How to get your newsroom started with Chartbeat for analytics

Today’s newsrooms are most effective when they can respond to real-time data on what resonates with audiences. Chartbeat delivers insights that empower editorial teams to make adjustments on the fly, enabling stories to reach the widest audience possible and build loyalty with readers.

The platform’s real-time analytics show exactly how readers engage with content — from which headlines draw clicks to where readers drop off in a story. Teams can view these insights on a Big Board screen in the newsroom, on desktop dashboards, or through customizable email alerts that keep everyone informed without overwhelming them with data.

Here’s how to get up and running quickly.

Step 1: Set up and pricing

Chartbeat offers flexible pricing with tiered plans tailored to your newsroom’s specific needs. Contact their sales team at hello@chartbeat.com for custom pricing.

Your basic subscription includes:

• Real-time and historical data dashboards
• Homepage heads-up display
• Slack integration
• Email and text alerts

Higher-tier subscriptions add:

• Headline and image A/B testing
• Comparisons with competitor publications
• Subscriber conversion metrics
• Advanced segmentation tools

Available add-ons:

• Homepage image testing
• Video viewership tracking
• Registration and subscription conversion tracking

Step 2: Install the tracking code

Getting Chartbeat running on your site:

1. Add Chartbeat’s JavaScript code to your website’s header or footer
2. The code begins collecting data immediately upon installation
3. Allow 10-15 minutes for initial data to populate dashboards

Privacy tip: Review Chartbeat’s data collection practices with your legal team to ensure compliance with relevant privacy regulations, such as GDPR or CCPA.

Step 3: Configure alerts and notifications

Set up alerts via text, Slack, or email:

• Spike Alerts: Notifies when a page experiences sudden traffic increases
• Drop Alerts: Warns when site traffic falls unusually low (could indicate technical issues or algorithm changes)
• Custom threshold alerts: Set your own parameters for notifications

Step 4: Set up automated reports

Configure daily or weekly email reports:

• Site-wide performance reports with key metrics and visualizations
• Section-specific reports to track topic performance
• Author reports on measuring individual journalist impact
• Custom reports based on your strategic objectives

Step 5: Navigate the dashboards

Real-Time Dashboard:

• Monitor current traffic and engagement across your site
• Track top-performing stories as they develop
• Identify traffic sources and referrers in real time
• View concurrent users and engagement time
• Sort by any metric with single-click functionality

Heads-Up Display:

• Compare homepage story performance against historical averages for the same position
• View scroll depth indicators showing where readers leave articles
• Identify optimization opportunities for story placement

Historical Dashboard:

• Analyze long-term trends and patterns
• Compare performance across different time periods
• Segment by stories, sections or authors
• Export data for deeper analysis

Is Chartbeat right for your newsroom?

Choose Chartbeat if you:

• Need real-time insights to make quick editorial decisions
• Want to A/B test headlines and images
• Require detailed engagement metrics beyond pageviews
• Have dedicated staff to monitor and act on analytics
• Need to track subscriber conversion paths
• Want integration with newsroom tools like Slack

Consider alternatives if you need:

• Budget-friendly options for very small newsrooms
• Simple pageview tracking without advanced features
• Built-in content recommendation engines
• Extensive historical data analysis beyond 30 days
• White-label solutions for branded analytics

Pro Tips: Align metrics with your goals

Maximize your Chartbeat investment: According to Ian Swenson, Director of News and Audience Analytics at The Salt Lake Tribune, Chartbeat is most effective when newsrooms understand their strategic objectives and what success looks like.

“Is it enough to just build readership? Or are you looking to grow newsletter subscriptions? Are you trying to increase clickthroughs from your newsletter to the website?” Swenson says. Focus on metrics that align with your goals — don’t let the tool dictate your strategy. “(Let) Chartbeat help with your strategic objectives, not the other way around.”

Additional pro tips:

• Set up custom sections to track special projects or beats
• Use the API to create custom dashboards for specific needs
• Schedule regular analytics review meetings to share insights
• Train all editorial staff on basic dashboard navigation

Known limitations:

• Historical data retention varies by plan level
• Mobile app functionality is limited compared to desktop
• Custom integrations may require developer resources

Chartbeat Alternatives

Parse.ly:

• Similar real-time capabilities
• Better handling of historical data may make it more useful for smaller newsroom

Marfeel:

• Mobile-first analytics focus
• Built-in content recirculation tools
• Better for mobile-heavy audiences

Google Analytics:

• Free
• Provides basic tracking
• Less real-time capability
• Requires more technical setup

Note: Most content analytics platforms, including Chartbeat, require demos for pricing information. Budget 30-45 minutes for initial demos and have your key requirements ready.

• Category: Getting Started Guides
• Tag: Analytics