# Influencer Discovery | YouTube TikTok Instagram + Emails (`andok/influencer-discovery`) Actor

Find creators by niche across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram with follower counts, bios and enriched contact emails. $0.008/profile + $0.02 start.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/andok/influencer-discovery.md
- **Developed by:** [Andok](https://apify.com/andok) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $8.00 / 1,000 profile founds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Influencer Discovery | Find YouTube, TikTok & Instagram creators with emails

Type a niche, get a list of creators. This Actor discovers influencers across **YouTube**, **TikTok** and **Instagram**, collects follower counts, bios and links, and extracts **public contact emails** from bios, channel descriptions and the creator's own website. Ideal for influencer outreach, creator sourcing, affiliate programs, PR lists and lead generation, and simple enough for AI agents to call in one step.

### What you get

Each profile row includes: `platform`, `username`, `display_name`, `profile_url`, `followers`, `following`, `content_count` (videos or posts), `total_likes` (TikTok), `total_views` (YouTube), `bio`, `location` (YouTube country, TikTok region), `verified`, `category` (Instagram), `website`, `emails[]`, a primary `email` with its `email_source` (`bio` or `website`), `social_links` (cross-platform handles), the `niche`, and how the profile was found (`search`, `seed` or `cross-link`).

### How discovery works

- **YouTube**: parses public channel search results and each channel's About page (description, country, subscriber, view and video counts, external links). Provide an optional **YouTube Data API v3 key** to use the official API instead, which is the most stable option.
- **TikTok**: discovers handles through public web search, then reads each profile's public metadata (followers, likes, videos, bio, bio link), the same approach as the `tiktok-intelligence` Actor.
- **Instagram**: discovers handles through public web search, then reads profile data through Instagram's public web profile endpoint, with an HTML meta fallback for follower counts (the same method as `instagram-follower-counter`).
- **Cross-links**: Instagram or TikTok handles found in a YouTube description or a bio are queued first on those platforms, so you get the same creator across networks.
- **Emails**: regular and lightly obfuscated addresses (`name [at] site [dot] com`) are extracted from bios. If none is found, the Actor can visit the creator's own website (home, `/contact`, `/about`) and read `mailto:` links. Only publicly listed addresses are returned; YouTube's gated business email is never bypassed.

### Input example

```json
{
  "niche": "vegan cooking",
  "platforms": ["youtube", "tiktok", "instagram"],
  "location": "Germany",
  "maxProfiles": 30,
  "minFollowers": 10000,
  "maxFollowers": 500000,
  "requireEmail": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }
}
```

You can also pass `seedProfiles[]` (channel, TikTok or Instagram URLs) to enrich known creators directly.

### Pricing (pay per event)

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Actor start | $0.02 |
| Profile found | $0.008 |

Example: 100 profiles cost 100 x $0.008 + $0.02 = **$0.82**. Profiles filtered out by follower range or `requireEmail` are not charged, and error rows are free. `maxProfiles` and Apify's max-total-charge limit both cap spending.

### Reliability notes

- TikTok and YouTube usually work from datacenter IPs for small runs. **Instagram aggressively rate limits anonymous traffic**, so use residential proxies for Instagram. When blocked, you get a free `error` row with `blocked: true` and the run continues.
- TikTok and Instagram have no anonymous keyword search. Discovery relies on public search results, so coverage reflects what search engines have indexed for your niche.
- Follower counts from Instagram's HTML fallback can be rounded and come without a bio (see `note`).
- Collect and use contact data in line with GDPR, CAN-SPAM and each platform's terms of service.

### Run locally

```bash
cd apify-influencer-discovery
echo '{"niche":"vegan cooking","maxProfiles":9}' > storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json
apify run
```

# Actor input Schema

## `niche` (type: `string`):

Topic to search creators for, e.g. 'vegan cooking' or 'indie game dev'. Leave empty if you only provide seed profiles.

## `platforms` (type: `array`):

Which platforms to discover creators on.

## `location` (type: `string`):

Country or city appended to discovery queries, e.g. 'Germany'. Discovery is keyword based, so treat it as a soft hint.

## `maxProfiles` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of charged profiles across all platforms.

## `minFollowers` (type: `integer`):

Skip profiles below this follower/subscriber count (skipped profiles are not charged).

## `maxFollowers` (type: `integer`):

Skip profiles above this follower/subscriber count (skipped profiles are not charged).

## `requireEmail` (type: `boolean`):

Return (and charge) only profiles where a public contact email was found.

## `enrichEmails` (type: `boolean`):

Look for public email addresses in bios and channel descriptions.

## `crawlLinkedWebsite` (type: `boolean`):

If no email is in the bio, fetch the creator's own website (home, /contact, /about) for mailto links and addresses.

## `followCrossLinks` (type: `boolean`):

Use Instagram/TikTok handles found in YouTube descriptions and bios as priority candidates on those platforms.

## `seedProfiles` (type: `array`):

Optional profile URLs to enrich directly, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/@gazoakleychef, https://www.tiktok.com/@gordonramsayofficial, https://www.instagram.com/rainbowplantlife/.

## `youtubeApiKey` (type: `string`):

Optional. With a key, YouTube discovery uses the official Data API v3 (more stable, structured stats). Without it, public search pages are parsed.

## `timeoutSeconds` (type: `integer`):

Per-request timeout.

## `delayMs` (type: `integer`):

Pause between request batches to reduce rate limiting.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Recommended for Instagram and large TikTok runs. Residential proxies are the most reliable.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "niche": "vegan cooking",
  "platforms": [
    "youtube",
    "tiktok",
    "instagram"
  ],
  "maxProfiles": 20,
  "requireEmail": false,
  "enrichEmails": true,
  "crawlLinkedWebsite": true,
  "followCrossLinks": true,
  "seedProfiles": [],
  "timeoutSeconds": 30,
  "delayMs": 400,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `profiles` (type: `string`):

No description

## `profilesCsv` (type: `string`):

No description

## `run` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "niche": "vegan cooking",
    "platforms": [
        "youtube",
        "tiktok",
        "instagram"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("andok/influencer-discovery").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "niche": "vegan cooking",
    "platforms": [
        "youtube",
        "tiktok",
        "instagram",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("andok/influencer-discovery").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "niche": "vegan cooking",
  "platforms": [
    "youtube",
    "tiktok",
    "instagram"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call andok/influencer-discovery --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,andok/influencer-discovery"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/MPZ6yjEoewp3Et98A/builds/ZxaPZCuR1dRv3lM3p/openapi.json