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  • What to Expect from Google Analytics 4 Streaming Export to BigQuery?

    Posted by James on 15 January 2023 at 11:54 am

    Hey folks, I could use a little help here. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the whole Streaming export thing and it feels like I’m missing some key info. Can’t run daily exports due to data size, so gotta go with streaming.

    But here’s the catch: vital data points like traffic name, source, and medium aren’t included in the information that gets streamed into BigQuery. Which is like trying to analyse Google Analytics data without your glasses.

    And here’s another twist, straight from the horse’s mouth:

    User-attribution data for existing users is included but that data requires ~24 hours to fully process, so we recommend not relying on that data from the streaming export and instead getting user-attribution data from the full daily export.

    Has anyone here dealt with this? Does this mean that user-attribution data isn’t going to be in the intraday tables, but will be in the daily ones? So, can the daily table gather over a million events per day? And do both streaming and daily exports need to be running to collect all this?

    Robert replied 1 year, 4 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • Henry

    Member
    13 June 2023 at 6:40 am

    It seems like you’re right about the user-attribution data (things like traffic name, source, and medium) not being included in the streaming export to BigQuery. From how I interpret Google’s statement, it looks like this data does take around 24 hours to fully process, so it won’t appear right away in your intraday tables. Rather, it would be included in the full daily export.

    Because of this, for a complete data set, you might indeed need to run both streaming and daily exports simultaneously. However, whether the daily table can gather over a million events per day would largely depend on your specific setup and limitations on Google’s end. The technical specifics of these limitations would be best confirmed with Google’s support or their official documentation.

    Remember, when dealing with such large amounts of data, it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on any potential costs or performance issues that could arise.

  • Robert

    Member
    7 July 2023 at 9:03 am

    From your description, it appears that indeed the vital data points like traffic name, source, and medium aren’t included in the streaming export, therefore making your analytics somewhat incomplete. The user-attribution data requires about ~24 hours to fully process and is recommended to be gathered from the full daily export, but you’ve stated you can’t run daily exports due to data size. So yes, it seems improbable that user-attribution data is going to be in the intraday tables. It’s also implied that if you want to analyse a high number of events per day, you’ll need to utilize both the streaming and daily exports. However, because of the limited functionality of streaming exports, some data might be missing or incomplete. To ensure you’re not missing out, it may be worth exploring different methods, or considering a consultation with an expert in Google Analytics and BigQuery to explore viable solutions for your specific needs.

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