Tracking Video Engagement with Google Analytics 4: A Step-by-Step Guide

Understanding user engagement with your videos is essential for optimizing your content strategy and improving the overall user experience. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers robust tracking capabilities, allowing you to monitor video engagement on your website. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll show you how to implement GA4 tracking for your videos and gain valuable insights.

Step 1: Create a GA4 Property (If You Haven’t Already)

1.1 Visit Google Analytics (https://analytics.google.com/) and log in using your Google account. 1.2 Click the ‘Admin’ (gear icon) in the bottom left corner of the page. 1.3 In the ‘Account’ column, choose an existing account or create a new one. 1.4 In the ‘Property’ column, click ‘Create Property.’ 1.5 Provide the required details and choose ‘Google Analytics 4’ as the property type. 1.6 Click ‘Create’ to generate your new GA4 property.

Step 2: Set Up Video Event Tracking

To track video events in GA4, you need to send custom events when users interact with your videos. The following steps demonstrate how to set up video tracking for YouTube videos using JavaScript. Similar logic can be applied to other video platforms like Vimeo or self-hosted videos.

2.1 Add the YouTube iframe API script to the head of your website:

<script src=”https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api”></script>

2.2 Include the following JavaScript code on your webpage to enable video tracking:

<pre>
function onYouTubeIframeAPIReady() {
var videoElements = document.querySelectorAll(‘iframe[src*=”youtube.com”]’);

for (var i = 0; i < videoElements.length; i++) {
new YT.Player(videoElements[i], {
events: {
onReady: function (event) {
event.target.addEventListener(‘onStateChange’, function (e) {
var videoData = e.target.getVideoData();
var label = videoData.title;

if (e.data === YT.PlayerState.PLAYING) {
gtag(‘event’, ‘video_play’, {
‘event_label’: label
});
} else if (e.data === YT.PlayerState.PAUSED) {
gtag(‘event’, ‘video_pause’, {
‘event_label’: label
});
} else if (e.data === YT.PlayerState.ENDED) {
gtag(‘event’, ‘video_complete’, {
‘event_label’: label
});
}
});
}
}
});
}
}
</pre>

This code snippet detects all YouTube iframes on the page, and it sends custom events to GA4 for video play, pause, and complete actions.

Step 3: Explore Video Engagement Data in GA4

3.1 Log in to your GA4 property. 3.2 Click on ‘Engagement’ in the left sidebar, then choose ‘Events.’ 3.3 Look for ‘video_play’, ‘video_pause’, and ‘video_complete’ events in the event list. Click on an event to view detailed information about the event, including the event count and any associated parameters.

Conclusion

By following this step-by-step guide, you have successfully implemented Google Analytics 4 tracking for your videos. With this setup, you can now monitor user engagement with your video content and make data-driven decisions to optimize your content strategy. Leverage GA4’s tracking capabilities to gain valuable insights and enhance your website’s user experience.