diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/get_bucket_size.js b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/get_bucket_size.js
index b9ce76f7176b45..ad20f434bedf54 100644
--- a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/get_bucket_size.js
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/get_bucket_size.js
@@ -45,8 +45,6 @@ const calculateBucketData = (timeInterval, capabilities) => {
       if (converted) {
         intervalString = converted.value + converted.unit;
       }
-
-      intervalString = undefined;
     } else {
       intervalString = '1ms';
     }
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/index.js b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/index.js
index de93ff22fa5980..e2211e4843bd68 100644
--- a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/index.js
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/index.js
@@ -15,6 +15,6 @@ export { getLastMetric } from './get_last_metric';
 export { getSiblingAggValue } from './get_sibling_agg_value';
 export { getSplits } from './get_splits';
 export { getTimerange } from './get_timerange';
-export { mapBucket } from './map_bucket';
 export { parseSettings } from './parse_settings';
+export { mapEmptyToZero } from './map_empty_to_zero';
 export { overwrite } from './overwrite';
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_bucket.js b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_bucket.js
deleted file mode 100644
index dd48aa3705d41c..00000000000000
--- a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_bucket.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
- * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License
- * 2.0 and the Server Side Public License, v 1; you may not use this file except
- * in compliance with, at your election, the Elastic License 2.0 or the Server
- * Side Public License, v 1.
- */
-
-import { getAggValue } from './get_agg_value';
-
-export function mapBucket(metric) {
-  return (bucket) => [bucket.key, getAggValue(bucket, metric)];
-}
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_bucket.test.js b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_empty_to_zero.test.ts
similarity index 53%
rename from src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_bucket.test.js
rename to src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_empty_to_zero.test.ts
index 63ba294b7dc46a..b5f1adc3f02022 100644
--- a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_bucket.test.js
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_empty_to_zero.test.ts
@@ -6,39 +6,47 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
-import { mapBucket } from './map_bucket';
+import { mapEmptyToZero } from './map_empty_to_zero';
 
-describe('mapBucket(metric)', () => {
+describe('mapEmptyToZero(metric, buckets)', () => {
   test('returns bucket key and value for basic metric', () => {
     const metric = { id: 'AVG', type: 'avg' };
-    const bucket = {
-      key: 1234,
-      AVG: { value: 1 },
-    };
-    expect(mapBucket(metric)(bucket)).toEqual([1234, 1]);
+    const buckets = [
+      {
+        key: 1234,
+        AVG: { value: 1 },
+      },
+    ];
+    expect(mapEmptyToZero(metric, buckets)).toEqual([[1234, 1]]);
   });
   test('returns bucket key and value for std_deviation', () => {
     const metric = { id: 'STDDEV', type: 'std_deviation' };
-    const bucket = {
-      key: 1234,
-      STDDEV: { std_deviation: 1 },
-    };
-    expect(mapBucket(metric)(bucket)).toEqual([1234, 1]);
+    const buckets = [
+      {
+        key: 1234,
+        STDDEV: { std_deviation: 1 },
+      },
+    ];
+    expect(mapEmptyToZero(metric, buckets)).toEqual([[1234, 1]]);
   });
   test('returns bucket key and value for percentiles', () => {
     const metric = { id: 'PCT', type: 'percentile', percent: 50 };
-    const bucket = {
-      key: 1234,
-      PCT: { values: { '50.0': 1 } },
-    };
-    expect(mapBucket(metric)(bucket)).toEqual([1234, 1]);
+    const buckets = [
+      {
+        key: 1234,
+        PCT: { values: { '50.0': 1 } },
+      },
+    ];
+    expect(mapEmptyToZero(metric, buckets)).toEqual([[1234, 1]]);
   });
   test('returns bucket key and value for derivative', () => {
     const metric = { id: 'DERV', type: 'derivative', field: 'io', unit: '1s' };
-    const bucket = {
-      key: 1234,
-      DERV: { value: 100, normalized_value: 1 },
-    };
-    expect(mapBucket(metric)(bucket)).toEqual([1234, 1]);
+    const buckets = [
+      {
+        key: 1234,
+        DERV: { value: 100, normalized_value: 1 },
+      },
+    ];
+    expect(mapEmptyToZero(metric, buckets)).toEqual([[1234, 1]]);
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_empty_to_zero.ts b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_empty_to_zero.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..0490193a76e81a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/helpers/map_empty_to_zero.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License
+ * 2.0 and the Server Side Public License, v 1; you may not use this file except
+ * in compliance with, at your election, the Elastic License 2.0 or the Server
+ * Side Public License, v 1.
+ */
+
+// @ts-expect-error not typed yet
+import { getAggValue } from './get_agg_value';
+import { METRIC_TYPES } from '../../../../../data/common';
+import type { Metric } from '../../../../common/types';
+
+export const mapEmptyToZero = (metric: Metric, buckets: any[]) => {
+  // Metric types where an empty set equals `zero`
+  const isSettableToZero = [
+    METRIC_TYPES.COUNT,
+    METRIC_TYPES.CARDINALITY,
+    METRIC_TYPES.SUM,
+  ].includes(metric.type as METRIC_TYPES);
+
+  return isSettableToZero && !buckets.length
+    ? [[undefined, 0]]
+    : buckets.map((bucket) => [bucket.key, getAggValue(bucket, metric)]);
+};
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/series/math.js b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/series/math.js
index d3cff76524ee36..a6addc8ba0e53b 100644
--- a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/series/math.js
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/series/math.js
@@ -10,10 +10,7 @@ import { convertIntervalToUnit } from '../../helpers/unit_to_seconds';
 
 const percentileValueMatch = /\[([0-9\.]+)\]$/;
 import { startsWith, flatten, values, first, last } from 'lodash';
-import { getDefaultDecoration } from '../../helpers/get_default_decoration';
-import { getSiblingAggValue } from '../../helpers/get_sibling_agg_value';
-import { getSplits } from '../../helpers/get_splits';
-import { mapBucket } from '../../helpers/map_bucket';
+import { getDefaultDecoration, getSiblingAggValue, getSplits, mapEmptyToZero } from '../../helpers';
 import { evaluate } from '@kbn/tinymath';
 
 export function mathAgg(resp, panel, series, meta, extractFields) {
@@ -44,7 +41,7 @@ export function mathAgg(resp, panel, series, meta, extractFields) {
           } else {
             const percentileMatch = v.field.match(percentileValueMatch);
             const m = percentileMatch ? { ...metric, percent: percentileMatch[1] } : { ...metric };
-            acc[v.name] = split.timeseries.buckets.map(mapBucket(m));
+            acc[v.name] = mapEmptyToZero(m, split.timeseries.buckets);
           }
           return acc;
         }, {});
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/series/std_metric.js b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/series/std_metric.js
index b9a4139a723138..cc406041ad8742 100644
--- a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/series/std_metric.js
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/series/std_metric.js
@@ -6,10 +6,7 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
-import { getDefaultDecoration } from '../../helpers/get_default_decoration';
-import { getSplits } from '../../helpers/get_splits';
-import { getLastMetric } from '../../helpers/get_last_metric';
-import { mapBucket } from '../../helpers/map_bucket';
+import { getDefaultDecoration, getSplits, getLastMetric, mapEmptyToZero } from '../../helpers';
 import { METRIC_TYPES } from '../../../../../common/enums';
 
 export function stdMetric(resp, panel, series, meta, extractFields) {
@@ -26,7 +23,7 @@ export function stdMetric(resp, panel, series, meta, extractFields) {
     const decoration = getDefaultDecoration(series);
 
     (await getSplits(resp, panel, series, meta, extractFields)).forEach((split) => {
-      const data = split.timeseries.buckets.map(mapBucket(metric));
+      const data = mapEmptyToZero(metric, split.timeseries.buckets);
       results.push({
         id: `${split.id}`,
         label: split.label,
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/table/std_metric.js b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/table/std_metric.js
index a648258745a15e..140212c2ec9070 100644
--- a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/table/std_metric.js
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/server/lib/vis_data/response_processors/table/std_metric.js
@@ -6,9 +6,7 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
-import { getSplits } from '../../helpers/get_splits';
-import { getLastMetric } from '../../helpers/get_last_metric';
-import { mapBucket } from '../../helpers/map_bucket';
+import { getSplits, getLastMetric, mapEmptyToZero } from '../../helpers';
 import { METRIC_TYPES } from '../../../../../common/enums';
 
 export function stdMetric(bucket, panel, series, meta, extractFields) {
@@ -32,7 +30,7 @@ export function stdMetric(bucket, panel, series, meta, extractFields) {
     };
 
     (await getSplits(fakeResp, panel, series, meta, extractFields)).forEach((split) => {
-      const data = split.timeseries.buckets.map(mapBucket(metric));
+      const data = mapEmptyToZero(metric, split.timeseries.buckets);
       results.push({
         id: split.id,
         label: split.label,