch Engage Audiences.
• When modifying an existing base audience that is referenced by other audiences, the Segment Console displays a warning modal listing all dependent consumers. Reviewing the Consumers tab on an audience overview page allows you to safely audit dependencies before saving changes.
• For more information on Linked Audience configuration, review the Linked Audience documentation.