Stacked Area Chart
Stacked Area Chart
What Is This Report Type?
A Stacked Area Chart displays multiple data series as filled areas layered on top of one another. Each series’ area is stacked cumulatively, so the top boundary of the chart represents the total of all series combined, while each colored band shows an individual series’ contribution to that total over time.
Why Is It Used?
Stacked Area Charts are used when you need to visualize how multiple components contribute to a total over time. They reveal both the individual trend of each component and the aggregate trend—making them essential for understanding composition changes, market dynamics, and resource allocation patterns over time.
Key Features and Characteristics
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Cumulative Stacking | Each series is layered on top of the previous one, showing both individual and total values. |
| Part-to-Whole Over Time | Visualizes how each component’s share of the total changes across time periods. |
| Color-Coded Bands | Each series is represented by a distinct colored band with an accompanying legend. |
| 100% Stacked Option | Normalizes the chart so the total always equals 100%, focusing purely on proportional changes. |
| Multi-Series Support | Accommodates multiple data series for comprehensive composition analysis. |
When to Use It (Use Cases)
- Marketing Analytics: Showing how traffic from different channels (Organic, Paid, Social, Direct) contributes to total website visits over time.
- Revenue Mix: Visualizing how revenue from different product lines combines to form total company revenue across quarters.
- Energy Consumption: Displaying how different sources (Solar, Wind, Natural Gas) contribute to total energy generation.
- Customer Segmentation: Tracking how different customer cohorts (New, Returning, Enterprise) contribute to total active users.
Real-Time Business Example
Scenario: A digital marketing director wants to understand how the company’s total website traffic is distributed across channels over the past six months—and how that mix is shifting.
Visualization: A Stacked Area Chart displays three colored bands: Organic (green, bottom), Paid Search (blue, middle), and Social Media (orange, top). The total area grows from 45K visits in January to 95K visits in June. The marketing director can clearly see that organic traffic is growing fastest (the green band is widening), while paid search remains stable—informing a decision to shift more budget toward SEO.
Common Metrics Displayed
- Revenue by Product Line: Each product’s contribution to total revenue over time.
- Traffic by Source: Visits from Organic, Paid, Social, Referral, and Direct channels.
- Cost Breakdown: Operational costs stacked by department or expense category.
- User Cohort Growth: New vs. returning vs. enterprise user counts over time.
User Interactions
| Interaction | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Filters | Filter by date range, channel, product, or any relevant dimension. |
| Hover / Tooltip | Hovering over a band shows the series name, its value at that point, and its percentage of the total. |
| Click / Drill-Down | Clicking a specific band filters the dashboard to show detailed data for that series. |
| Legend Toggle | Click legend items to show or hide individual series bands. |
| Export | Export to Excel. |
Creation Steps
- Select Stacked Area Chart as the report type.
- Group By: Drag a Date/Time column (e.g., Month).
- Metrics: Add multiple value fields for stacked series (e.g., Organic Traffic, Paid Traffic).