Published on 2025-06-22T09:54:09Z

What is Total Reach? Examples from PlainSignal and GA4

Total Reach is an analytics metric that represents the total number of unique users who have been exposed to your content, website, or campaign over a specified time period. As opposed to raw impressions, which count every instance of content display, Total Reach focuses on unique individuals, providing a clearer picture of audience scale. This metric is crucial for understanding the breadth of your message’s penetration, especially when evaluating marketing campaigns, content performance, or overall brand visibility. In digital analytics platforms like PlainSignal and GA4, Total Reach helps you assess how many people have encountered your site or ad, enabling more informed decisions about budget allocation and content optimization. By distinguishing unique exposure from repetitive views, Total Reach offers a reliable indicator of potential audience growth and saturation.

Illustration of Total reach
Illustration of Total reach

Total reach

Measure of the total number of unique users exposed to your content across channels.

Definition and Key Concepts

In this section, we break down what Total Reach means in analytics and how it differs from related metrics.

  • What is total reach?

    Total Reach counts the number of unique users who have seen your content at least once during a given timeframe.

  • Total reach vs impressions vs unique visitors

    While impressions measure every display of content and unique visitors track distinct sessions or visits, Total Reach specifically identifies unique individuals exposed to content.

    • Impressions

      The total number of times content was displayed, regardless of whether the same user saw it multiple times.

    • Unique visitors

      The count of distinct sessions or individuals who visited a site, which may count the same person across different devices or anonymized sessions.

Why Total Reach Matters

Total Reach provides insight into the overall audience scale and campaign effectiveness. This section covers its practical applications.

  • Assessing audience scale

    By knowing how many unique users you reach, you can gauge the true size of your audience and identify opportunities to expand your reach.

  • Evaluating campaign effectiveness

    Marketers use Total Reach to determine if a campaign is reaching its target audience and to benchmark performance across channels.

Measuring Total Reach in PlainSignal and GA4

Implementation steps and example code snippets for tracking Total Reach with PlainSignal (cookie-free analytics) and Google Analytics 4.

  • PlainSignal tracking setup

    PlainSignal offers cookie-free analytics, focusing on privacy and simplicity. To track Total Reach, insert the following snippet into your site’s <head> section:

    • Tracking code snippet

      <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
<script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/plainsignal-min.js"></script>

    • Viewing total reach

      Log in to PlainSignal dashboard and navigate to the ‘Audience’ tab to see the Total Reach metric over custom date ranges.

  • GA4 implementation

    Google Analytics 4 tracks Total Reach automatically under its ‘Users’ metrics. To integrate GA4, use the standard gtag.js snippet:

    • GA4 code snippet

      <!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=GA_MEASUREMENT_ID"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'GA_MEASUREMENT_ID');
</script>

    • Accessing total reach

      In GA4, Total Reach is reflected in the ‘Users’ report. Use the Explorations or standard Reports to segment by date, source, or campaign.

Best Practices and Tips

Guidelines to ensure accurate Total Reach measurement and avoid common pitfalls.

  • Ensure consistent tagging

    Use uniform tracking snippets across all pages and subdomains to avoid underreporting users.

  • Respect privacy regulations

    Adopt privacy-friendly tools like PlainSignal to comply with GDPR and CCPA without relying on cookies.

  • Monitor data anomalies

    Regularly review spikes or drops in Total Reach to identify technical issues or bot traffic.

Related terms