Using Google Analytics 4 on Vimeo OTT

Google is deprecating support for their Universal Analytics product in July in favor of their new Google Analytics 4 (GA4) tracking and analytics product. Within this article, you will find the steps to create your new GA4 property and add it to your Vimeo OTT account.

For additional information on the deprecation of Universal Analytics and the timeline of events involved, please see this Google article. 

In this article

• Summary
• Timeline of Adoption
• Terms to Understand
• Migrating to Google Analytics 4
• Configuring your Google Analytics 4 property
• Adding your Google Analytics 4 property to your Vimeo OTT Site
• Tracked Events in Google Analytics

Summary

This is a long support article but only because we want to be as detailed as possible to walk you through these important steps. The process is very simple and can be finished in just a few minutes. You’ll be creating a new Google Analytics 4 property (1 min), configuring it with optimized settings (3 min), and then copying a number into your OTT Site (1 min). You’ll be using GA4 in no time! 

Timeline of Adoption

Vimeo OTT will begin supporting Google Analytics 4 properties starting in June of 2023. The Universal Analytics tracking will cease operations in July of 2023. This will provide you with plenty of time to add your new Google Analytics 4 property to your Vimeo OTT site and have your analytics remain uninterrupted.

Starting on June 2nd: you can add your new GA4 property to your Vimeo OTT Site! This will cover basic page views and overall traffic activity. We’ll be adding Conversion and Authentication tracking shortly. Check back here for updates on feature adoption.

Terms to Understand

• Google Analytics 4: often referred to simply as “GA4”; this is the next generation of Analytics and insights to understand your traffic and your customers.
  
  
• GA4 Property: a “property” is a collection of destinations. You have a Vimeo OTT website and you may have an iOS app or Android app. All three together are showing the same content and are considered the same property with three different data streams.
  
  
• Data Stream: a destination for viewing your content. Google Analytics supports three types of data streams; a website, an iOS app, and an Android app. Vimeo OTT supports the website data stream.

Migrating to Google Analytics 4

If you previously created a Universal Analytics account with Google, you will need to create a new GA4 property to add to your Vimeo OTT site. 

Use your existing account with Admin privileges, and visit your Universal Analytics account at analytics.google.com. You will be shown a screen like this:

1. Click Go to Setup Assistant and you will be shown a screen similar to this. 

2. Click Get Started and you will see a pop-up that asks you to confirm creating the new property.

There’s an optional checkbox that allows you to enable data collection using existing analytics.js and gtag.js tags. You can make the selection that is best for you. We recommend checking it.

3. You will now see a confirmation screen. Click Go to your GA4 Property

Configuring your Google Analytics 4 property

Many of the default Google Analytics 4 configurations will work great with Vimeo OTT but there are a number of optimizations that we recommend. 

1. Go to analytics.google.com
2. Choose your property from the top dropdown menu, and select Admin in the lower left panel.
3. Choose Setup Assistant from the middle Property column.

4. In the Setup Assistant, find the Data Collection section with the Collect website and app data option.

5. Click the arrow on the far right and choose Manage Data Streams.

You’ll see a list of your data streams with a filter along the top for iOS, Android, and Web.

6. Click on the Web data stream and a large panel will slide out with all of your web data stream properties.

7. In the Enhanced Measurement section and make sure the toggle is enabled to the ON position.

8. Click on the Gear icon to enable additional measurements. 

In the side panel that opens; we recommend enabling all of the available options except for Scrolls. You may enable Scrolls if you feel this information will be useful. Be sure to click Save once the toggles are in the ON position.

Now you’re ready to add your Google Analytics 4 property to your Vimeo OTT site!

Adding your Google Analytics 4 property to your Vimeo OTT Site

Add your Google Analytics 4 property to your Vimeo OTT Site:

1. Go to analytics.google.com, choose your property from the top dropdown menu, and select Admin in the lower left panel. 
2. Click on  Data Streams from the middle Property column. You’ll see a list of your data streams with a filter along the top for iOS, Android, and Web.
3. Click on the Web data stream and a large panel will slide out with all of your web data stream properties.
4. Select the Measurement ID shown in the top right.
5. Click the Copy icon next to the ID.

Now your Measurement ID is copied to your clipboard.

6. In a new tab, open up your Vimeo OTT Site Settings and click on Manage> Site.

7. In Site settings, click on Tracking in the left sidebar.

8. Click on the Google Analytics 4 Measurement ID.

9. Paste the ID you just copied into this field and click Save.

 Now your site is configured for GA4 and will start automatically populating data for your Acquisition, Engagement, and Monetization reports. 

Tracked Events in Google Analytics