PixelUp Agency — Lesson 1

Creator Dashboard

You've just joined PixelUp as a junior data analyst. Your first task: build the agency's creator tracking spreadsheet from scratch in Google Sheets.

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Your Clients This Term
HandlePlatformNiche
@ZaraPlaysYouTubeGaming
@CoastlineEatsTikTokFood
@TechWithTeoYouTubeTech Reviews
@StudioKaiInstagramArt & Design
@RushRunnersYouTubeFitness
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What You'll Do Today
  1. Import the starter data file into Google Sheets
  2. Format numbers so they're readable
  3. Use =SUM() to find total subscribers
  4. Use =AVERAGE() to find average monthly views
  5. Freeze the header row
  6. Style the spreadsheet professionally
Task 1

Import Your Data

Every analyst starts with raw data. Yours is in the starter.csv file — load it into Google Sheets now.

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Step-by-step: Import the CSV
1
Open Google Sheets
Go to sheets.google.com and create a blank new spreadsheet. Name it "PixelUp Creator Dashboard" by clicking the title at the top.
2
Import the starter file
In your new spreadsheet, click File → Import. Select Upload and drag in the starter.csv file your teacher has shared with you.
3
Choose import settings
When prompted, select "Replace current sheet" and make sure "Comma" is selected as the separator. Click Import data.
4
Check it worked
You should see 7 columns (Creator, Platform, Niche, Subscribers, Monthly Views, Avg Watch Time, Posts This Month) and 5 rows of creator data. If anything looks wrong, ask your teacher.
💡 What is a CSV? CSV stands for Comma-Separated Values. It's a plain text format that any spreadsheet app can read. Professional datasets are often shared as CSVs — knowing how to import them is a real skill.
Task 2

Format Your Data

Raw data is hard to read. Your job is to make the numbers meaningful and the sheet look professional.

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Format the Subscriber Column
1
Select column D (Subscribers)
Click the letter D at the top of the column to select all cells in that column.
2
Apply number format
Go to: Format→Number→Number
This adds comma separators. 284000 becomes 284,000 — much easier to read.
3
Format Monthly Views (column E)
Repeat the same steps for column E. Large view counts need comma formatting too.
4
Format Avg Watch Time (column F)
Select column F. Go to: Format→Number→Number — then set decimal places to 1 (click the .0 → .00 button in the toolbar to add/remove decimal places).
⚠️ Don't use Currency format for subscribers — subscribers aren't money! Only use currency (£) format for actual financial values in later lessons.
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Style the Header Row
5
Select row 1
Click the number 1 on the left to select the entire header row.
6
Make headers bold
Press Ctrl + B (Windows) or Cmd + B (Mac) to bold the header text.
7
Add a background colour
With row 1 still selected, click the Fill colour bucket icon in the toolbar and choose a dark colour (navy or dark purple recommended).
8
Change text colour to white
Click the Text colour button (the A with a coloured underline) and set it to white so your headers are readable on the dark background.
Tasks 3 & 4

SUM and AVERAGE

Add two summary rows at the bottom of your data. Use formulas — never type the answer directly.

💡 Why use formulas? If @ZaraPlays gains 50,000 new subscribers, you just update one cell and everything recalculates. If you typed the total manually, it would be wrong instantly.
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Task 3 — Total Subscribers
1
Click on cell A7
This is the row just below your last creator (@RushRunners is in row 6). Type "Total" here as a label.
2
Click on cell D7
This is where your total subscribers formula will go.
3
Type the SUM formula
Type exactly:
=SUM(D2:D6)
Press Enter. You should see the total of all five subscriber counts.
4
Check your answer
The total should be 1,134,000 subscribers across all five creators. Does it match?
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Task 4 — Average Monthly Views
5
Click on cell A8
Type "Average" as a label.
6
Click on cell E8
This is where your average monthly views formula goes — column E holds the Monthly Views data.
7
Type the AVERAGE formula
Type:
=AVERAGE(E2:E6)
Press Enter. This calculates the mean monthly views across all creators.
8
Check your answer
The average should be 1,750,000 monthly views. Notice that @CoastlineEats (4.8M views) pulls the average up significantly — TikTok content gets far more views than YouTube.
Tasks 5 & 6

Freeze Rows & Final Polish

Lock your headers in place and make the spreadsheet look like something you'd actually send to a client.

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Task 5 — Freeze the Header Row
1
Go to View → Freeze
Click: View→Freeze→1 row
2
Check the freeze line
A thick grey line should appear below row 1. Try scrolling down — the header row stays visible even as data scrolls past it.
✅ When is freezing useful? When your dataset has hundreds of rows. In real agencies, creator dashboards can track thousands of posts and data points. Without frozen headers, you'd lose track of which column is which instantly.
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Task 6 — Final Touches
3
Add borders to all data cells
Select cells A1 to G8. Click the borders icon in the toolbar and choose All borders. This makes the grid cleaner and easier to scan.
4
Adjust column widths
Double-click the boundary between column headers (e.g., between A and B) to auto-fit each column to its content. No text should be cut off.
5
Bold and highlight your Total and Average rows
Select rows 7 and 8. Apply bold formatting and a light colour fill (e.g., light purple or light grey) so they stand out from the data rows.
Extension Task

Going Further

Finished everything? Try this extra challenge — it uses everything you've learned today plus a new idea.

Extension
Add a "Views per Post" Column

PixelUp wants to know which creator gets the most views per video/post they publish — this helps compare efficiency, not just raw numbers.

  1. Add a new column header in H1: "Views per Post"
  2. In cell H2, write a formula that divides Monthly Views by Posts This Month
  3. Think: which two columns hold these values? Look at your headers.
  4. Once H2 works, copy it down to H3:H6
  5. Format column H as a number with zero decimal places
  6. Which creator gets the most views per post? Does it surprise you?
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Reflect & Discuss
💡 Real insight: Tech YouTubers (@TechWithTeo's niche) typically have much higher ad revenue rates (CPM) than food content — even with fewer views. We'll explore exactly why in Lesson 2.
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Lesson 1 Complete

Creator Dashboard — Built!

You've set up PixelUp's foundational creator tracking spreadsheet. Next lesson: we work out how much money each creator is actually making.

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What you learned today
  • What a computer model is and why spreadsheets are used to build them
  • How to import a CSV file into Google Sheets
  • How to format numbers, currencies, and decimals
  • How to use =SUM() and =AVERAGE() with cell ranges
  • How to freeze a header row so it stays visible while scrolling
  • How to present data professionally with formatting
Coming up in L2: We'll build the revenue model — working out exactly how much @ZaraPlays earns per month from ads, sponsorships, and merch. You'll learn the single most important concept in spreadsheet modelling: absolute cell references.