Observed Signal · Feb 8, 2023 · Deprecation · Source: CMSWire · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Google's Forced GA4 Migration Raises Cloud Power Grab Concerns
CMSWire examines Google's forced migration from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which takes effect July 1, 2023. Google announced the replacement in March 2022, citing evolving privacy regulations and the phase-out of third-party cookies. GA4 uses an event-based model and is deeply integrated with Google Cloud, raising concerns that the migration serves as a play to expand Google Cloud's market share. GA4 retains user and event data for a maximum of 14 months, prompting many organizations to consider warehousing data in BigQuery at additional cost. Universal Analytics data remains accessible for at least six months after the sunset, with an extra three months for Universal Analytics 360 customers. Industry experts warn enterprises with complex, multi-site data models may struggle with the transition.
Google's forced deprecation of Universal Analytics impacts virtually every digital marketer and analytics user, driving them into the GA4 ecosystem and potentially Google Cloud, with significant cost and data retention implications for the broader AdTech/MarTech industry.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Google announced on March 16, 2022 that it would replace Universal Analytics with Google Analytics 4 on July 1, 2023.
- GA4 uses an event-based analytics model and does not rely on third-party cookies.
- GA4 retains user and event data for a maximum of 14 months, after which data is automatically deleted monthly.
- Universal Analytics data will be accessible for at least six months after July 1, 2023, with Universal Analytics 360 customers receiving an extra three months until Oct 1, 2023.
- According to Statista, Google Cloud held 11% of the cloud infrastructure market at the end of 2022, trailing AWS (34%) and Microsoft Azure (21%).
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“According to Statista, Google Cloud trails the other two big players in the cloud infrastructure market significantly....”
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