DramaBox Scraper - Series, Episodes & Catalog Data

DramaBox Scraper turns DramaBox, the short-drama streaming catalog, into a clean data API. Browse the featured catalog, paste series ids or links, and get structured records with series metadata, genres and tags, view and follow counts, full episode lists with lock status and durations, and related-series recommendations - then export to JSON, CSV or Excel, or pull the results straight into your app through the API.

Why This Scraper?

• Two ways in. Browse the featured catalog rows, or paste series ids and links - both yield structured series records.
• Full episode lists. Every series carries its chapter list: episode numbers, names, lock status, durations - capped at 300 per series with an honest truncation flag.
• Catalog depth. Genres, labels and tags, view and follow counts, shelf dates, cover art, and recommended-series ids on every detail record.
• Change kinds. Filter the dataset by record kind (browse card vs full series detail) to feed exactly the downstream job you have.
• Built for schedules. Incremental mode returns only new and changed series on recurring runs, and a refused run fails loudly instead of returning an empty dataset.
• Honest failures. A series id that does not exist is named in the error; a refused run never reads as an empty catalog.

Use Cases

• Who: short-drama analysts - track view and follow counts, episode counts and catalog additions across the DramaBox catalog on a schedule.
• Who: content researchers - collect synopses, genres and episode structures for market studies.
• Who: recommendation builders - harvest related-series graphs from every detail record.

Data You Get

Sample shape: one series record, from a live record.

Field	Example
recordId	dramabox:series:42000028173
bookId	42000028173
title	Love Is A Dangerous Game
introduction	Olivia is dragged by her husband…
chapterCount	43
episodeCount	43
viewCount	59925250
followCount	2347797
labels	["Billionaire", "Forbidden Love"]
tags	["Billionaire", "Forbidden Love"]
episodes	[{"episodeId": "701673570", "indexStr": "001", "name": "第一集", "locked": false, "durationSeconds": 102}]
recommendBookIds	["42000101262", "…"]
language	ENGLISH
url	https://www.dramabox.com/drama/42000028173/Love-Is-A-Dangerous-Game
changeType	NEW

How to Use

1. Pick a mode: Browse catalog reads the featured series shelves on DramaBox's home page; Series detail fetches full records with episode lists for the IDs or URLs you provide.
2. In detail mode, add one series id (42000028173) or link (https://www.dramabox.com/drama/42000028173/Love-Is-A-Dangerous-Game) per entry.
3. Set Max items for the run cap (20 by default; 0 runs until the walk ends naturally) and Max episodes per series caps each episode list (300 by default).
4. Run the actor and export the dataset, or select an MCP connector to send records into your apps.

Browse the catalog:

{"mode": "browse", "maxItems": 30}

Series detail by id:

{"mode": "detail", "series": ["42000028173"], "maxItems": 5}

Series detail by link:

{"mode": "detail", "series": ["https://www.dramabox.com/drama/42000028173/Love-Is-A-Dangerous-Game"], "maxItems": 5}

Watch a series on a schedule:

{"mode": "detail", "series": ["42000028173"], "incrementalMode": true, "stateKey": "db-watch", "maxItems": 0}

Run it from your code

Run it from Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("abotapi/dramabox-scraper").call(run_input={
    "mode": "detail",
    "series": ["42000028173"],
    "maxItems": 5,
})
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items

Run it from JavaScript:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('abotapi/dramabox-scraper').call({
  mode: 'detail', series: ['42000028173'], maxItems: 5,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

Tips

• This catalog serves over residential connections only - the shared datacenter pool is refused at the edge, so the proxy default is residential and runs need a plan that includes it.
• The catalog exposes no reviews, ratings or user comments on any web or app surface this actor can reach anonymously; episode and series data are the catalog's full public depth.

Send results into your apps (MCP connectors)

Optionally send records into the apps you already use through MCP connectors: set MCP connectors (for example a Notion database) and cap the export with Max items to export per connector. The export is a gated side channel: it never changes the dataset.

Field	What it does
mcpConnectors	Connector ids to export to (empty = no export).
notionParentPageUrl	URL or id of the Notion parent page (required for the Notion connector).
maxNotifyListings	Cap on records written to each connector per run.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	browse	Browse the featured home shelves, or fetch series details by ID or URL.
series	array	-	Series IDs (42000028173) or full URLs, one entry per series (detail mode). Each output is one dataset record with episodes nested inside it.
maxItems	integer	20	The single cap on the run: stop after this many records.
maxEpisodesPerSeries	integer	300	Cap on episodes carried per series record.
proxy	object	residential	The catalog refuses datacenter IPs; keep the residential default.
resumeFromRunId	string	-	Paste a previous run ID or dataset ID to continue a large crawl without returning or charging for records already collected there.
incrementalMode	boolean	false	Track changes across scheduled runs; suppress and never bill unchanged records.
stateKey	string	-	Optional name for the incremental baseline.
emitUnchanged	boolean	false	Also return unchanged records, marked and billed.
emitExpired	boolean	false	Also return disappeared records, marked and billed.
ignoreFieldsForChanges	array	-	Extra top-level fields excluded from change detection.
mcpConnectors	array	-	Connector ids to export to (empty = no export).
notionParentPageUrl	string	-	URL or id of the Notion parent page (required for the Notion connector).
maxNotifyListings	integer	50	Cap on records written to each connector per run.

Output Example

Sample shape: one series record, from a live record.

Live record: Love Is A Dangerous Game

{
  "recordId": "dramabox:series:42000028173",
  "bookId": "42000028173",
  "title": "Love Is A Dangerous Game",
  "chapterCount": 43,
  "episodeCount": 43,
  "viewCount": 59925250,
  "followCount": 2347797,
  "labels": ["Billionaire", "Forbidden Love"],
  "url": "https://www.dramabox.com/drama/42000028173/Love-Is-A-Dangerous-Game"
}

Plan Requirement

This actor needs an Apify plan that includes residential proxies (the catalog refuses datacenter IPs). If runs fail with connection errors on the free plan, upgrade the plan or supply your own proxy URLs.

FAQ

How much does it cost?

The actor is pay per event: a start fee per run, a per-record fee for every series returned, a detail surcharge for each series fetched by ID or URL, and an episode event for each episode included in a successfully returned record. Episodes omitted by Max episodes per series are not charged. Exact prices are on the actor's Pricing tab. Max items caps series records, while Max episodes per series caps delivered episode units.

Is it legal to scrape DramaBox?

The actor reads the public catalog pages of the DramaBox website: the same series, episode and metadata any visitor sees without an account. It does not access accounts, streaming or checkout. You are responsible for using the data in line with the site's terms of use, privacy law such as GDPR or CCPA, and applicable regulations; personal data of identifiable individuals requires a lawful basis.

Does it scrape episode comments or reviews?

No. DramaBox publishes comments only inside its mobile app behind a device-registered API; the website exposes none (verified October 2026 across the catalog payloads and site JavaScript), so there is nothing to collect. Series metadata, episodes, view/follow counts and recommendations are the catalog's full public depth.

Can I get only new or changed series on a schedule?

Yes. Turn on Incremental mode and schedule the actor. The first run returns everything matching as NEW; later runs return only NEW and UPDATED records. View-count moves, new episodes and cover changes all count as changes. Use State key to keep a monitoring campaign stable, and Emit unchanged or Emit expired only if you also want those rows (they return and bill extra rows).

Why did my run fail instead of returning an empty dataset?

A run that never got a single readable answer fails loudly with a connection message instead of reporting an empty catalog; a series id that does not exist is named in the error rather than silently skipped.

Can I use it with AI agents or MCP?

Yes. Every record is plain JSON over the dataset API, and the MCP connector export sends rows straight into tools like Notion. Point an agent at the dataset items endpoint with the input above.

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