The Universal Analytics shutdown has finally begun

Well, it’s finally happening — the dreaded Universal Analytics sunset has started. Here in the United States, UA is still processing data, but we were greeted by an ominous message when we logged into our account this morning:

“This property is scheduled to stop processing data very soon. Once this goes into effect, you’ll need a Google Analytics 4 property to measure website performance.”

This warning started appearing on UA at around 7am EST, once again reminding marketers that they must migrate to Google Analytics 4 to maintain their website measurement.

Why we care. Today’s forced migration to GA4 is a historic transitional moment in digital marketing history. Marketers now have no choice but to use GA4 if they to track the performance of their websites and campaigns — unless they want to find an analytics alternative outside of Google of course.

How it works. Google has advised that today’s UA shutdown is being rolled out in stages which is why some marketers may still be able to access certain data. However, all properties that are still functioning are in a queue to be deleted, which will be happening on a rolling bases.

Timeline. The shutdown of the standard version of Universal Analytics is being rolled out the following stages, with the final phase set for July 2023:

• March 2023: Google automatically created a GA4 property for marketers who didn’t opt out of the automatic property creation option. Where possible, existing site tags were used.
• July 2023: UA stops processing hits, including standard properties in accounts that also contain 360 properties. Marketers still have access to previously processed data in their UA property until July 2024.
• July 2024: All marketers, even those with 360 properties, will no longer have access to the UA user interface and API.

Deep dive: For more information on how to migrate to GA4, read Google’s ‘Learn how to make the switch‘ guide. Also, our GA4 coverage is collected here.