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Introduction

The configuration process consists of the following tasks:

Required tools

Brightcove uses various tools to implement the collection, manipulation and display of analytics data using Google Analytics. These tools are:

The following diagram details the interaction/flow of these tools when gathering analytics for Brightcove {{ site.product_short }}:

Obtain templates and configuration files

There are a number of files/URLs you need to successfully complete your setup of analytics for Brightcove {{ site.product_short }}. The files/URLs are detailed in the following bullets. You need to contact your Brightcove onboarding manager to obtains these files/URLs. You will receive:

Directions for installing/using each of the files/URLs appear in the appropriate sections later in this document.

Configure Google Analytics

In this section of the document you will configure Google Analytics, which includes the following tasks:

Create four properties

You need to create these four properties:

The following steps guide you through creating the Beacon Android property. You will need to create the others following the same process.

  1. Log in to your Google Analytics account.
  2. Click the Admin (gear) icon on the bottom-left of the screen.
  3. On the top of the middle column, click Create Property.
  4. In the Property setup, supply the Property name, for the first property, use Beacon Android.
  5. Supply the Reporting time zone.
  6. Supply the Currency.
  7. Click the Show advanced options link.
  8. Turn on Create a Universal Analytics property.
  9. Enter your website's URL.
  10. Click the Create a Universal Analytics property only radio button.
  11. Be sure your property information is filled in similar to the following:
    create property
  12. Click Next.
  13. Complete the Business information form with your data.
  14. Click Create.
  15. Read any details you wish about your new property.
  16. Click the back arrow, highlighted in the following screenshot:
    back button
  17. Just below the Create Property you clicked earlier, click the down arrow to be sure your property was correctly created.
    property selector
  18. Perform the proceeding steps to create the three other required properties:
    1. Beacon iOS
    2. Beacon STV
    3. Beacon WEB

Create mobile view for iOS and Android

For mobile platforms, iOS and Android, you need to create a mobile view in each of those properties. You do not need to complete the steps in this section if you do not have mobile apps.

  1. Click on the dropdown (highlighted in yellow in the screenshot) to see all your Google Analytics accounts, properties and views.
    choose property
  2. From the three-paneled dropdown, select:
    • Your Brightcove {{ site.product_short }} account
    • The Beacon Android property
    • The All Web Site Data view
    Select property
  3. Click the Admin (gear) icon on the bottom-left of the screen.
  4. At the top of the third column, click Create View.
    create view
  5. Fill in the from following these steps:
    1. Click the Mobile app button for the type of data to track.
    2. Supply a name for your view. A logical name would be All Mobile Data.
    3. Click Create View.
    create view form
  6. Change the view to the newly created mobile view.
    change view
  7. Follow the same steps in this section of the document to create a mobile view for the iOS property.

When working with your accounts, make sure when selecting an account/property/view your mobile properties use the All Mobile Data view and the web and STV accounts use the default All Web Site Data, as shown here:

account property view

Note the iOS and Android views will have All Web Site Data views, as those are created by default when creating the property

Create custom metric and dimensions

Now for each property you need to create a set of custom dimensions and one custom metric.

This section will be organized in the following manner:

You will then need to create the dimensions and metric for each of the four properties.

Creating a custom dimension

  1. Select one of your properties from the account/property/view selector for which you want to create the custom dimensions.
    choose property
  2. Click the Admin (gear) icon on the bottom-left of the screen.
  3. Near the bottom of the middle column, under Custom Definitions, click Custom Dimensions
    click custom dimensions
  4. Click NEW CUSTOM DIMENSION.
  5. For the Name enter Episode Number.
  6. From the Scope dropdown, select Hit.
  7. Leave the dimension Active.
  8. Click Create.
  9. From the example code screen, click Done.
  10. You will see your newly created dimension in a list, as shown here:
    list dimensions
  11. To create another dimension click NEW CUSTOM DIMENSION.

Creating a custom metric

  1. Select one of your properties from the account/property/view selector for which you want to create the custom metric.
    choose property
  2. Click the Admin (gear) icon on the bottom-left of the screen.
  3. Near the bottom of the middle column, under Custom Definitions, click Custom Metrics
  4. Click NEW CUSTOM METRIC.
  5. For the Name enter Time Watched.
  6. From the Scope dropdown, select Hit.
  7. For the Formatting Type, select Time.
  8. Leave the dimension Active.
  9. Click Create.
  10. From the example code screen, click Done.
  11. You will see your newly created metric in a list.

Android and iOS dimensions and metric

The following table displays the custom dimensions that must be added to the Beacon Android and Beacon iOS properties.

Custom Dimension Name Index Scope
Episode Number 1 Hit
Genre 2 Hit
Production Year 3 Hit
Country of Origin 4 Hit
Asset ID 5 Hit
Login State 6 Session
Language 7 Session
User Type 8 Session
Content Provider 9 Hit
Series Title 10 Hit
Episode Title 11 Hit
Season Number 12 Hit
Timestamp 13 Hit
Streaming Time 14 Hit
Account Token 15 User
Profile Token 16 User

STV and WEB dimensions and metric

The following table displays the custom dimensions that must be added to the Beacon STV and Beacon Web properties.

Custom Dimension Name Index Scope
User ID 1 User
Platform 2 Session
Account Token 3 User
App Version 4 Session
Episode Number 5 Hit
Season Number 6 Hit
Episode Title 7 Hit
Program 8 Hit
Device Model 9 Session
Genre 10 Hit
Production Year 11 Hit
Country of Origin 12 Hit
Keyword 13 Hit
OS Version 14 Session
OS Language 15 Session
Account Number 16 Session
Language 17 Session
User Type 18 Session
Content Type 19 Hit
Content Provider 20 Hit

Custom metric

The following table display the single custom metric that must be added to all four properties.

Custom Metric Name Index Scope Formatting Type
Time Watched 1 Hit Formatting Type

Import dashboard configurations

In the Obtain templates and configuration files section earlier in this document, you requested files/URLs from your onboarding manager. Three of the URLs are as follows:

To use the configurations, perform the following steps:

  1. Note the use for the configuration, mobile, web or smart tv, then click on the URL.
  2. In a new browser tab, be sure you are seeing the following:
    import configuration
  3. From the Select a view drop down, choose the matching property, mobile (iOS and Android), web or smart tv.
  4. Change the name of the configuration if you choose.
  5. Click Create.
  6. Be sure the configuration opens. An example is shown here:
    example configuration

Configuring Google Tag Manager

In this section of the document you will perform the following tasks:

Create containers

  1. Review Google's documentation to Setup and install Tag Manager.

  2. In Tag Manager, create an account or use an existing account. To create a new account, select the Create Account button.

    By default, a new container is created for a new account. You will create additional containers within each account.

    Create account

  3. Enter values for your new account page:

    • Account Name: Your company name or name of service.
    • Country: Home country for your company.
    • Container Name: Beacon WEB You will be creating a container for each property.
    • Target Platform: Web
  4. Be sure your container information is filled in similar to the following:
    5. New account information
  5. Click Create.
  6. Click OK to close the dialog that opens.
  7. From the Workspace, click Admin.
    click admin
  8. Click the plus sign to add another container.
    plus to add container
  9. Complete the form and click Create to create the iOS container.
    create iOS container
  10. Be sure the following four containers are created with the correct Target Platform.
    Container Name Target Platform
    Beacon Android Android
    Beacon iOS iOS
    Beacon STV Web
    Beacon WEB Web
  11. From the Workspace, use the account dropdown at the top of the page to be sure all containers have been created.
    all containers list
  12. At this point it is critical you take a screen shot of this dropdown. The Brightcove {{ site.product_short }} engineers need this data, that being the container names and associated GTM ID. You will send this file to your onboarding manager along with other files downloaded, as explained in the Publish each container section that comes later in this document. Please be sure the screenshot is clear and legible:
    containers with IDs

Import configuration files

Perform the following steps to import the configuration files for your containers:

  1. From the Workspace, click Admin.
  2. Check which container you are now configuring, then click Import Container.
    import container
  3. Click Chose container file, and select the correct JSON file for this container.
  4. For Choose workspace, click Existing, then from the dialog that opens select Default Workspace.
  5. For Choose an import option, click the Overwrite radio button.
  6. Be sure you see information about tags, triggers, variables and templates.
    import information
  7. Click Confirm, and you will be taken back to the Workspace..
  8. In the Workspace, click on Tags, Triggers and Variables to confirm the import was successful.
    check import
  9. You now need to import the correct JSON file for each container.

Enter tracking ID

You will now copy from Google Analytics the tracking ID for each property, then paste it into the corresponding container.

  1. Log in to Google Analytics.
  2. Use the account/property selector at the top of the page to choose the Beacon Android property.
    select android
  3. Click Admin.
  4. From the Property column first click Tracking Info then Tracking Code.
    click tracking code
  5. Copy the Tracking ID.
    copy tracking ID
  6. Return to Google Tag Manager.
  7. Be sure you are editing the Beacon Android container.
  8. Click Variables from the left side navigation.
  9. Click the Tracking Code variable.
  10. Paste the copied tracking ID from Google Analytics into the Value form field.
    paste id
  11. You now need to paste the corresponding tracking ID into the Tracking Code variable in each container.

Publish each container

The last step you need to do in Google Tag Manger is submit each container for publishing. The following steps guide you through that process:

  1. Return to your Workspace.
  2. Note the container you are in.
  3. On the top right of the UI, click Submit.
  4. Be sure the Publish and Create Version button is selected.
  5. If you choose, add a version name and version description.
  6. Click Publish.
  7. If you did not provide a version name and description, you be asked again. Skip if you are sure you do not want those.
  8. Be sure the information returned about your container is correct.
  9. For iOS and Android containers: Click Download in the top right of the UI to download the associated file. This file will need to be sent to your onboarding manager.
    download button
  10. For iOS and Android containers: Contact your onboarding manager and send these downloaded files to her/him, along with the screenshot of your containers and corresponding IDs. The files will be added to your corresponding apps.
  11. Be sure all containers are published.

Configure Firebase

  1. Browse to the Firebase Getting Started page.
  2. Click Create a project.
  3. Enter a project name.
  4. Accept the terms and click Continue.
  5. Accept the default of enabling Google Analytics for the project, and click Continue.
  6. Choose or supply a Google Analytics account.
  7. Click Create project.
  8. Be sure you are returned to the Project Overview page. Also note the iOS and Android create app buttons (the red arrows indicate their positions).
    project overview
  9. If you are using an iOS app, click the iOS app button and complete the five steps to add Firebase to your iOS app. To complete the steps you will need an iOS developer to assist. The following Google document provides details on the steps:
    add iOS
  10. If you are using an Android app, click the Android app button and complete the four steps to add Firebase to your Android app. To complete the steps you will need an Android developer to assist. The following Google document provides details on the steps:
    add android

After adding the Goggle Tag Manager and Firebase files, as detailed in the last two sections of this document, you should be able to check for events in Firebase itself. In addition, hits will have been sent to Google Analytics. Note that Google Tag Manager is acting as a middle man here, sending that information to Google Analytics based on data that is pushed to Firebase.

firebase results

Install templates into Google Data Studio

Brightcove supplies Google Data Studio prebuilt report templates, one each for web, mobile and smart tv. In the Obtain templates and configuration files section earlier in this document you requested files/URLs from your onboarding manager. Three of the URLs are as follows:

To use the templates, perform the following tasks:

  1. Note the use for the report, mobile, web or smart tv, then click on the URL.
  2. In a new browser tab, be sure you see the following:
    import configuration
  3. From the Select a view drop down, choose the matching property, mobile (iOS and Android), web or smart tv.
  4. Change the name of the configuration if you choose.
  5. Click Create.
  6. The imported configuration will open. Examine the data to be sure it seems valid. An example is shown here:
    example report

That's it! Congratulations you have configured Google Analytics for Brightcove {{ site.product_short }}.