> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://dugble.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Audience

> Understand how Dugble determines which contacts are eligible for a broadcast.

A broadcast starts with a segment, but segment membership alone does not guarantee delivery. Dugble evaluates each contact against email eligibility rules before the message is queued.

## Starting audience

The broadcast's `segment_id` defines the starting audience. Contacts in that segment become broadcast candidates when recipients are materialized.

For each candidate, Dugble stores a contact snapshot that includes identity fields and custom properties used during rendering.

## Exclusion rules

A contact can be excluded when:

* the email address is invalid
* the contact is globally unsubscribed from email
* the email address is suppressed
* the broadcast has a topic and the contact's effective subscription for that topic is `opt_out`

These exclusions are recorded on the broadcast recipient with an `exclusion_reason` such as `invalid_email`, `global_unsubscribe`, `suppressed`, or `topic_unsubscribed`.

## Topic preferences

When a broadcast has a `topic_id`, Dugble evaluates the contact's explicit topic subscription. If no contact-specific preference exists, the topic's `default_subscription` is used.

A resulting `opt_out` excludes the contact from the broadcast.

If no topic is attached to the broadcast, topic subscription rules are not applied.

## Eligibility is checked again before fanout

Dugble rechecks important eligibility conditions before an individual recipient is queued. This helps catch changes that happen after the initial audience snapshot, such as a new suppression, a global unsubscribe, or a topic opt-out.

A contact that is no longer available can also be excluded at this stage.

## Audience and eligible counts

`audience_count` represents the starting audience captured from the segment. `eligible_count` represents the recipients that remain after exclusions are applied.

Use the exclusion summary when you need to understand why contacts were removed from the send.

<Note>
  Segments answer who you want to target. Subscriptions, unsubscribe state, and suppressions answer who is allowed to receive the email.
</Note>