Description
I need to get from the API, the unique participant count and total duration per participant that can be found in the Zoom admin panel > Reports > By Meetings > [click on participant count for a meeting] > Select “Show Unique Users”.
I would assume that anyone trying to get an accurate count of participants would prioritize this value over the others that are available. This is what I found when comparing the API participant counts to the Zoom Dashboard (website, not API) or Admin Panel.
/report/meetings/{meetingId} = Dashboard > Meetings > Past Meetings > Participants column.
/past_meetings/{meetingUUID} = Zoom Admin Panel > Reports > By Meetings > Participant count field
In one representative example,
/report/meetings/{meetingId} = 27
/past_meetings/{meetingUUID} = 16
Unique users using Admin Report = 9
I’m sure that the different counts have to do with people disconnecting/reconnecting, and perhaps whether they call in on their phone separately, but without a really clear data dictionary, it’s hard to explain these values. It is also causing confusion on the dev forum because staff members have themselves been confused and inconsistent in their answers, so I think a thorough explanations of the differences is warranted.
The reports in the dashboard/admin panel also give no indication that there are duplicate values included. They are just labeled “Participants”. The fact that there are duplicates can only be discovered by clicking into individual meetings. This has resulted in multiple admins reporting out different usage numbers. I can see how they would conclude that they are the unique participants, since I think for most purposes that’s what people mean when then want to know the “Participants” in a meeting. But these numbers are frequently way off.
Finally, the only response I found on the forum that might get the unique participant number and total duration by participant is that we have to use /report/meetings/{meetingId}/participants and come up with our own aggregation methods. It doesn’t seem like we should be the ones who need to do this, but regardless, can you share how you are determining uniqueness in your admin reports? Is it just name, or are you using a field that we don’t have access to in that endpoint?
Thanks for reaching out. I believe that the total number of unique participants for a meeting should be returned by the participant_count field under the Meeting Details Report API:
Are you seeing an instance where this doesn’t match what’s in the UI?
Yes, for most of our meetings, the Meeting Details Report API does not match the number of participants in the UI when following this path: Admin Panel > Account Management > Reports > Active Hosts > By Meetings > [click on participant count for a meeting] > Select “Show Unique Users”.
The Meetings Details Report API is showing me the same number of participants that I see in the UI when following this path : Dashboard > Meetings > Past Meetings > Participants column. However, this number includes many duplicates.
The “Get past meeting details - Meetings - Zoom API” returns a participant count that matches this path in the UI: Admin Panel > Account Management > Reports > Active Hosts > By Meetings > Participant count field. However, this also contains duplicates (fewer than the previous method though).
What I am trying to get is the number of participants and total duration that is in the UI here: Admin Panel > Account Management > Reports > Active Hosts > By Meetings > [click on participant count for a meeting] > Select “Show Unique Users”.
This appears to be the only accurate count of the number of unique participants (taking out all the circumstances that lead to someone appearing multiple times in the other participant counts).
You’re correct that there are circumstances that can lead to participants having multiple entries in the API response. For instance, if there is a waiting room, there will be entry for when the participant enters the waiting room, and an entry for when they’re admitted to the meeting.
If you’re looking for the unique count, have you considered filtering on unique IDs or emails in the response?
Thanks Will. Yes, we have considered creating our own method of counting participants and will go that direction. However, I would assume this is one of the most important pieces of data that most people want to know about meetings, so I’m surprised that we have to calculate this on our own.
I’d like to make three product suggestions:
add the unique count and the total duration of each unique user by meeting into the API.
In the UI, bring the number of unique users forward into the report. Right now you have to go through multiple steps to get the unique users and you have to do it for each individual meeting. I would be willing to bet that most users are assuming that a column in reports labeled “Participants” is the number of unique participants, not the sum of the number of people who joined a waiting room and the number that then joined the meeting. This is very misleading and likely not what administrators are trying to report out. I suggest you do it in reverse. The unique users would be at the top level, and you should have to drill down to see detail like the whether or not the person both joined the waiting room and meeting.
This would also help the issue of having different areas within the admin/dashboard reporting different numbers of participants (yet having both fields just labeled “participants”).
Provide documentation somewhere of what the different reports and endpoints are including and excluding. Your example of the waiting room count is a good one. How would developers or users of the UI know that, when there is a waiting room, the Participants field will count participants who are admitted twice (and presumably, by your description, count people who joined the waiting room but never joined the meeting as 1 participant). It’s very difficult to interpret and explain these participants numbers to others when we report it out.
If product enhancements should be posted elsewhere, please let me know.
Thanks
