Difference Between Time Spent per Visit (seconds) and Average Time Spent on Site

Question

Hello,Can someone please explain the difference between Time Spent per Visit and Average Time Spent on SIte? I reviewed the Time Spent page on the Analytics Components Guide but felt the definitions were similar and couldn't quite understand the differences. I know one is typically higher than the other. Time spent per visit (Seconds)Total seconds spent / (visit-bounces)Represents the average amount of time visitors interact with a specific dimension item during each visit.Average time spent on site (Seconds)Represents the total amount of time visitors interact with a specific dimension item, per sequence with a dimension item. It is not just limited to “site” averages as the name suggests. See How Time Spent is Calculated section for more information on sequences.Note: This metric will very likely differ from Time Spent per Visit at a dimension item level due to the differences in the denominator in the calculation.

fsakjlfdsakljfd · Accepted Answer

Greetings,
If you read further down in the same help doc you will find an explanation of the difference.

How does Average Time Spent on Site differ from Time Spent per Visit ?

The difference is the denominator in the metric:

Average Time Spent on Site uses the sequences that include a dimension item.
Time Spent per Visit uses the visit count

As a result, these metrics may yield similar results at a visit level, but will be different at a hit level.

Lets say you saw the home page three times within a visit. 'Time Spent per Visit' for that given visit would have a denominator of 1, where as 'Average Time Spent' would have a denominator of 3.

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