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

# Broadcasts

> Send an approved template to many contacts at once — now, later or on repeat: audiences, exclusions, per-recipient variables, drafts, delivery status and re-targeting.

A broadcast sends one approved template to many people — one real message each, through your own number, with per-recipient personalisation and per-recipient delivery status. It is not a group message: nobody sees anyone else.

**WhatsApp → Broadcasts** is the one place for them. **New broadcast** opens a four-step wizard, and its last step decides whether the broadcast goes out now, once at a time you pick, or on a repeating schedule. Members with the Agent role or above can create one.

<Note>
  A broadcast is always a template send, because most of the audience will be outside the [24-hour window](/whatsapp/messaging-window). Only **Approved** templates are offered.
</Note>

## Step 1 — Template

Pick from your approved templates. Each card shows the name, Meta category, body and language. If the list is empty, create one first: [Message templates](/whatsapp/templates).

<Warning>
  Changing the template later in the wizard clears every value you had filled in — variables, header media, button values, carousel cards. They are keyed to one template's shape, so carrying them across would send the wrong things without saying so.
</Warning>

## Step 2 — Audience

| Audience                  | What it means                                                  |
| ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **All Contacts**          | Every contact in this workspace                                |
| **Filter by Tags**        | Contacts carrying any of the tags you pick                     |
| **Saved Segments**        | One or more [segments](/contacts/segments), unioned            |
| **Custom Field**          | A custom field that **is**, **is not** or **contains** a value |
| **Upload CSV**            | A list of phone numbers, with optional names                   |
| **Re-target a broadcast** | The recipients of an earlier broadcast, by outcome             |

Re-targeting offers three outcomes, and they mean different things:

* **Didn't reply** — reached them, but they never wrote back.
* **Didn't open** — delivered, but never read.
* **Failed to deliver** — never reached them at all. A retry, not a nudge.

### Exclusions

Two exclusion pickers apply to **every** audience type, not just segments: **exclude tags** and **exclude segments**. "Everyone except last month's buyers" is the shape most suppression lists take.

### Who is always dropped

Regardless of the audience:

* **Contacts who have opted out.** Somebody who replied `STOP` (or tapped an opt-out button) is skipped, and there is no way to switch that off. If everyone in an audience has opted out, the send is refused with the count so it does not read as a broken filter.
* **Contacts with no phone number.** An Instagram-only contact cannot receive a WhatsApp message.

An estimated recipient count is shown as you build the audience, with both rules already applied. The review step shows the exact count, worked out by Watx for every audience type.

### CSV uploads

Numbers are converted to international format using your workspace's country setting. Rows that cannot be parsed are skipped. A number that already exists as a contact is matched rather than duplicated; a new number becomes a contact with the source **broadcast**.

## Step 3 — Personalize

Each placeholder in the template gets a **mapping type**:

| Mapping type      | What it sends                                                                        |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Static Value**  | The same text for everybody                                                          |
| **Contact Field** | The contact's **Contact Name**, **Phone Number**, **Email Address** or **Company**   |
| **Custom Field**  | The value of one of your [custom fields](/contacts/fields-and-tags) for that contact |

Everything the template needs beyond the body is collected here too — header media (typed URL or picked from the [media library](/contacts/media-library)), header text, a location pin's four fields, URL-button and copy-code values, and each carousel card's media, body values and button values. Those are the same for everybody in the audience; only the body mapping varies per contact.

A live preview renders the message using your first real contact's values.

You cannot continue until every placeholder is mapped: Meta rejects the whole message on one missing value.

## Step 4 — Review and send

**Broadcast name** — only your team sees it.

**When should it go out?**

| Choice       | What happens                                         |
| ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Send now** | Starts going out as soon as you confirm              |
| **Schedule** | Goes out once, at a date and time you pick           |
| **Repeat**   | Goes out daily, weekly or monthly, until you stop it |

**Schedule** and **Repeat** are covered in [Scheduled and repeating broadcasts](/whatsapp/scheduled-broadcasts). **Repeat** is not available for an **Upload CSV** or **Re-target a broadcast** audience.

**Summary** — the template, its language, the audience in words, and how many people it reaches. For a scheduled or repeating broadcast the count is labelled **Would reach today**, because the audience is worked out again when it sends. Opted-out contacts that were skipped are counted beside it. If nobody in the audience can be messaged, the page says so and the send button stays disabled.

The [messaging limit card](/whatsapp/limits-and-quality) warns when the audience looks larger than your remaining daily allowance. It never blocks the send — the usage figure behind it counts broadcasts only, so it is a floor rather than a total. It is not shown for a repeating broadcast.

The button follows your choice — **Send broadcast**, **Schedule broadcast** or **Start repeating** — and a confirmation dialog repeats the name, the count and, for a schedule, when it goes out.

## Drafts

**Save as draft** keeps everything you have filled in: the template, the audience (an uploaded list included), and every variable and send-time value. Drafts are listed in the **Drafts** tab.

**Continue editing** reopens the wizard with the draft filled in, and its button becomes **Update draft**. Sending or scheduling a draft replaces it — it leaves the Drafts tab and appears in **History**, **Scheduled** or **Repeating**.

If the draft's template is no longer approved, the wizard says so and asks you to pick another.

## Duplicating a broadcast

**Duplicate** — in a row's menu, or on a broadcast's page — opens the wizard with the same template, audience and values, named "… (copy)". Use it to send something again, or to change a scheduled broadcast.

A sent broadcast does not keep an uploaded list, so a duplicate of one asks you to upload the list again.

## What happens after you press send

The broadcast is accepted, then fanned out into one job per recipient.

| Status        | Meaning                                                                                                |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Draft**     | Saved, never sent                                                                                      |
| **Scheduled** | Waiting for its send time                                                                              |
| **Queued**    | Accepted; the fan-out has not started yet                                                              |
| **Sending**   | Messages are going out                                                                                 |
| **Sent**      | Finished; at least one message went out                                                                |
| **Failed**    | Finished with nothing sent at all, or a scheduled broadcast that could not start — the reason is shown |
| **Cancelled** | A scheduled broadcast you cancelled; nothing was sent                                                  |

Per-recipient status is the ladder Meta reports: **Pending → Sent → Delivered → Read**, plus **Replied** when the person writes back, and **Failed** with the reason.

Sending is deliberately paced — by default around 10 messages a second, which matches the tier every new number starts on.

**Retries:** a throttle from Meta or a network failure is retried with a growing delay. A rejection on the merits — an unapproved template, a bad parameter, a number that cannot receive template messages — is recorded and never retried, because it would fail identically every time. If the server restarts mid-send, the broadcast resumes: the recipient rows are the work list, and only the ones still pending are sent.

Common per-recipient failures you will see in the table: `Contact opted out of marketing`, `No phone number on contact`, `Invalid phone number`, and `WhatsApp not configured`.

## The Broadcasts page

Four tabs, each with a count:

| Tab           | What it lists                                                                                                        |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **History**   | Everything that has gone out, is going out, failed or was cancelled                                                  |
| **Scheduled** | One-off broadcasts waiting for their time — see [Scheduled and repeating broadcasts](/whatsapp/scheduled-broadcasts) |
| **Repeating** | Broadcasts that send on a schedule                                                                                   |
| **Drafts**    | Unfinished broadcasts                                                                                                |

A search box filters every tab by name or template. **History** also has a status filter: **All statuses**, **Sending**, **Sent**, **Failed** and **Cancelled**. A failed broadcast shows its reason under its name; a send made by a repeating broadcast shows a repeat icon and **Repeats ·** followed by its name.

The row menu offers **Open**, **Duplicate** and, once a broadcast has finished, **Delete**. While a broadcast is queued or sending, it cannot be deleted — messages already in flight would leave the report inconsistent.

The page refreshes on its own while anything is sending, and shortly before a scheduled broadcast is due.

## The broadcast report

Opening a broadcast shows six counters — Recipients, Sent, Delivered, Read, Replied, Failed — a funnel, and the full recipient list with a status filter and each failure's reason. **Export CSV** downloads every recipient.

Under the funnel, three buttons start a follow-up broadcast to the people who **didn't reply**, **didn't open**, or whom it **failed to deliver** to. They open the wizard with that audience already selected.

The top of the page also says:

* when a **scheduled** broadcast sends, with **Send now** and **Cancel**;
* why a **failed** broadcast did not go out;
* when a **cancelled** broadcast was cancelled;
* that a **draft** is a draft, with **Continue editing**;
* which repeating broadcast a send belongs to, with a link to all its sends.

**Duplicate** and **Delete** are there too. Counters and the funnel only appear once a broadcast has started sending.

## Plan limits

Broadcasts and messages both count against your plan. Before a broadcast is written, Watx checks that the **whole** send fits in the month's remaining message allowance, so a large audience cannot start on a plan that would run out three-quarters of the way through. If it does not fit, the send is refused with the numbers and a link to upgrade. See [Plans and billing](/getting-started/plans-and-billing).

A scheduled or repeating broadcast is checked when you set it up and again when each send goes out. A send the plan no longer covers is marked **Failed** with the reason.

## Related

* [Scheduled and repeating broadcasts](/whatsapp/scheduled-broadcasts) — sending later, or on a schedule.
* [Analytics](/whatsapp/analytics) — broadcast and template performance over a date range.
* [Segments](/contacts/segments) — building the audiences you send to.