New vs. Classic Experience Comparison

Starting in 2024, we began updating the mParticle Segmentation suite to make it more intuitive and easier to navigate. As part of this effort, on March 20th, 2025, we merged two features in the mParticle UI: Real-Time Audiences and Journeys.

This new, unified experience for Audiences is referred to as the New Experience. The previous, separated version is referred to as the Classic Experience.

To summarize:

• The New Experience provides a user interface that merges Real-Time Audiences and Journeys. This new, merged feature set is called Audiences.

  • Shared Audiences and Standard Audiences can be accessed from the New Experience under Segmentation > Classic Audiences in the left-hand navigation. Selecting Shared or Standard Audiences from the left hand navigation will automatically switch you to the Classic Experience.
• The Classic Experience is the previous version of the UI that offers Real-Time Audiences and Journeys as separate features.

While much of the core functionality in the New Experience remains unchanged, this side-by-side comparison describes the current differences between the Classic and New Experiences.

For a less detailed overview of the transition from the Classic Experience to the New Experience, see the Segmentation FAQ.

Feature names and definitions

The Segmentation suite contains distinct features that allow you to create and manage different kinds of audiences. Before discussing the detailed differences between the Classic and New Experiences, it’s important to establish a clear, high-level understanding of what features are available within Segmentation, what these features are called, and which Experience (Classic or New) they are available in.

Segmentation

Segmentation is the name of the mParticle suite that contains all features related to creating audiences – groups of users based on shared criteria. There are currently two versions of Segmentation you can choose from: the Classic Experience and the New Experience.

Classic Experience

The Classic Experience is a version of Segmentation in which each feature used to create different audiences types is distinct.

The features available in the Classic Experience are:

• Audiences (Previously referred to as “Journeys”) - contains the Audience Group Editor, which allows you to create groups of related audiences that are each based on different criteria.
• Real-time Audiences - create “real-time audiences”, which are audiences based on recently received data.
• Standard Audiences - create “standard audiences”, which are audiences based on long-term historical data.
• Shared Audiences - audiences that have been shared between workspaces within the same mParticle account.

New Experience

The New Experience is a version of Segmentation in which Real-time Audiences and Journeys have been merged into a single feature that is simply called “Audiences”.

The features available in the New Experience are:

• Audiences (the merged version of Journeys and Real-time Audiences) - create groups of related audiences that are each based on different criteria, but can be updated in real-time based on recent data.

Navigating between the New and Classic Experiences

By default, the New Experience is enabled for all mParticle accounts, but you will be able to switch between the New and Classic experiences until June 30, 2025.

The options displayed when you hover your cursor over Segmentation in the left hand navigation vary depending on whether you have selected the New or Classic experience.

Selecting the Classic Experience

To switch to the Classic Experience from the New Experience:

1. Using the left-hand navigation, hover your mouse over Segmentation and select Audiences.
2. At the top of the page, you will see “You are viewing:” followed by “New Experience”.
3. Hover your mouse over “New Experience” and click Go to Classic Experience.

Navigation options for the Classic Experience

When you select the Classic Experience, the following options are available under Segmentation in the left hand nav:

• Audiences

• Classic Audiences

  • Standard Audiences
  • Real-time Audiences

Selecting the New Experience

To switch to the New Experience from the Classic Experience:

1. Using the left-hand navigation, hover your mouse over Segmentation and select Audiences.
2. At the top of the page, you will see “You are viewing:” followed by “Classic Experience”.
3. Hover your mouse over “Classic Experience” and click Go to New Experience.

Navigation options for the New Experience

When you select the New Experience, the following options are available under Segmentation in the left hand nav, depending on what types of audiences are currently in use in your deployment:

• Audiences

• Classic Audiences

  • Standard Audiences
  • Shared Audiences

How to find and edit your audience in the New and Classic Experiences

Which experience an audience can be found and edited in depends on three factors:

• The experience the audience was created in
• The specific tool used to create the audience (for example, Real-Time Audiences or Journeys)
• Which experiences the audience has been edited from since being created

Following are three examples of the visibility and editability of a real-time audience based on three scenarios:

1. The audience was created in the Real-Time Audiences page of the Classic Experience
2. The audience was created in the Journeys page of the Classic Experience
3. The audience was created in the New Experience

Scenario 1: Real-time audience created in the Real-Time Audiences page of the Classic Experience

If your real-time audience was created in the Classic Experience via the Real-Time Audiences page:

	Classic Experience		New Experience	Options in the UI
	Real-Time Audiences	Journeys	Audiences
Visible by default?	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	Editable in Classic (Real-time) and New Experiences
Visible after being edited in the Classic Experience?	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	Editable in Classic (Real-time) and New Experiences
Visible after being edited in the New Experience?	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Hidden in Classic (Real-time), but editable in Classic (Journeys) and New Experiences

Scenario 2: Real-time audience created in the Journeys page of the Classic Experience

If your real-time audience was created in the Classic Experience via the Journeys page:

	Classic Experience		New Experience	Options in the UI
	Real-Time Audiences	Journeys	Audiences
Visible by default?	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Editable in Classic (Journeys) and New Experiences
Visible after being edited in the Classic Experience?	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Changes reflected in both Classic and New Experiences; editable in both Classic and New Experiences
Visible after being edited in the New Experience?	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Visible and editable in both Classic and New Experiences

Scenario 3: Real-time audience created in the New Experience

If your real-time audience was created in the New Experience:

	Classic Experience		New Experience	Options in the UI
	Real-Time Audiences	Journeys	Audiences
Visible by default?	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Fully editable in both New and Classic (Journeys) Experiences
Visible after being edited in the Classic Experience?	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Changes are applied in both Classic and New Experiences
Visible after being edited in the New Experience?	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Audience remains editable in both New and Classic Experiences

Audiences Landing Page

The updated Audiences landing page serves as a central hub for managing your existing audiences, giving you direct access to key actions like downloading, previewing, and activating audiences without needing to navigate elsewhere. It also consolidates critical information like audience size, connected outputs, and data from both Standard and Real-time Audiences..

While the new audiences landing page looks similar to the classic Real-time and Standard Audiences, it contains the following improvements and differences:

Personalization

The New Experience offers greater customization options by providing a combination of columns, filters, sorting fields, and advanced search features.

More relevant columns

Classic Experience

In the classic experience, all data relevant to the type of Audience is displayed in the table by default. This could result in missing or excessive information depending on the Audience type. The table display is fixed and cannot be customized.

New Experience

In the new experience, a default set of columns is shown in the table, offering a cleaner starting point. You can show or hide specific columns to personalize your view based on your workflow needs, improving efficiency and focus.

More usable and searchable tags

Classic Experience

The Classic Experience supported audience tagging, but you had to enter the exact tag name if you were assigning an existing tag to an audience. The UI didn’t show a list of all available tags. This required a very consistent approach to naming tags and increased the chance that multiple tags could be created accidentally because of typos or other errors.

New Experience

The New Experience lists all existing tags, so you can search for relevant ones, and create new tags, all within the same interface. This eliminates guesswork and offers full visibility into the tag inventory, making it easier to maintain consistency and reuse tags effectively. Learn more in Audience Tags.

Creating audiences

Classic Experience

When creating an audience in the Classic Experience, the refresh cadence you needed determined whether you had to use Real-Time Audiences, Standard Audiences, or Journeys. Furthermore, you had two options to create a real-time audience: the Real-Time Audiences page and the Journeys page.

New Experience

In the New Experience, to create a real-time audience you must first create an audience group, then you can create an audience within that group, specifying your audience criteria.

To start creating an audience:

1. From the Audiences landing page:

   • First, click the + New Audience button on the top right hand corner of the Audiences landing page. This creates a new audience group that is automatically opened in the Audience Group Editor.
   • Next, from the Audience Group Editor, define your new audience by clicking + Add Audience Criteria.

2. Alternatively, from an existing audience group:

   • From the Audience Group Editor, add a path or add a new audience at the end of an existing path.

After Standard and Shared Audiences have been merged with the New Experience, you will be able to create any audience type from this single, centralized tool, eliminating the need to switch between Real-Time, Standard, or Journeys.

Audience Groups

An audience group is a collection of related audiences that all draw from the same data inputs. They are used to group a collection of audiences that all serve the same or similar use cases. In the Classic Experience, audience groups were called journeys.

Audience Groups introduce a new and more intuitive way to build complex, nested audiences, making it easier to implement and manage your segmentation strategy. Instead of organizing every criterion in a long, sequential list, you can now create distinct audiences for each key piece of logic, allowing you to clearly visualize how they connect and interact. This new structure gives you greater flexibility and control, with the ability to customize refresh cadences, preview sample results, and access detailed analytics.

It is important to note that some information and operations are available at the audience level vs. audience group level. Some operations are available from the landing page and some are available from the editor. As an example, you can activate/connect an audience, not an audience group. Similarly, you can see add/drops for an audience, not an audience group.

Available info	Audience group	Audience within a group
Size	✅ Sum of all activated unique MPIDs	✅ Activated Audiences = Size ✅ Calculated Audiences = Size ✅ Inactive Audiences = Estimates
Status	-	✅ Activated ✅ Calculated ✅ Inactive
Adds	-	✅
Drops	-	✅
Volatility	-	✅
Total Audiences	✅ Total number of audiences in the group	Will always be 1
Activated Audiences	✅ Total number of activated audiences within the group	Will be 1 or 0
Last Updated	✅ Date/time of the last updated audience within the group	✅ Date/time the audience was last updated
Created by	✅ The creator of the first audience within the audience group	✅ The creator of the audience
Last modified by	✅ The user that last modified an audience within the audience group	✅ The user that last modified the audience
Tags	-	✅
Connected Outputs	✅ The list of all connected outputs of the audiences within the group	✅ The list of all connected outputs for the audience

Available actions	Audience group	Audience within a group
Preview	-	✅
Download	-	✅ Only if audience is activated
Activate	-	✅
Delete	✅ Only if the audience group is empty	✅
Cloning	✅ By adding a new audience from the landing page	✅ By adding a path ✅ By adding an audience

Audience Group Editor

The Audience Group Editor serves as the primary place for marketers to define their segmentation strategy. Within the editor, you can create 1 or more audiences, connect audiences to outputs, create audience splits, etc. — all in one place. It offers a canvas-like experience similar to the Journeys interface in the Classic experience.

Previously, an audience consisted of two components: a milestone, which contained the defining criteria, and the audience card, which contained detailed settings like which outputs the audience was connected to. You had to switch between these components within the Audience Group Editor to manage their respective settings.

In both the Classic Experience and the New Experience, the concepts of milestones and cards have been combined into a single element so you can access all key audience details (name, ID, size, connected outputs, status, and environment) from a single location. This is more intuitive and eliminates confusion around where to find specific settings or information.

Cloning an audience

Classic Experience

In the Classic Experience, you could clone an audience using the overflow menu on the Audiences landing page. This was available for both real-time and standard audiences. However, cloning was limited to duplicating entire audiences from a list view, with no control over where the cloned audience appeared in a broader, logical structure.

New Experience

In the Audiences Group Editor, click the Add branch icon, or click the + icon at the end of a path.

Select “Start from existing audience” in the Create Audience modal.

This new cloning workflow unlocks the full potential of the Audience Group Editor, where visually organizing nested audiences leads to deeper insights, easier troubleshooting, and greater control over complex segmentation strategies.

Nested Audiences

Classic Experience

Nested audiences were created using stacked lists of criteria within a single audience. To review or edit a nested audience, you had to open the audience builder and scroll through long, complex lists of multiple audiences.

New Experience

Each set of criteria can now be built as its own audience, allowing you to use the new build, preview, analyze workflow to refine segments more effectively. Visualizing nested audiences as modular building blocks makes troubleshooting, optimization, and collaboration much easier. As an additional bonus, you are only billed for only the nested audiences that you explicitly activate and connect.

Audience Activation

Classic Experience

In the Classic Experience, audiences could only be activated from within the audience builder during creation. In Journeys, activation was only possible once an output was connected, limiting flexibility and control.

New Experience

Audiences can now be activated from multiple locations: the Audience landing page, the Audience Group Editor (via the overflow menu on the Audience card), the Audience builder, and in the audience’s output connection settings. This offers greater flexibility to accommodate different workflows and preferences.

Audience Status, Estimates, & Calculations

Classic Experience

Inactive audiences

In the Classic Experience, audiences with a status of inactive displayed estimates based on a small sample size. These estimates did not reflect the actual size of the audience, and were intended only to give an idea of the potential reach of an audience.

Inactive audiences could not be connected to downstream outputs, nor would they be listed on the profiles of users in the audience.

Active audiences

In the Classic Experience, audiences could only be activated during the audience creation process.

Active audiences displayed their actual size, and they would be listed on the profiles of users in the audience. Active audiences could be connected and forwarded to downstream outputs.

To deactivate an audience in the Classic Experience, you had to delete the audience. There was no way to preserve the audience’s definition.

New Experience

Inactive audiences

Similar to the Classic Experience, newly created inactive audiences in the New Experience display a preliminary estimate based on a small sample size that is labeled Sampled.

However, in the New Experience, inactive audience estimates change from Sampled to Precise estimates roughly 10 minutes after creation.

Active audiences

Once an audience is active, it is given the Calculated label, which indicates that the size displayed is the actual size of the audience. Audiences with the Calculated label do not count toward your billing/quota if they are not connected to an output.

Active audiences are listed on the profiles of users contained in the audience, and they can be connected to downstream outputs. Connecting an inactive audience to a downstream output will activate the audience.

You can activate or deactivate an audience from the Audiences landing page, the Audience Group Editor, or the Audience Builder.

Unlike in the Classic Experience, you can deactivate an audience without deleting the audience’s definition.

Refresh Cadence and Environments

Classic Experience

By default, all audiences aggregated data from both development and production environments and could not be modified. This resulted in development/test data sometimes making its way into production accounts downstream.

New Experience

Newly created audiences now default to using production data only, but users can easily change the environment setting to suit their task. The user can also edit this setting for existing audiences.