Unlocking Video Engagement Insights with Google Tag Manager

Video is one of the most powerful ways to connect with your audience — but without the right tracking in place, you’re flying blind. Google Tag Manager (GTM) makes it possible to measure exactly how viewers interact with your videos, whether they’re on YouTube, Vimeo, or embedded directly on your site, so you can refine content, improve engagement, and increase conversions.

Why Track Video Engagement?

Tracking lets you see:

• How long people watch (completion rates)

• Where they drop off

• Which videos drive the most conversions

• How engagement varies by device or channel

This data is invaluable for:

• Proving ROI to stakeholders

• Deciding what type of content to invest in

• Improving future scripts, formats, and calls-to-action

Step 1 – Enable Built-In YouTube Video Triggers in GTM

If your videos are hosted on YouTube:

• GTM has a built-in YouTube Video Trigger that can track:

  • Start (video begins playing)

  • Progress (percentage watched — e.g., 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%)

  • Complete (video reaches the end)

Set up in:
Triggers > New > YouTube Video

Step 2 – Track Vimeo Videos with GTM

Vimeo doesn’t have built-in GTM triggers, but you can still track engagement by:

1. Enabling the Vimeo Player API in your video settings.

2. Using GTM’s Custom HTML Tag to load a script that listens for play, pause, and time update events.

3. Pushing these events into GTM’s dataLayer (with variables like video_title and percent_watched).

This gives you the same level of insight as YouTube, just with a custom setup.

Step 3 – Track HTML5 Video Players

If you host videos directly on your own server:

• Use the HTML5 Video API to capture events (play, pause, progress).

• Push these into GTM’s dataLayer for tracking in GA4.

• This method works for training videos, gated content, or unique site experiences.

Step 4 – Send Events to Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Once your YouTube, Vimeo, or HTML5 events are firing in GTM:

• Create a GA4 event tag:

  • Event name: video_progress

  • Parameters: video_title, percent_watched, video_url

• Link these to your GA4 property for analysis.

Step 5 – Analyse and Act

In GA4, use your video_progress events to:

• See where viewers drop off.

• Compare Vimeo vs YouTube engagement.

• Track whether higher engagement correlates with more conversions.

Bottom line:
Whether you’re using YouTube, Vimeo, or HTML5, GTM turns your videos into measurable, optimisable assets. With the right tracking, you can pinpoint exactly how your audience engages and make every second of video work harder for your goals.