May 2024 GA4 & Google Updates
Ricardo Cristofolini
Senior Implementation Specialist, Data Solutions
I’m passionate about what I do. If you meet my manager or co-workers, they would say I’m a team player, engaged and always excited to learn something new. Like everyone else I have some flaws. However I’m not afraid to work around those to bring the best in myself and for the company
Send reports by email instantly
As an administrator, you can now send standard and custom reports by email instantly, enabling team members to receive immediate analytics updates. The emailed report includes data for the specified date range with any filters or comparisons applied to the report when the email is sent.
You can check the link here if you want to learn more about this new feature.
Switch between days, weeks, and months in reports
Google just released in GA4 an adjustment allowing users to make reports for day, week, or month, depending on the level of detail you need.
Unfortunately, up to this point, the only information that changes is the graph on the left side, nothing else.
Chrome Extension for GA4 Reporting
A long time ago, there was an extension for Chrome regarding Universal Analytics. It was really helpful to export reports into Google Sheets in case Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) wasn’t really an option. Helpfully, there is a new product for GA4 that can help with this.
Keep in mind that Napkyn is not affiliated with any of the products or services suggested here, but we do think this is a valid tool to be used and explored.
Adformatic has launched an extension for GA4 that significantly enhances reporting capabilities. This extension allows users to leverage GA4's advanced features while integrating additional functionalities tailored to meet specific business needs. It has more than 75K downloads and a rating of 4.5 stars out of 49 reviews at the moment of this writing.
There is a monthly fee of CAD 13.00/monthly per user or CAD 116.96/yearly per user. Downloading the tool without a subscription will have fewer capabilities, but will still help you to understand if the tool is a good fit for you or not. The Free Trial is 14 days and once subscribe you will have access to unlimited properties, reports, automated refreshes emails and email support.
Export to Google Sheets
You can now export data from a report to Google Sheets, allowing you to use Google Sheets' features to further analyze your data. To export the data in a report, click Share this report () in the top right of a report, then click Download File > Export to Google Sheets.
Learn more about exporting reports.
New date granularity in timeline charts:
Google is rolling out a dropdown to adjust granularity in timeline reports. Only a daily timeline was available until now. The new drop down allows us to set weekly or monthly granularity, allowing users to easily see monthly trends.
Assign users and groups to report collections for Analytics 360
As an administrator of an Analytics 360 property, you can now assign users or groups to report collections, enabling you to customize your report collections for different user bases. For example, you can surface marketing-focused reports to the marketing team, product-focused reports to the product team, and high-level executive summaries to the CEO.
Want to learn how to do that? Check this step-by-step.
Small GA4 Updates:
Conversion performance report is in Beta
New naming for Key Event Paths and Model Comparison
Key Event/Conversion report is gone from standard reports and Library
“Is Key Event” dimension is missing from standard report filters
Google Tag Manager for Apps
Google Tag Manager has a lot of capabilities when it comes to Web and Server-side, but what not many people know is that you can also use it for Apps as well. Although this is not a new feature, Google recently updated its documentation and process which is important for you to know.
This can be especially useful because as a developer, you can use Google Tag Manager to implement and manage measurement tags and pixels in your mobile applications, without having to rebuild and resubmit application binaries to app marketplaces. Developers who work with Google Analytics for Firebase SDK can easily add Tag Manager to help manage and make changes to the implementation, even after the app has shipped.
Developers can also log important events and decide later which tags or pixels should be fired.
You can find all the details for Android and iOS in the links.
New Comparison and Segments
A new feature is rolling out for GA4 reports. Now you can create and apply saved comparisons to any reports. By clicking on Add Comparison > Create New, you can create your comparison (up to 5 conditions) and compare it with other comparisons already created.
Property editors can create new comparisons that may be saved for all property users;
Property viewers can apply saved comparisons to any report or create temporary comparisons
Finally, don’t forget that you can only add up to four comparisons at once. Otherwise, GA4 will give you a warning.
Not only that, you can also save your comparisons so others can see them and have easy access to regular reports you want to see every day, without needing to recreate the comparisons each time you want to analyze those user bases.
You can also now define audience-based conditions through saved comparisons, enabling you to report on your most advanced user segmentations. For example, you can define a comparison as audience name = "high value users."
Google also included prebuilt saved comparisons for commonly used comparisons to help you get started.
NOTE: In GA4, comparisons take place of Segments in Universal Analytics.
DV360 NewFront Updates
Google's NewFront reveals exciting updates to Display & Video 360. Access worlds of content, put Google AI to work to streamline your streaming strategy and prioritize privacy with new audience solutions.
Access worlds of content and creators
Stronger strategic relationships with streaming partners like Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. For example, DV360’s integration with Disney's Real-time Ad Exchange (DRAX) lets you tap into their vast inventory and reach at scale.
Introducing instant deals — a new tool for marketers to configure customized deals with top publishers right from the Display & Video 360 interface, skipping the complex negotiation process. This buying method is already available today for high-impact reservation YouTube placements like YouTube Select and Masthead. And soon, you will be able to access those same placements with non-guaranteed deals for even greater budget flexibility. Plus, instant deals are expanding beyond YouTube to major publishers like Disney.
Enrich the performance of your streaming ads with first-party data
PAIR has delivered strong results for advertisers, and according to LiveRamp, PAIR audiences enable 11% incremental reach compared to cookie-based lists. Publishers like NBCUniversal and Disney, alongside clean room providers like LiveRamp and Infosum, are embracing PAIR, signaling a strong appetite among the industry.
To further scale this privacy-forward solution, Google is collaborating to build open standards and contributing the PAIR protocol to the IAB Tech Lab. This will enable ad tech companies — and the industry as a whole — to adopt privacy-forward audience solutions that benefit everyone.
Streamline your streaming with Google AI
One of the first places you'll see generative AI show up as a helpful collaborator in Display & Video 360 is in setting up your audience strategy with a feature called audience persona. Describe your ideal audience and audience persona instantly generates a combination of audience segments that matches your goals. This tool helps agencies easily select the right audience lists from thousands of options, while also uncovering new, high-potential audiences to improve reach and deliver better results for clients. Google AI offers suggestions, but advertisers always have the final say — they can readily edit the generated selection for full control over their campaigns. Audience persona launches this summer, starting with Google audience and demographic segments.