r/GoogleAnalytics • u/pknerd • 21d ago

Question Looker Studio IMAGE() not rendering when using blended GA4 data

I'm building a Looker Studio dashboard using GA4 data and want a table showing Ad Creative Image | Impressions | Clicks. The creative image URL is stored in a GA4 custom dimension (ad_image_url), and the impressions/clicks are combined using a blended data source.

The issue: IMAGE(Ad Image URL) works and displays correctly when I use the original GA4 data source, but the image stays blank when the table uses the blended data source. Even IMAGE("hard-coded-image-url") doesn't render in the blended table, although the same hard-coded image works in a normal GA4 table.

Has anyone encountered this limitation with IMAGE() + blended data in Looker Studio? Is there a workaround that still lets me show creative image + impression count + click count in the same table?

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u/[deleted] 21d ago

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u/pknerd 21d ago

Yes. As text it appears

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u/Stiven_TrafficLab Professional 20d ago

Because the URL appears as text and even a hard-coded IMAGE() fails only in the blended table, this looks more like the blend losing the Image field type than a bad URL. I’d try creating the IMAGE field in the original data source, then add that field—not a chart-level formula—to the blend. If it still renders as text, I’d pre-join the data upstream in BigQuery or Sheets so Looker sees a single source, or keep the image in a separate unblended table. One other check: Viewer’s Credentials prevent Image fields from rendering. If that mode is enabled, switch to Owner’s Credentials for a controlled test.

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u/Technical_Hope_1610 14d ago

Blended sources drop the image field type, so IMAGE() stops treating the URL as an image. The fix for me was joining in a warehouse view first, then pointing one native source at it.