Imdb Suggestion Search Scraper

Collect titles and people autocomplete suggestions from IMDb into a structured dataset. Enter one or more search terms, set your item limit, and export clean records in JSON, CSV, or Excel formats.

What it does

This actor queries IMDb's suggestion service and normalizes each autocomplete hit for your Apify dataset. Each record captures the label, IMDb identifier, category, ranking position, secondary text, and available year or image details along with the request timestamp.

Modes

• Suggest: Requests autocomplete hits for each search query up to your specified item cap.

Input example

{
  "mode": "suggest",
  "queries": ["inception"],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "requestDelaySecs": 1
}

Output example

{
  "i": {
    "height": 1037,
    "imageUrl": "https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjAxMzY3NjcxNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTI5OTM0Mw@@._V1_.jpg",
    "width": 700
  },
  "imdbId": "tt1375666",
  "l": "Inception",
  "q": "feature",
  "qid": "movie",
  "rank": 219,
  "s": "Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt",
  "tl": "2010",
  "y": 2010,
  "scraped_at": "2026-10-26T00:00:00+00:00"
}

The overview table displays fields including i, imdbId, l, q, qid, rank and s.Internal item identifiers are stored as imdbId to ensure the dataset schema remains consistent.

Use cases

• Title lookup: Resolve movie and show names to IMDb identifiers prior to running deep data extraction.
• Cast discovery: Capture secondary cast and crew lines returned alongside each suggestion.
• Autocomplete research: Compare how IMDb ranks similar search terms and variations.
• Scheduled refresh: Rerun queries automatically on Apify schedules to maintain an up-to-date dataset.

FAQ

Who is this actor for? Analysts, marketers, and developers who need programmatic access to IMDb title and person suggestions in a structured spreadsheet or dataset.

What formats can I export? You can export collected data in JSON, CSV, Excel, and other standard Apify dataset formats.

Can I run this on a schedule? Yes, you can configure Apify schedules to refresh your dataset automatically at regular intervals.

Trademark Notice

IMDb and related names, logos, and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Their use in this documentation is solely to identify the data source and does not imply affiliation, sponsorship, endorsement, or partnership.

Disclaimer

This actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or otherwise officially associated with IMDb or its owners. All data is collected from publicly available sources. Users are responsible for complying with the source's terms of use, rate limits, and attribution or licensing requirements.

---

Is web scraping legal?

This actor extracts publicly accessible data without bypassing login screens, paywalls, or technical security layers. While collecting public web data is widely permitted, compliance depends on how data is gathered and used:

• Personal data: When collecting identifiers like emails, phone numbers, or social handles, ensure compliance with applicable data protection laws such as GDPR or CCPA.
• Copyrighted content: Public text, images, and visual assets are often protected by intellectual property rights. Avoid directly duplicating or redistributing full creative works.
• Platform terms & rate limits: Practice responsible data extraction by avoiding aggressive traffic spikes, adhering to rate limits, and respecting published platform policies.
• Disclaimer: This summary serves informational purposes only and does not constitute formal legal counsel. Seek professional legal advice for specific compliance queries.

For a detailed guide, see Apify's legal overview: Is web scraping legal?