Total YouTube Subscribers

June 24, 2025

How many times has this happened to you? You’re in Looker Studio, deep in the zone, building out your monthly marketing dashboard. You’ve pulled in your Google Analytics 4 data, your Google Ads performance is looking sharp, and now it’s time for the YouTube stats. You add a scorecard, ready to proudly display your channel’s total subscriber count, and… nothing.

You search for the metric. You find ‘User Subscriptions Added’ and ‘User Subscriptions Removed’, but where on earth is the total? It’s a moment of pure frustration. It’s arguably one of the most important top-line metrics for any YouTube channel, yet it seems to have vanished into thin air. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher, isn’t it?

Well, you’re not alone, and the good news is there’s a straightforward fix. This isn’t a bug.

With a simple calculated field, you can not only display the total subscriber count.

Let’s take a look how.

Prefer to watch a video about it?

The Workaround: Calculating Total Subscribers Step-by-Step

Here’s the thing, once you know the process, it’s a trick you’ll use time and time again for other custom metrics. Follow these steps, and you’ll have your subscriber count sorted in minutes.

Step 1: Get to Your Data Source

First things first, you need to get into the settings for your YouTube data source within your Looker Studio report.

From the top menu in your report, click on Resource.
From the dropdown, select Manage added data sources.
Find your YouTube Analytics connection in the list and click EDIT.

Step 2: Create a Calculated Field

This is where the magic happens. We’re going to create a brand-new field that doesn’t exist in the default dataset.

On the data source screen, look for a blue button in the top left that says ADD A FIELD. Click it.

This opens the calculated field editor. It might look a bit intimidating, but don’t worry, the formula we need is incredibly simple. This tool is your best friend for customising reports beyond the standard metrics.

Step 3: The Magic Formula

Now, let’s give Looker Studio its instructions.

Name your field: In the ‘Field Name’ box at the top, type something clear and obvious. Let’s go with Total Subscribers.
Enter the formula: In the ‘Formula’ box below, carefully type or paste the following:

SUM(User Subscriptions Added) - SUM(User Subscriptions Removed)

Scorecard

Excellent, you’ve created the metric. Now let’s add it to your report.

Go back to your report canvas and add a new scorecard. In the ‘Metric’ section of the setup panel on the right, search for your newly created field, Total Subscribers, and select it.

You’ll see a number appear, but hold on—it’s probably a tiny number, like ‘2’ or ’15’. Don’t panic! This is the most common point of confusion. The calculation is working perfectly, but it’s only being applied to your report’s default date range, which is usually the ‘Last 28 days’. It’s showing you the net subscriber gain over the last month, not the all-time total.

The Most Important Step: Fixing the Date Range

To see the actual total number of subscribers, we need to tell the scorecard to calculate across your channel’s entire lifespan.

Make sure your new scorecard is selected.
In the ‘Setup’ panel on the right, scroll down to the Default date range section.
Click on the date range (e.g., ‘Last 28 days’) and select Advanced from the calendar view.
Now, set a Start Date that you know is before your YouTube channel was created. To be safe, you could go back five or ten years.
Set the End Date to Today.
Click APPLY.

Voilà! The scorecard will now update and show you the true, cumulative total subscriber count for your channel. Now that’s a number worth reporting.

Why This Little Fix Matters for Marketers

In the grand scheme of things, fixing a single metric might seem small. But the subscriber count is more than just a vanity metric; it’s a vital sign of your channel’s health.

Social Proof: A strong subscriber base signals to new viewers that your content is valuable and worth their time.
Audience Loyalty: It represents a core audience that has actively chosen to see more from you.
Algorithm Signals: While engagement is key, a growing subscriber list is a positive signal to the YouTube algorithm.

By tracking this metric accurately in the same dashboard as your other marketing KPIs, you create a more holistic view of your performance. You can directly see how your efforts are contributing to building a loyal community.

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Author

Hello, I'm Kyle Rushton McGregor!

I’m an experienced GA4 Specialist with a demonstrated history of working with Google Tag Manager and Looker Studio. I’m an international speaker who has trained 1000s of people on all things analytics.