Issues with Mixpanel's Average Duration Calculation Post-Aug 7 Update

·Aug 07, 2025 10:54 AM·

Hi Mixpanel Community! After the last update on Aug 7, 2025, I can see a major change in how Mixpanel calculates the average duration for screen view event. Here's my case: Insights report for Screen View events:

event 1 - inner filter: Tab name is Home
event 2 - inner filter: tab name is Profile

Measurement for both events: Aggregated property - Average - Duration Result: users spend the same amount of time on each tab, which is not possible. And it wasn't the case yesterday. https://mixpanelcommunity.slack.com/files/U06NHP99VPZ/F099BPEFS4V/screenshot_2025-08-07_at_11.53.39.png

🎫1

6 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Johannes K.
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Seems more like a question for support tbh
Julianne Bozzini
APP
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Hi Khrystyna- Julianne from Mixpanel Support here! I'm not able to reproduce the behavior that you're seeing in the screenshot. When I look at the average duration in my test project with inline filters applied, the results are working as expected. Can you submit a ticket via our webform with a link to the report from the screenshot? One thing I want to note is that the computed duration property will apply to any inline filters as well. For example, in the screenshot, metric A is the duration from 'Screen Viewed, Tab Name = Home' to the users next 'Screen Viewed, Tab Name = Home'. If you are interested in the average duration across pages, I'd recommend looking at 'Screen Viewed' with a breakdown on 'Tab Name'.
Khrystyna S.
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Hi Julianne! Thanks for getting in touch. The Mixpanel support team contacted me and informed that the issue had been resolved. Thank you for your time and effort anyway. Still one question about this — "If you are interested in the average duration across pages, I'd recommend looking at 'Screen Viewed' with a breakdown on 'Tab Name'." I've noticed that when I build a query this way, the data differs from the report where I use inner filters. In this particular case, I would expect the results to be the same, as there’s no logical difference between using inner filters or global filters for this metric. For other measurements like unique users or total events, the results match as expected. Why is that happening?
Julianne Bozzini
APP
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·
Thanks for the response! Glad that the issue was resolved. The inline and global filter behavior differs for the virtual duration property. When analyzing the 'Duration', the report is calculating the time between two instances of the event being analyzed, including any inline filters applied. This changes the analysis compared to using a global filter. For example, let's say a user tracked the following: 1. Screen Viewed, Tab Name= Home at 7:00 AM 2. Screen Viewed, Tab Name= Profile at 7:03 AM 3. Screen Viewed, Tab Name= Home at 7:10 AM If you are looking at the 'Duration' of 'Screen Viewed' with an inline filter on 'Home', then the report looks at the time between events that meet that specific criteria (ie only event 1 and 3). In this case, that would return a 'Duration' of 10 min. If you are looking at the 'Duration' of 'Screen Viewed' with no inline filters, then the report looks at the time between all instances of the event. If you apply a global filter on 'Tab Name= Home', it will take the result from all instances and filter for the specific 'Home' tabs. In this case, the report would show 3 min, the time between events 1 and 2. Let me know if you have any questions!
Khrystyna S.
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Thank you Julianne!
Julianne Bozzini
APP
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Happy to help!

Issues with Mixpanel's Average Duration Calculation Post-Aug 7 Update | Mixpanel Community

Johannes K.
·
·
Seems more like a question for support tbh
Julianne Bozzini
APP
·
·
Hi Khrystyna- Julianne from Mixpanel Support here! I'm not able to reproduce the behavior that you're seeing in the screenshot. When I look at the average duration in my test project with inline filters applied, the results are working as expected. Can you submit a ticket via our webform with a link to the report from the screenshot? One thing I want to note is that the computed duration property will apply to any inline filters as well. For example, in the screenshot, metric A is the duration from 'Screen Viewed, Tab Name = Home' to the users next 'Screen Viewed, Tab Name = Home'. If you are interested in the average duration across pages, I'd recommend looking at 'Screen Viewed' with a breakdown on 'Tab Name'.
Khrystyna S.
·
·
Hi Julianne! Thanks for getting in touch. The Mixpanel support team contacted me and informed that the issue had been resolved. Thank you for your time and effort anyway. Still one question about this — "If you are interested in the average duration across pages, I'd recommend looking at 'Screen Viewed' with a breakdown on 'Tab Name'." I've noticed that when I build a query this way, the data differs from the report where I use inner filters. In this particular case, I would expect the results to be the same, as there’s no logical difference between using inner filters or global filters for this metric. For other measurements like unique users or total events, the results match as expected. Why is that happening?
Julianne Bozzini
APP
·
·
Thanks for the response! Glad that the issue was resolved. The inline and global filter behavior differs for the virtual duration property. When analyzing the 'Duration', the report is calculating the time between two instances of the event being analyzed, including any inline filters applied. This changes the analysis compared to using a global filter. For example, let's say a user tracked the following: 1. Screen Viewed, Tab Name= Home at 7:00 AM 2. Screen Viewed, Tab Name= Profile at 7:03 AM 3. Screen Viewed, Tab Name= Home at 7:10 AM If you are looking at the 'Duration' of 'Screen Viewed' with an inline filter on 'Home', then the report looks at the time between events that meet that specific criteria (ie only event 1 and 3). In this case, that would return a 'Duration' of 10 min. If you are looking at the 'Duration' of 'Screen Viewed' with no inline filters, then the report looks at the time between all instances of the event. If you apply a global filter on 'Tab Name= Home', it will take the result from all instances and filter for the specific 'Home' tabs. In this case, the report would show 3 min, the time between events 1 and 2. Let me know if you have any questions!
Khrystyna S.
·
·
Thank you Julianne!
Julianne Bozzini
APP
·
·
Happy to help!