Custom Channel Groupings in Data Studio

If you have configured Custom Channel Groupings in Google Analytics, you may have noticed that they are not available when you connect to Google Data Studio. However, using calculated fields you can recreate your channel groupings directly in Data Studio.

Channel Groupings in Google Analytics allow you to group your traffic sources into buckets based on specified rules. The Default Channel Grouping uses system-defined rules to create Organic Search, Paid Search, Email and the other channels that you see in your acquisition reports. With custom channel groupings, you can define your own channels and specify the rules for each group.

Let’s look at how you can use a calculated field to create custom channel groupings in Data Studio.

Configuring Custom Channel Groupings in Data Studio

In your Google Analytics data source, create a new calculated field.

Insert the following CASE formula:

CASE 
WHEN ((Source="direct" AND Medium="(not set)") OR Medium="(none)") THEN "Direct" 
WHEN Medium="organic" THEN "Organic Search" 
WHEN (Social Source Referral="Yes" OR REGEXP_MATCH(Medium,"^(social|social-network|social-media|sm|social network|social media)$")) THEN "Social" 
WHEN Medium="email" THEN "Email" 
WHEN Medium="affiliate" THEN "Affiliates" 
WHEN Medium="referral" THEN "Referral" 
WHEN (REGEXP_MATCH(Medium,"^(cpc|ppc|paidsearch)$") AND Ad Distribution Network!="Content") THEN "Paid Search" 
WHEN REGEXP_MATCH(Medium," ^(cpv|cpa|cpp|content-text)$") THEN "Other Advertising" 
WHEN (REGEXP_MATCH(Medium,"^(display|cpm|banner)$") OR Ad Distribution Network="Content") THEN "Display" ELSE "(Other)" 
END

Each WHEN condition above defines a channel group based on the default channel definitions in GA. To adjust the definition of a particular channel, change the condition in the WHEN clause for that channel. To add a new channel, add another WHEN ... THEN ... clause.

Note that the WHEN clauses above are processed in order. So, a given session will be grouped into the first channel definition that is matched.

Here’s an example of custom channel groupings created with data from the Google Merchandise Store:

Configuring custom channel definitions in Data Studio allows you to maintain consistency with your reporting in Google Analytics. If you would like to learn more about other calculated fields that can be used in Data Studio, see our blog post 5 Calculated Fields for Google Data Studio!