How to track YouTube video views using Google Tag Manager
Today I’ll be sharing a method to track YouTube video views using Google Tag Manager.
This method is used for tracking embedded YouTube videos on your website.
Let’s start by embedding a YouTube video, like the one below.
Now, let’s go through the steps necessary to measure video views on your site.
How to track YouTube video views using Google Tag Manager
Let’s start by adding a new tag.
Next we’ll select a Google Analytics – Universal Analytics tag type.
Then, for the Tag Configuration, we will step the Track Type as Event, the Category as Video, and the Action as YouTube video play.
For the label, you may need to activate the variable ‘Video Title’
You’ll need to go into Configure Variable to activate the Video Title.
We know can set up the Tag how we want it. With {{Video Title}} as the label. This will allow us to easily see the YouTube video in Google Analytics or Google Data Studio.
Finally, to finish setting up the Tag, we will need to set up the trigger.
We will select the trigger type ‘YouTube Video’.
Next, you can set up the Trigger Configuration like it is set up below.
*A note on other metrics to capture
It is also possible to get additional information from the videos on your site. Specifically how far along people got int them. If you want to you can add in Progress for your site.
On Google Tag Manager it mentions that you can “Track specific progress with percentage or timestamp in seconds. Input one or more positive integers in a comma-separated list.”
Below I’ve added in various percentages (10,25,50,75,90) to see how much of the video someone has watched. This is optional and you can choose whether or not you want to include it.
Finishing up our video tag
The tag should now be set up like this.
After you’ve previewed it in Google Tag Manager, you look in Google Analytics and see which events are registered.
Confirming the Event tag is working in Google Analytics
To confirm that the Event Tag is working correctly, we can take a look at Real-Time > Events in Google Analytics.
Then, if we click to view the video, the accurate event label should appear under Events in Google Analytics.
We can see that the correct event label appears, and therefore our tag is working correctly.
You should make sure to submit your changes to your Video Tag.
Using Google Data Studio to view Video Events
Below is a Google Data Studio report showing only ‘Video’ Event category events.
Update: Thanks to Google Analytics for sharing this post!
A big thank you to @GoogleAnalytics for sharing this post on Twitter and LinkedIn. Hope some people found it useful!
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