Youtube Funnel Finder

A YouTube scraper that discovers how creators monetize their audience. This affiliate link extractor automatically analyzes video descriptions and transcripts to find and categorize all monetization links - affiliate programs, newsletters, courses, booking pages, communities, and more.

Perfect for competitive research, affiliate program discovery, and understanding the creator economy.

🎯 What It Does

Analyzes YouTube channels or specific videos and extracts every monetization link, automatically categorizing them into:

• ✉️ Newsletter - Substack, Beehiiv, ConvertKit, Mailchimp, etc.
• 🛒 Affiliate - Amazon, Brilliant, Skillshare, and any link with affiliate parameters
• 📚 Course - Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Udemy, Gumroad
• 📅 Booking - Calendly, Cal.com, consultation pages
• 👥 Community - Discord, Slack, Telegram invites
• 💰 Patreon/Memberships - Patreon, Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee
• 👕 Merch - Teespring, Printful, Fourthwall stores
• 🔗 Generic - Everything else

⚡ Quick Start

Simple Example

Analyze a single channel:

{
  "channelUrls": ["@veritasium"],
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 20
}

Advanced Example

Multi-channel analysis with transcripts:

{
  "channelUrls": ["@markrober", "@veritasium", "@3blue1brown"],
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 50,
  "dateRange": "last_90_days",
  "includeTranscripts": false,
  "outputFormat": "csv",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}

Specific Videos

Analyze only certain videos:

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ]
}

📊 Output Format

Each row represents one link found in a video:

Field	Description	Example
channel_name	Channel handle	@veritasium
video_title	Video title	"Why Dark Matter is Important"
video_url	Full video URL	https://youtube.com/watch?v=...
published_at	Publish date	2025-09-15T10:00:00Z
raw_url	Original URL from description	https://bit.ly/abc123
final_url	Destination after redirects	https://brilliant.org/veritasium
redirect_count	Number of redirects	2
category	Link category	affiliate
confidence	Classification confidence (0-1)	0.95
signals	Detection signals	["affiliate_domain:brilliant.org", "ref_param"]
context	Text around the link	"Learn more at bit.ly/abc123"
page_title	Landing page title	"Brilliant - Learn by Doing"
source	Where found	description or transcript

Example CSV Output

channel_name,video_title,final_url,category,confidence,published_at
@markrober,Glitter Bomb 4.0,https://brilliant.org/markrober,affiliate,0.95,2025-01-15T10:00:00Z
@markrober,Glitter Bomb 4.0,https://discord.gg/markrober,community,0.98,2025-01-15T10:00:00Z
@veritasium,Understanding Physics,https://patreon.com/veritasium,patreon,0.98,2025-01-10T08:00:00Z

🎨 Input Configuration

Required Fields

• channelUrls OR videoUrls - At least one must be provided
  • Channel examples: @username, https://youtube.com/@username, or channel ID UCxxx...
  • Video examples: https://youtube.com/watch?v=..., https://youtu.be/...

Optional Fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
maxVideosPerChannel	number	50	Limit videos per channel (1-500)
dateRange	string	all	Filter by date: all, last_30_days, last_90_days, last_year
includeTranscripts	boolean	false	Also scan spoken URLs in transcripts (slower, more thorough)
outputFormat	string	csv	Output format: csv, json, or both
maxConcurrency	number	10	Concurrent requests (1-50)
proxyConfiguration	object	-	Apify proxy settings (recommended for large channels)

💡 Use Cases

1. Competitive Research

"What affiliate programs does my competitor use?"

Analyze competitor channels to discover their monetization strategies and revenue sources.

2. Affiliate Program Discovery

"Find creators promoting specific products"

Search for creators in your niche and see which affiliate programs perform best.

3. Creator Outreach

"Build a list of creators with newsletters"

Filter by category to find creators with newsletters, Patreon, or booking pages for collaboration.

4. Market Research

"Track monetization trends in the creator economy"

Analyze hundreds of channels to identify emerging platforms and revenue trends.

5. Brand Partnerships

"Which creators are open to sponsorships?"

Find creators with active affiliate programs - they're likely open to brand deals.

🔍 How Classification Works

The actor uses multiple signals to categorize links:

1. Domain matching - Known platforms (Calendly = booking, Substack = newsletter)
2. URL parameters - Affiliate params like ?ref=, ?aff=, ?tag=
3. Page title keywords - "Subscribe", "Course", "Book a Call"
4. Context analysis - Surrounding text in description
5. Confidence scoring - Higher confidence = more signals matched

Confidence Levels

• 0.95-1.0 - Very confident (known platform domain)
• 0.75-0.94 - Confident (multiple signals)
• 0.60-0.74 - Probable (keyword match)
• 0.50-0.59 - Generic (no specific signals)

⚙️ Advanced Features

Redirect Tracking

Automatically follows up to 5 redirects to find the real destination:

• Handles URL shorteners (bit.ly, t.co, yt.be)
• Tracks redirect chain for transparency
• Captures final landing page title

Transcript Analysis

When enabled, the actor:

• Clicks "Show transcript" button
• Extracts all spoken text
• Finds URLs mentioned verbally
• Links them to specific videos

Note: Transcripts increase runtime ~2x but find ~15-20% more links.

Date Filtering

Focus on recent content:

• last_30_days - Only videos from past month
• last_90_days - Quarter view
• last_year - Annual analysis
• all - Complete channel history

💰 Pricing

Pay-per-event model: You're charged per video analyzed (not per link found).

• Event: video-analyzed
• Typical cost: ~$0.01-0.02 per video
• Example: 50-video channel = ~$0.50-1.00

Cost optimization tips:

• Use maxVideosPerChannel to limit scope
• Set dateRange to focus on recent content
• Disable includeTranscripts unless needed (saves ~50% time)
• Use proxy only when necessary

🚀 Best Practices

For Fast Results

{
  "channelUrls": ["@channel"],
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 20,
  "includeTranscripts": false,
  "dateRange": "last_30_days"
}

For Complete Analysis

{
  "channelUrls": ["@channel"],
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 200,
  "includeTranscripts": true,
  "dateRange": "all",
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}

Bulk Channel Research

{
  "channelUrls": ["@channel1", "@channel2", "@channel3", "@channel4", "@channel5"],
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 10,
  "dateRange": "last_90_days"
}

📈 Output Views

The dataset includes pre-configured views:

• All Links - Complete results table
• By Category - Grouped by funnel type
• Affiliate Links - Only affiliate programs
• Newsletter Signups - Only newsletter/email signup pages

Access via Apify Console → Dataset → Views dropdown.

⚠️ Limitations

• Rate limits: YouTube may block excessive requests - use proxy for large channels
• Private videos: Cannot access unlisted or members-only content
• Shorts: Currently focused on regular videos (Shorts support coming soon)
• Live streams: Archives analyzed; live streams skipped
• Transcripts: Not all videos have transcripts available

🛠️ Technical Details

• Crawler: Playwright for YouTube (dynamic content), Axios for link resolution
• Classification: Rule-based engine with 50+ domain patterns
• Performance: ~5-10 minutes for 50 videos (without transcripts)
• Proxy support: Apify Smart Proxy recommended for reliability

🔗 Integration Examples

Export to Google Sheets

Use Apify's Google Sheets integration to automatically update a spreadsheet.

Webhook to n8n/Zapier

Configure webhook to trigger workflows when new links are discovered.

Schedule Regular Runs

Set up Apify Schedules to track changes over time:

• Daily: Monitor new video uploads
• Weekly: Track emerging trends
• Monthly: Generate reports

📞 Support

Issues or questions?

• Email: kontakt@barrierefix.de
• Documentation: This README
• Apify Support: https://apify.com/support

🎉 Example Results

Tech Education Channels:

• 🛒 Affiliate: Brilliant.org, Skillshare, Amazon tools
• ✉️ Newsletter: Substack, custom domains
• 📅 Booking: Rare (mostly Calendly for B2B)

Fitness Channels:

• 🛒 Affiliate: Supplement brands, Amazon gear
• 💰 Patreon: Common (exclusive content)
• 📚 Course: Training programs (Teachable, Gumroad)

Finance Channels:

• 🛒 Affiliate: Trading platforms, crypto exchanges
• ✉️ Newsletter: Very common (email lists)
• 📅 Booking: Consultation calls (Calendly)

---

🚀 Get Started Now

1. Click "Try for free" in Apify Console
2. Enter a channel URL (example: @veritasium)
3. Click "Start"
4. Download CSV results

That's it! Discover monetization strategies in minutes.

---

Built with ❤️ by Barrierefix | Powered by Apify