I have an event called Video Content Started. I want to know how many users have performed that event in the past year, but have done it with a different platform property at least once, and then I'd like to break down on that platform. What's the best way for me to do this?
This is an interesting multi-part question. Let me break down the best approach:
Step 1: Identify Users Who Used Multiple Platforms
To find users who performed Video Content Started with more than one distinct platform value, you'll want to use the Cohort Builder:
Go to the Cohort Builder and create a cohort with a condition like:
"Did Event: Video Content Started" — filtered or measured across the past year
You can chain conditions using AND/OR operators to capture users who fired the event on different platforms. [Cohorts]
However, the Cohort Builder's native conditions are of the form "Users who did <event> more/less than <some threshold>" or "Users where <profile property> equals <value>" — it doesn't natively support "distinct count of a property value across events." [Cohorts]
Step 2: Use Insights with Aggregate Property per User
In Insights, you can leverage the "Aggregate Property per User" measurement with Distinct value count to find users who have used more than one platform:
Select the Video Content Started event.
Change the measurement to Aggregate Property per User → Distinct value count on the platform property.
Set the time range to the past year.
You can then filter to only include users where the distinct count of platform is ≥ 2 (i.e., used more than one platform). [Insights Measurements]
Step 3: Save as a Cohort and Break Down by Platform
Once you've identified those users:
Click on the relevant bar/segment in the Insights report and select "View Users", then save as a Cohort. [Cohorts]
Go back to Insights, filter or break down by this cohort, and add a Breakdown by platform to see how many of these multi-platform users performed the event on each platform. [Breakdowns]
Summary
| Step | Action |
| - | - |
| 1 | Use Insights → Aggregate Property per User → Distinct value count on platform |
| 2 | Filter to users with distinct count ≥ 2 |
| 3 | Save those users as a Cohort |
| 4 | Re-run Insights with that Cohort + Breakdown by platform |
Note: The knowledge sources confirm that "Aggregate Property per User" supports "Distinct value count" as an aggregation option, which is the key measurement needed here. [Insights Measurements]
ℹ️ Tip: Mention @kapa.ai in the thread for follow-ups or DM the app for 1-to-1 help.
Looking at the knowledge sources more carefully, you're right to question this. The documentation does list Distinct count as an option for Aggregate Property per User:
"Distinct count — The number of distinct property values per user. Example: How many different videos did each user watch? Aggregation options: Average, distribution, median, percentiles, minimum, maximum" [Aggregate Property per User]
So Distinct count should appear as a sub-function under "Aggregate Property per User" (alongside Sum, Average, Minimum, Maximum) — it's the first-level selection, not the second-level aggregation. The second-level aggregations (Average, Distribution, Median, etc.) are what you apply on top of the distinct count per user.
If you're not seeing it, it's possible the UI is presenting options differently than the docs describe, or it may be a plan/permission limitation. I'd recommend:
Double-checking that you're selecting the first-level function (Sum, Average, Distinct count, Min, Max) before choosing the second-level aggregation.
To answer your specific question: Distribution would not be the right first-level choice here — Distribution is a second-level aggregation option that tells you how users are distributed by their computed value, not the function that computes distinct counts.
If Distinct count truly isn't available in your UI, I'd suggest reaching out to Mixpanel support, as the knowledge sources do indicate it should be an option. [Aggregate Property per User]
ℹ️ Tip: Mention @kapa.ai in the thread for follow-ups or DM the app for 1-to-1 help.
kapa.ai It does appear to be a second-level aggregation function, but not a first-level selection. So I can do distinct count within Average, Sum, Distribution, Median, Percentile, Minimum, Maximum. Notably Distribution is not in the documents as a first-level function but is in the UI, while distinct count is in the UI as a second level function but not as a first-level one.
Thank you for the clarification — that's a useful observation about the discrepancy between the docs and the UI.
Based strictly on what the knowledge sources say, here's what's documented:
First-level functions for Aggregate Property per User: Sum, Average, Distinct count, Minimum, Maximum [Aggregate Property per User]
Second-level aggregation options (applied on top of any of those): Average, Distribution, Median, Percentiles, Minimum, Maximum [Insights Measurements]
It sounds like your UI may be presenting Distinct count as a second-level aggregation (i.e., you pick Sum/Average/etc. first, then choose "Distinct count" as the aggregation method on top of that), which doesn't match what the docs describe.
Unfortunately, I can't reconcile this discrepancy with confidence based on the available knowledge sources alone. The docs clearly describe Distinct count as a first-level function, but your hands-on experience suggests otherwise.
For your use case — finding users who performed Video Content Started with more than one distinct platform value — the correct documented approach would be Aggregate Property per User → Distinct count on platform, then filtering for values ≥ 2. If the UI isn't exposing that as a first-level option, I'd recommend reaching out to Mixpanel support directly, as they'll be able to clarify whether this is a UI change, a plan limitation, or something else.
ℹ️ Tip: Mention @kapa.ai in the thread for follow-ups or DM the app for 1-to-1 help.
That's a great question, but unfortunately the knowledge sources don't describe a native way to surface "combinations of platform values per user" (e.g., Web + iPhone, iPhone + Android) as a breakdown or visualization in Mixpanel's standard reports.
What the knowledge sources do support:
Breakdown by platform in Insights will show you how many users (or events) are associated with each individual platform value — but not combinations across multiple events per user. [Breakdowns]
Multi-breakdown is possible (breaking down by multiple properties simultaneously), but that applies to properties on a single event, not combinations of property values across multiple events for the same user. [Segment Limits]
To get at "which combinations of platforms did users use together," you'd likely need a more custom approach — such as using JQL (Mixpanel's JavaScript Query Language), which allows chained aggregations and more complex per-user computations. [JQL] However, the knowledge sources don't provide a specific example for this exact use case.
I'd recommend reaching out to Mixpanel support or exploring JQL if this level of combination analysis is important to you, as it goes beyond what the standard UI reports appear to support based on the available documentation.
ℹ️ Tip: Mention @kapa.ai in the thread for follow-ups or DM the app for 1-to-1 help.
