Define custom Channel Groupings in a reusable "User Defined Function"(UDF) to make your life easier when working with Google Analytics 4 data in BigQuery. Full article on stacktonic.com

google_analytics_bigquery_channel_grouping_function_advanced_ga4.sql

-- Author: Krisjan Oldekamp
-- https://stacktonic.com/article/google-analytics-4-and-big-query-create-custom-channel-groupings-in-a-reusable-sql-function

create or replace function `<your-project>.<your-dataset>.channel_grouping`(tsource string, medium string, campaign string) as (
    case
        when (tsource = 'direct' or tsource is null) 
            and (regexp_contains(medium, r'^(\(not set\)|\(none\))$') or medium is null) 
            then 'direct'
        when regexp_contains(campaign, r'^(.*shop.*)$') 
            and regexp_contains(medium, r'^(.*cp.*|ppc|paid.*)$') 
            then 'shopping_paid'
        when regexp_contains(tsource, r'^(google|bing)$') 
            and regexp_contains(medium, r'^(.*cp.*|ppc|paid.*)$') 
            then 'search_paid'
        when regexp_contains(tsource, r'^(twitter|facebook|fb|instagram|ig|linkedin|pinterest)$')
            and regexp_contains(medium, r'^(.*cp.*|ppc|paid.*|social_paid)$') 
            then 'social_paid'
        when regexp_contains(tsource, r'^(youtube)$')
            and regexp_contains(medium, r'^(.*cp.*|ppc|paid.*)$') 
            then 'video_paid'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(display|banner|expandable|interstitial|cpm)$') 
            then 'display'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(.*cp.*|ppc|paid.*)$') 
            then 'other_paid'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(.*shop.*)$') 
            then 'shopping_organic'
        when regexp_contains(tsource, r'^.*(twitter|t\.co|facebook|instagram|linkedin|lnkd\.in|pinterest).*') 
            or regexp_contains(medium, r'^(social|social_advertising|social-advertising|social_network|social-network|social_media|social-media|sm|social-unpaid|social_unpaid)$') 
            then 'social_organic'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(.*video.*)$') 
            then 'video_organic'
        when regexp_contains(tsource, r'^(google|bing|yahoo|baidu|duckduckgo|yandex|ask)$') 
            or medium = 'organic'
            then 'search_organic'
        when regexp_contains(tsource, r'^(email|mail|e-mail|e_mail|e mail|mail\.google\.com)$') 
            or regexp_contains(medium, r'^(email|mail|e-mail|e_mail|e mail)$') 
            then 'email'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(affiliate|affiliates)$') 
            then 'affiliate'
        when medium = 'referral'
            then 'referral'
        when medium = 'audio' 
            then 'audio'
        when medium = 'sms'
            then 'sms'
        when ends_with(medium, 'push')
            or regexp_contains(medium, r'.*(mobile|notification).*') 
            then 'mobile_push'
        else '(other)'
    end
);

google_analytics_bigquery_channel_grouping_function_ua.sql

-- Author: Krisjan Oldekamp
-- https://stacktonic.com/article/google-analytics-4-and-big-query-create-custom-channel-groupings-in-a-reusable-sql-function

create or replace function `<your-project>.<your-dataset>.channel_grouping`(tsource string, medium string, campaign string) as (
    case
        when (tsource = '(direct)' or tsource is null) 
            and (regexp_contains(medium, r'^(\(not set\)|\(none\))$') or medium is null) 
            then 'direct'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(social|social_advertising|social-advertising|social_network|social-network|social_media|social-media)$') 
            then 'social'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(email|mail)$') 
            then 'email'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(affiliate|affiliates)$') 
            then 'affiliate'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(cpc|ppc|paidsearch)$') 
            then 'search_paid'
        when regexp_contains(medium, r'^(display|cpm|banner)$') 
            then 'display'
        when medium = 'organic'
            then 'search_organic'
        when medium = 'referral'
            then 'referral'
        else '(other)'
    end
);

google_analytics_bigquery_channel_grouping_testing.sql

#standardSQL
-- Author: Krisjan Oldekamp
-- https://stacktonic.com/article/google-analytics-4-and-big-query-create-custom-channel-groupings-in-a-reusable-sql-function

with
-- select session in last 30 days
sessions as (
    select
        user_pseudo_id as ga_client_id,
        concat(user_pseudo_id,'.',(select cast(value.int_value as string) from unnest(event_params) where key = 'ga_session_id')) as session_id, -- combine user_pseudo_id and session_id for a unique session-id
        timestamp_micros(min(event_timestamp)) as session_start,
        array_agg(
            if(event_name in('page_view','user_engagement','scroll'), struct(
                event_timestamp,
                lower((select value.string_value from unnest(event_params) where key = 'source')) as source,
                lower((select value.string_value from unnest(event_params) where key = 'medium')) as medium,
                lower((select value.string_value from unnest(event_params) where key = 'campaign')) as campaign,
                (select value.int_value from unnest(event_params) where key = 'entrances') as is_entrance,
                (select value.int_value from unnest(event_params) where key = 'ignore_referrer') as ignore_referrer
            ), null) 
        ignore nulls) as channels_in_session,
        countif(event_name = 'purchase') as conversions,
        sum(ecommerce.purchase_revenue) as conversion_value
    from
        `<your-project>.analytics_<your-dataset>.events_*`
    where
        _table_suffix between 
            format_date('%Y%m%d', date_sub(current_date(), interval 30 day))
            and format_date('%Y%m%d', date_sub(current_date(), interval 1 day))
    group by
        user_pseudo_id,
        session_id
),
-- get first campaign parameters from session and aggegrated metrics
traffic_acquisition as (
    select
        (select t.source from unnest(channels_in_session) as t where t.ignore_referrer is null order by t.event_timestamp asc limit 1) as source,
        (select t.medium from unnest(channels_in_session) as t where t.ignore_referrer is null order by t.event_timestamp asc limit 1) as medium,
        count(distinct session_id) as sessions,
        sum(conversions) as conversions,
        ifnull(sum(conversion_value), 0) as conversion_value
    from
        sessions
    group by
        1, 2
)

-- map source / medium to channel grouping using a user defined function (ignore campaign)
select
    *,
    <your-dataset>.channel_grouping(source, medium, null) as channel_grouping
from
    traffic_acquisition

Hello, Can the updated default channel grouping definition be the reason we're getting only 'direct' in the paths :

Even though when we test the function there are plenty of different channel grouping ? (The conversion metrics is ajusted in out main query)

how do you do that journey id?