Analytics
You can configure and view reports that display site- and asset-level analytics in a variety of graphical and tabular formats. You can also download the analytics in comma-separated values (CSV) format for analysis in a spreadsheet.
The following illustrations are examples of the many analytics you can generate.
![]() Items added by content type | ![]() Traffic source, all content types, graphical format |
![]() Article page views by unit time | ![]() Traffic source, all content types, tabular format |
Site-level analytics appear in a Report widget on an editor’s dashboard. This section describes how to configure Report widgets to display the required analytics.
To configure site-level Report widgets:
- Click > Dashboards.
- Select a site for which you want to configure a Report widget, or select Global to configure the widget for all sites.
- Create a shared dashboard (see Shared dashboard) that includes the Report widget. The following illustration shows default configuration options for the Report widget.
- Using the following tables as a reference, enter settings for the Report widget.
- Click Save.
Report widget options—Top-level fields
Field | Description |
---|---|
Heading | Name of the report. |
Reporter | Type of report (area, line, tabular, etc.). |
Supplier | Report’s data source.
|
Supplier—Content Volume settings
Field | Description |
---|---|
Content Types | Content types included in the report. |
Number of Days | Number of days’ activity included in the report. |
Segmentation | Displays a different data series by content type or field value.
|
Supplier—Numbers Over Time settings
Field | Description |
---|---|
Series | Data appearing in report. The Brightspot server is the source for all the following series except Google Analytics Custom Events and Google Analytics Data.
|
Aggregate | Key by which Brightspot groups the data.
Grouping is not available for some series. |
Period | Date range included in the report. For more information about this field, see Understanding time intervals for analytics. |
Supplier—Traffic Source settings
Field | Description |
---|---|
Channels | Avenue by which visitor arrived to your site.
|
Period | Date range included in the report. For more information about this field, see Understanding time intervals for analytics. |
To view site-level analytics:
- In your dashboard, and scroll to the required widget.
If your dashboard does not have the analytics widget you require, ask your Brightspot administrator to create the widget, or create one yourself in a custom dashboard. For details, see One-off dashboard.
You can view the page views for an item.
To view item-level analytics:
- Search for and open the item on the content edit page.
- Scroll down and expand Analytics.
- Click the time bucket for which you want to view analytics.
If the item you opened is a video, the content edit page includes two additional widgets:
- Watch Funnel—Indicates the number of views as a percentage of video length in 10-percent increments.
- Watch Time—Indicates watch time by time of day, and average view duration, in minutes.
- Watch Funnel—Indicates the number of views as a percentage of video length in 10-percent increments.
The following table describes the data series appearing in the Analytics widget.
Data series in the Analytics widget
Series | Description |
---|---|
Average time on page | Average amount of time visitors spend on the page during a session. For more information, see GA avg time on page column. |
Bounces | Number of times a visitor viewed the page and did not interact with it further. For example, a visitor loads a page and did not click on any of the links on that page. For more information, see Bounce rate. |
Entrances | Number of times the page started a session on your site. For more information, see Difference between Entrances and Sessions. |
Exit rate (percent) | Percentage of the page's views that are the last in a session. For more information, see Exit Rate vs. Bounce Rate. |
Page value | The page's average value as a function of landing on one of your goal pages or before making a purchase. For more information, see How Page Value is calculated. |
Page views | Number of times the page was successfully loaded in a browser or device. |
Unique page views | Number of the page's views generated by the same visitor in the same session. For more information, see Pageviews vs. Unique Pageviews. |
The following fields appear if you open a video in the content edit page: | |
Video Impressions | Number of times the video was successfully loaded in a player on a page or device. |
Video Starts | Number of times the video began playback. |
Video Views | Number of times the video playback lasted at least three seconds. |
Unique Video Views | Number of unique playbacks lasting more than three seconds. A unique view is a unique device-user-browser combination. |

One of the settings you can configure for accumulating analytics is the time interval.
- Past Days, Past Hours, Past Months, and Past Years—Use one of these options to accumulate analytics over a unit of time that you specify.
- Set Day, Set Month, Set Week, and Past Years—Use one of these options to accumulate analytics for a specific unit of time.

Referring to the previous illustration, Brightspot accumulates analytics for the past 30 days using a clock in the eastern United States (UTC − 4 or 5 hours, depending on daylight savings or standard time).
Latest and earliest times in a reporting period
Brightspot applies the following logic to determine the latest and earliest times in a reporting period:
- Capture the current time.
- Compute the latest time in the interval by rounding down the current time to the requested unit.
- Compute the earliest time in the interval by subtracting the number of units (less one) from the latest time.
The following table provides examples for determining the reporting period for hours, days, months, and years.
If you want analytics for the past… | and the current time is… | Latest time in reporting interval | Earliest time in reporting interval |
---|---|---|---|
Seven hours | August 15, 2019, 8:15 AM | August 15, 2019, 8:00 AM | August 15, 2019, 1:00 AM |
Seven days | August 15, 2019, 8:15 AM | August 15, 2019, 12:00 AM | August 8 2019, 12:00 AM |
Seven months | August 15, 2019, 8:15 AM | August 1, 2019, 12:00 AM | January 1, 2019, 12:00 AM |
Seven years | August 15, 2019, 8:15 AM | January 1, 2019, 12:00 AM | January 1, 2012, 12:00 AM |
The following diagram illustrates the reporting interval for a seven-day report. The request was made during the day, and Brightspot accumulates data starting from the previous complete day for a total of seven days.

Adjusting for time zones in reporting periods
The times in the previous table are server times—the time on the Brightspot server. If your Brightspot server is in New York, then the server’s clock is most likely running on Eastern Standard Time or Eastern Daylight Time. (You can determine your server’s time zone by clicking > Sites & Settings > Global > Front-End > Time Zone.)
Suppose one of your sites addresses a market in London (Western European Time) and your Brightspot server is in New York (Eastern Standard Time). In this scenario, Brightspot accumulates the analytics after adjusting the counts for the five-hour difference.

In the previous illustration, Brightspot adjusts the intervals forward by five hours (using the purple intervals), and then accumulates the analytics.