diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/monitoring/server/kibana_monitoring/__tests__/bulk_uploader.js b/x-pack/plugins/monitoring/server/kibana_monitoring/__tests__/bulk_uploader.js
index 0b69370b8e4c1e..3c5065a782c951 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/monitoring/server/kibana_monitoring/__tests__/bulk_uploader.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/monitoring/server/kibana_monitoring/__tests__/bulk_uploader.js
@@ -19,6 +19,18 @@ class MockCollectorSet {
   async bulkFetch() {
     return this.mockCollectors.map(({ fetch }) => fetch());
   }
+  bulkFormat(data) {
+    return data.reduce((accum, collectedData) => {
+      if (collectedData) {
+        const collector = this.mockCollectors[0];
+        const formatter = collector.formatForBulkUpload || (result => ([
+          { type: collector.type, payload: result }
+        ]));
+        accum.push(formatter(collectedData.result));
+      }
+      return accum;
+    }, []);
+  }
 }
 
 describe('BulkUploader', () => {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/monitoring/server/kibana_monitoring/bulk_uploader.js b/x-pack/plugins/monitoring/server/kibana_monitoring/bulk_uploader.js
index 5b22da47748cda..31fe51e5163ef4 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/monitoring/server/kibana_monitoring/bulk_uploader.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/monitoring/server/kibana_monitoring/bulk_uploader.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License.
  */
 
-import { get, set, flatten, uniq } from 'lodash';
+import { get, set, flatten, uniq, compact } from 'lodash';
 import { callClusterFactory } from '../../../xpack_main';
 import {
   LOGGING_TAG,
@@ -149,7 +149,9 @@ export class BulkUploader {
    * Non-legacy transformation is done in CollectorSet.toApiStats
    */
   static toBulkUploadFormat(uploadData, collectorSet) {
-    return flatten(BulkUploader.deepMergeUploadData(uploadData, collectorSet));
+    if (compact(uploadData).length > 0) {
+      return flatten(BulkUploader.deepMergeUploadData(uploadData, collectorSet));
+    }
   }
 
   static checkPayloadTypesUnique(payload) {