Numbers Matter Because People Count
Andy Mage • March 22, 2020
Early on in my church online life, I heard this saying, “Numbers matter because people count,” and it’s stuck with me as the litmus test for what numbers I track and why.
If you are just getting into Church Online, the numbers available can be overwhelming. Every platform has their own way to track information and it often seems like comparing one platform to another is like comparing fruit to an automobile.
Here’s a quick firehose lesson in what numbers matter on each platform so that you can get the best picture of what people are doing no matter what platform they find you on. As you look at these numbers, it’s helpful to think of them as giving you a picture over time of what is happening and not necessarily a 100% accurate understanding of an individual event.
Google Analytics (GA)
This is normally the first place I go to set up the trend over time information particularly when looking at the broader trend of website interaction. Platforms like Church Online Platform allow you to put in your Google Analytics tracking code for just this reason.
[Note: Church Online Platform v3 allows you to enter your GA code on the Settings page. Version 4 has more detailed analytics available in the platform and does not currently support entering your own GA code.]
- Audience -> Overview
- Users: Unique visitors to your website. This number is a total for all pages your GA code is found.
[Note: Many churches will use a multiplier on unique user numbers in their preferred analytics platform based on the assumption that users aren’t watching alone. 1.6 is a common multiplier to start with.] - New Users: Number of unique visitors whose first visit to your site.
- Audience -> Behavior -> Frequency & Recency
- Count of Sessions: Number of times a person has visited your site during the date range selected. This number can be helpful to identify how frequently people are coming to watch a service. In other words, how many people come back multiple times over a week or a month.
- Days Since Last Session: Number of days between visits. For Church Online, it’s healthy to see a higher distribution around the 7, 14, and 28 day mark.
- Audience -> Behavior -> Engagement
- Session Duration: Just a special note on this one. If you are trying to monitor the length of time people are staying, particularly if they are watching a video, this number is not accurate. It tends to be lower than reality because it’s based on the last time someone engaged with the page. Watching a video doesn’t count as engagement, pushing a button does. Take this one with a grain of salt.
- Audience -> Geo -> Location
- Country and City data: This is helpful to see where people are coming from. If you are considering planting new locations, facilitating meet ups where you have pockets of viewers, this is the number to look at. Otherwise, don’t get distracted. Remember, it’s nice to see and it’s cool to talk about but if it doesn’t allow you to act on it in some way, it may be a distraction. What will be the outcome of knowing this information for you?
Church Online Platform (ChOP)
Church Online Platform currently has two different versions available, version 3 and version 4. Version 4 has more detailed analytics available natively.
- Unique Attenders: Number of people who attended the live service.
- Peak Concurrent: Highest number of people at any given time in a service. This is helpful to understand when people join the service, what they stay to watch, and when they fall off. Do you have a large percentage of people who stay for worship and leave when the sermon starts? Vice versa? Use the information to help make decisions about what to include in your online service and the order in which you hold parts of the service.
- Average Time Attended: This is the number I’d focus on to see the trend for how long people are staying vs. the session duration provided in GA.
- Public Chat Messages: How active are your participants? Are they talking to one another? How successful are you at encouraging conversation?
- Salvations / Live Prayers: Are people interacting in ways that lead to life change? (Personally, I tend to assume that salvations are inflated due to how easy it is to click and the likelihood of multiple clicks over time per person but this is still a really helpful trend number.)
Live streaming Provider
There are multiple live streaming providers but the majority of them provide a similar set of stats. Living As One is my preferred provider (I may be a bit biased though since I’m part of their team) so I’ll be using their available analytics.
- Unique Viewers: This number should be similar to Unique Attenders in ChOP and Users in GA. Each one is designed to track the users who hit their specific platform so while the numbers may be close, they may not be exactly the same. Pick one and stick with it. It’s okay if they don’t all match. Just use the same one every week.
- Average Watch Time: This again should be similar to Average Time Attended in ChOP but won’t be exactly the same.
- How long did they watch?: Living As One provides a breakdown of the number of viewers into buckets of less than 90 seconds and then 5 minute increments to help you better understand how long people are watching the message.
- Viewers by Location: Similar to Geo Location in GA, this shows a heatmap and number of viewers by City.
Platforms that you are renting space on
Facebook’s focus is on audience engagement. Their video stats overlap a bit with other platforms above but overall they focus on different things.
- Peak Live Viewers aligns with ChOP’s peak concurrent.
- Average Video Watch Time aligns with ChOP’s average time attended and your streaming provider’s average watch time.
- Post Engagement would be similar to ChOPs public chat messages but focuses on engagement from shares and the number of total likes or comments.
- Average Reach is a nice number to see. It helps you understand how many people see your video in the timeline but isn’t a true number connected to engagement. You can determine a relative ratio of people who scrolled past your video vs. people who stopped and watched. This is helpful if you are trying to improve the “stickiness” of getting people to stop scrolling by changing the text accompanying the video or the custom thumbnail content before they hit play.
YouTube
The focus here is on engaging with video content so their numbers are designed exclusively for that. From your channel analytics or your video analytics, the following numbers are helpful:
- Reach -> Unique Viewers
- Engagement -> Audience Retention: Provides you an average view duration similar to those in GA or your live streaming provider.
- Reach data also provides you information on discoverability. This data is unique to YouTube’s platform. It includes information on how the person found the video. If you are trying to reach people that aren’t already connected to your church, this information can be helpful.
- Engagement data shows your top videos which can be helpful in determining the types of content you may want to create more of. Are they on a particular topic? A particular format?
Roku/Apple TV
If you have a custom app for tv streaming providers, they will likely have similar analytics available to what is above. Roku provides stats for their direct publishing channels. Their stats include things like number of new installs, average minutes per viewer, number of channel visitors, number of streaming visitors, number of streams per visitor. The ones I find most helpful here are the number of streaming visitors and the number of streams per visitor. How many people watch something and how many people watch more than one thing.
Final Thoughts
While there are many different numbers available across platforms, focus on your top one or two platforms and the numbers that connect into the mission of your church. Some numbers are periphery and can actually distract from your end goal. Keep it simple. Focus on 3 to 4 numbers and watch them over time. Those numbers should be numbers that show the number of viewers or actual interactions with content OR should be numbers that allow you to evaluate potential changes and inform a decision your leadership team is considering. Don’t measure everything. It’s an easy way to get overwhelmed.
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Stadia is getting ready to launch another round of their Phygital Learning Communities. Almost 70 churches right now are learning how to THRIVE, GROW, and MULTIPLY. We want to help your church learn how physical and digital can work together to achieve your mission and vision, meanwhile letting your Church, Online, be authentically you. Phygital Learning Communities are starting soon. Check out http://stadiachurchplanting.org/phygital for more information.
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For most of church history, mission work had a clear shape. Missionaries went somewhere—another country, another culture, another neighborhood. Their work was visible. Tangible. Easy to affirm. But today, a new kind of missionary is emerging: the digital missionary—streamers, content creators, Discord pastors, gamers, and community-builders ministering in spaces where millions gather every day. And many of them feel deeply alone. Not because their work isn’t meaningful, but because it often goes unrecognized. Churches know how to support missionaries who cross oceans. They’re still learning how to support the ones who cross servers. This blog is about closing that distance—mending the validation gap—so digital missionaries can thrive, not survive. What Is the “Validation Gap”? The validation gap is the space between the significance of the work and the support given to the worker. Digital missionaries often experience: Misunderstanding: “You play games… for Jesus?” Invisibility: Their ministry happens online, so few see it firsthand. Uncertainty: Without structure or support, they wonder if their calling is “real.” Isolation: They shepherd people late at night, across time zones, without teammates. And here’s the truth: Digital missionary work is real ministry. People are coming to Christ in Twitch chats. People ask for prayer at 2am in Discord voice channels. People who would never step inside a church are stepping into livestreams. The mission field has shifted—and the Church is invited to shift with it. How Your Church Can Support Digital Missionaries Below are practical ways any church—small or large—can actively support and affirm its digital missionaries. 1. Publicly Affirm Their Calling Digital missionaries often hear, “Is that really ministry?” Like when God sent Phillip to the Ethiopian eunuch, they have already gone down the road to share Jesus. They feel compelled to go with or without your support. Your church can be the voice that says, “ Yes. Go !” Introduce them to the congregation. Let them share their stories. Pray for them from the stage and include people they are reaching. Include their ministry in your missions reports. If you have not yet had someone share they already do this, ask from the stage. You may have some in the pews who God has called and they need you to tell them to go. Validation is often more powerful than equipment. If you can’t do anything more. Do this. 2. Commission Them Like Any Other Missionary When the church lays hands on someone and sends them, it communicates: You are not alone. We’re behind you. This is kingdom work. A commissioning moment gives digital missionaries the confidence and accountability they need. By joining with them in the mission, you have an opportunity to help mentor and guide them as they go. When you say it’s not real ministry. They are likely to go anyway and not tell you. When they face difficult times, who will be there for them that knows them? Why not your church? 3. Provide Resources and Tools Just as overseas missionaries raise support for flights, housing, and supplies, digital missionaries also need tools: A good microphone Lighting or a webcam A stable PC Software for editing or graphics Internet upgrades A safe, quiet streaming space These aren’t luxuries—they’re ministry tools. Perhaps you have these and could allow them to be used. If not, you can share their ministry tools wish list with the congregation. That is what they are already doing with their community. And people who believe in them when able often contribute to those items. And sometimes just purchase them as a gift. 4. Offer Prayer and Pastoral Care Streaming can be spiritually and emotionally draining. Churches can help by: Assigning a pastor or elder as a regular check-in Creating a prayer team specifically for digital missionaries Encouraging Sabbath and rest rhythms Offering counseling or mental health support if needed Adopting a missionary in a small group or Sunday School class A supported streamer is a healthier, more joyful missionary. Also, a missionary that regularly is talking about ministry and sharing Jesus is going to inspire and encourage others to do the same. It could be a key to helping your whole congregation start to share Jesus online or at least Mon-Sat start having Gospel conversations in your community. 5. Help Build a Moderation Team Moderators are the deacons/greeters of the digital mission field. 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Celebrate Digital Wins Share stories from the digital mission field just like you would from a global mission trip: Testimonies from viewers Prayer requests from chat Stories of first-time Bible readers Milestones like Twitch Affiliate or Partner Celebration closes the validation gap. The closer to the event the greater the impact will be. So, look for where these can be shared. Share in emails, websites, social media and on Sundays. You can set the guidelines. They can create the post. 8. Integrate This Ministry Into the Life of the Church Digital ministry isn’t a side gig—it’s an extension of your church. Invite the digital missionary to teach about online outreach Host gaming nights or digital missions Sundays Include digital community in small groups Let youth and young adults get involved This is a bridge for generations. Let this happen organically. As one person grows and shares their ministry others will naturally feel calling of their own. 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