YouTube Channel Contacts & Social Links Scraper

Advanced YouTube channel scraper that extracts contact information and social media links from channel About pages. Get 32 enriched fields including external links (websites, social profiles), email addresses, and all standard channel metadata. Uses a hybrid architecture: YouTube Data API v3 for reliable metadata + Puppeteer for contact extraction. No residential proxy required.

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Key Features

• Hybrid API + Scraping: YouTube Data API v3 for reliable standard fields, Puppeteer only for contacts
• Contact Extraction: Extracts email addresses from channel About pages with confidence scoring
• Social Links: Captures and categorizes all external links (Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, etc.)
• Enhanced Discovery: Extracts channels from BOTH channel results AND video results (5-20+ per search)
• No Proxy Required: Works reliably without residential proxy
• 32 Enriched Fields: Complete channel profile with 15 standard fields + 17 contact fields
• Smart Deduplication: Automatically filters duplicate channels by ChannelId
• Link Categorization: Automatically detects and categorizes social platforms and link aggregators
• Configurable Extraction: Toggle contact extraction, email parsing, and link depth
• API Key Rotation: 5 keys in round-robin with quota tracking (50,000 channels/day capacity)
• Automatic Fallback: Full Puppeteer scraping activates if API is unavailable

Best for: Influencer outreach, partnership campaigns, creator collaborations, B2B marketing, PR activities, and any use case requiring direct contact with YouTube creators

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At a Glance

Feature	Value
Architecture	Hybrid: YouTube Data API v3 + Puppeteer
Speed	~2-4s per channel (with contacts), <1s (API only)
Standard Field Reliability	~100% (API-sourced)
Discovery	5-20+ channels per search
Throughput	15-30 channels/minute
Fields	32 total (15 standard + 17 contact)
Contact Success Rate	40-60% have external links, 10-20% have emails
Email Detection	3 modes: strict, normal, aggressive
Proxy Required	No
Concurrency	20 parallel requests (configurable 1-50)
Deduplication	Automatic by ChannelId

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How It Works

Hybrid Architecture

This scraper uses a two-phase approach for each channel:

1. Phase 1 - YouTube Data API v3: Fetches standard channel metadata (subscribers, views, country, join date, description, keywords, etc.) in a single API call. This is fast (~100ms) and reliable -- no DOM parsing failures.

2. Phase 2 - Puppeteer (About page only): When contact extraction is enabled, navigates to the channel's About page to extract external links, emails, and the verification badge. These fields are not available through the API.

3. Fallback: If the API is unavailable (quota exhausted, network error), the full Puppeteer scraping pipeline activates automatically -- no data loss.

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Why This Scraper?

Feature	This Scraper (Hybrid)	Traditional Scrapers
Standard field reliability	~100% (API)	80-95% (DOM parsing)
Contact information	Emails & social links	Not available
Fields per channel	32 enriched fields	10-15 basic fields
SubscriberCount/Country/JoinedDate	Always populated (API)	Often null
Discovery per search	5-20+ channels	1-2 channels
Email extraction	3 detection modes	None
Link categorization	Auto-categorized	None
Time per channel	~2-4s (with contacts)	~5-8s
Outreach ready	Export to CRM	Manual enrichment
Proxy required	No	Often yes

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Input Parameters

Core Discovery

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchQueries	Array	[]	Search terms, topics, or channel handles
startUrls	Array	[]	Channel URLs, video URLs, or bulk text files
maxResultsPerQuery	Integer	10	Max channels per search (1-50)
regionCode	String	"US"	ISO country code (US, GB, CA, AU, etc.)
language	String	"en"	Language code (en, es, de, fr, etc.)
dateFrom	String	""	Filter by channel join date (Joined After, YYYY-MM-DD)
dateTo	String	""	Filter by channel join date (Joined Before, YYYY-MM-DD)
maxConcurrency	Integer	20	Parallel requests (1-50)

Contact Extraction

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
includeContacts	Boolean	true	Master switch for contact information extraction
includeExternalLinks	Boolean	true	Extract and categorize social media and external links
includeEmailExtraction	Boolean	true	Parse email addresses from channel text
emailRegexMode	String	"normal"	Email detection sensitivity: "strict", "normal", or "aggressive"
externalLinkDepth	String	"channelOnly"	Link extraction depth: "channelOnly"

Email Detection Modes

• strict: Only well-formed emails with common domains (.com, .net, .org, etc.). Fewest false positives.
• normal: Standard email pattern with basic filtering. Recommended for most use cases.
• aggressive: Captures more variations including obfuscated emails. Higher false positive rate.

Performance Tips

• Set includeContacts: false to skip About page scraping entirely (API-only, fastest mode)
• Use emailRegexMode: "strict" to reduce false positives
• Lower maxConcurrency if you experience rate limiting

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Output Schema

Standard Channel Fields (15 fields, from API)

#	Field	Type	Description
1	ChannelId	String	Unique YouTube channel ID
2	ChannelName	String	Display name of the channel
3	ChannelHandle	String	The @handle (e.g., @nateherk)
4	ChannelURL	String	Full canonical channel link
5	ThumbnailURL	String	Channel profile image URL
6	Description	String	Channel description text
7	Country	String / null	Channel's listed country (from API)
8	JoinedDate	String / null	Channel creation date (YYYY-MM-DD, from API)
9	SubscriberCount	Integer / null	Total subscribers (exact number from API)
10	VideoCount	Integer / null	Total videos uploaded (from API)
11	TotalViews	Integer / null	Lifetime view count (from API)
12	Keywords	Array	Channel keywords from branding settings
13	IsVerified	Boolean	Verification badge (from page scraping)
14	ChannelType	String / null	Category: Music, Entertainment, Gaming, etc. (from API topic data)
15	ScrapedAt	String	ISO 8601 timestamp of extraction

Contact Fields (17 fields, from About page scraping)

#	Field	Type	Description
16	ExternalLinks	Array	All external links with labels, URLs, and types
17	WebsiteUrl	String / null	Primary website URL
18	InstagramUrl	String / null	Instagram profile URL
19	XUrl	String / null	X (Twitter) profile URL
20	LinkedInUrl	String / null	LinkedIn profile URL
21	FacebookUrl	String / null	Facebook page URL
22	TikTokUrl	String / null	TikTok profile URL
23	DiscordUrl	String / null	Discord server invite URL
24	TelegramUrl	String / null	Telegram channel URL
25	PrimaryAggregatorUrl	String / null	Link aggregator (Linktree, Beacons, etc.)
26	OtherLinks	Array	Additional uncategorized links
27	Emails	Array	All extracted email addresses
28	PrimaryEmail	String / null	Highest confidence email
29	EmailConfidence	Number / null	Confidence score (0-100)
30	EmailSources	Array	Where emails were found
31	HasLinks	Boolean	Whether channel has external links
32	HasEmail	Boolean	Whether email was found
33	BusinessInquiryAvailable	Boolean	Whether a hidden business email exists (behind CAPTCHA)

Note on BusinessInquiryAvailable: Some YouTube channels have a "View email address" button that requires solving a reCAPTCHA. This scraper does not attempt to bypass the CAPTCHA. Instead, it flags BusinessInquiryAvailable = true so you know the channel has a business email available, even though it cannot be extracted automatically.

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Output Example

Table View - Results Overview

Table View - All Fields

JSON View

{
  "ChannelId": "UC2ojq-nuP8ceeHqiroeKhBA",
  "ChannelName": "Nate Herk | AI Automation",
  "ChannelHandle": "@nateherk",
  "ChannelURL": "https://www.youtube.com/@nateherk",
  "ThumbnailURL": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/rjiskq1h4EjTgsqvP_BOsnpwCdHUHKvSo00RmUraoWqDuHQN6RAUMdo1ircHs0ZcKQrrWNvukEs=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
  "Description": "Hi 👋 I'm Nate Herk. I'm passionate about helping businesses unlock the power of AI Automations to save time, cut costs, and stay competitive. \n\nI believe that businesses that don't adopt AI will struggle to keep up, and I'm here to make sure you're ahead of the curve. Whether you're new to AI or looking to refine your workflows, I'm here to guide you through it all.\n\nLet's build a more efficient future together! Book a call on my website!\n",
  "Country": null,
  "JoinedDate": "2013-11-17",
  "SubscriberCount": 530000,
  "VideoCount": 328,
  "TotalViews": 22862386,
  "Keywords": [],
  "IsVerified": false,
  "ChannelType": "Technology",
  "ScrapedAt": "2026-02-19T00:39:00.713Z",
  "ExternalLinks": [
    {
      "label": "skool.com/ai-automation-society-plus/about",
      "url": "https://www.skool.com/ai-automation-society-plus/about",
      "type": "website"
    },
    {
      "label": "https://www.skool.com/ai-automation-s...",
      "url": "https://www.skool.com/ai-automation-society/about",
      "type": "website"
    },
    {
      "label": "https://uppitai.com/",
      "url": "https://uppitai.com/",
      "type": "website"
    },
    {
      "label": "https://n8n.partnerlinks.io/22crlu8afq5r",
      "url": "https://n8n.partnerlinks.io/22crlu8afq5r",
      "type": "website"
    },
    {
      "label": "http://hostinger.com/nateherk",
      "url": "http://hostinger.com/nateherk",
      "type": "website"
    },
    {
      "label": "nateherk.com",
      "url": "https://nateherk.com/",
      "type": "website"
    }
  ],
  "WebsiteUrl": "https://www.skool.com/ai-automation-society-plus/about",
  "InstagramUrl": null,
  "XUrl": null,
  "LinkedInUrl": null,
  "FacebookUrl": null,
  "TikTokUrl": null,
  "DiscordUrl": null,
  "TelegramUrl": null,
  "PrimaryAggregatorUrl": null,
  "OtherLinks": [],
  "Emails": [
    "sponsorships@nateherk.com"
  ],
  "PrimaryEmail": "sponsorships@nateherk.com",
  "EmailConfidence": 100,
  "EmailSources": [
    "about-page-button"
  ],
  "HasLinks": true,
  "HasEmail": true,
  "BusinessInquiryAvailable": true
}

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Quick Start

Example 1: Keywords Search with Contact Extraction

{
  "searchQueries": ["AI automation tools"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 20,
  "regionCode": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "includeContacts": true,
  "includeExternalLinks": true,
  "includeEmailExtraction": true,
  "emailRegexMode": "normal"
}

Example 2: Channel URLs with Aggressive Email Detection

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@LinusTechTips" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@nateherk" }
  ],
  "includeContacts": true,
  "includeEmailExtraction": true,
  "emailRegexMode": "aggressive"
}

Example 3: Fast Mode - API Only (No Contact Extraction)

{
  "searchQueries": ["tech reviews"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 50,
  "includeContacts": false,
  "maxConcurrency": 50
}

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Performance & Reliability

Throughput

Channels	With Contacts (hybrid)	API Only (no contacts)
10 channels	~20-40 seconds	~10-15 seconds
50 channels	~2-3 minutes	~1-2 minutes
100 channels	~4-5 minutes	~2-3 minutes
500 channels	~15-25 minutes	~8-12 minutes

Architecture

• YouTube Data API v3: Fast, reliable metadata (subscribers, views, country, date)
• Puppeteer: Targeted About page scraping for contacts only
• Automatic fallback: Full scraping pipeline if API unavailable
• Enhanced discovery: Channel filter + dual extraction from search results
• Smart deduplication: ChannelId-based duplicate prevention
• Error handling: Automatic retries with exponential backoff
• Anti-detection: Realistic browser fingerprinting and human-like behavior

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Use Cases

Influencer Outreach

Find creators in your niche with their contact information. Export to CRM for automated outreach campaigns. Filter by subscriber count and engagement metrics.

PR & Media Relations

Build media lists with journalist YouTube channels. Extract business emails for press releases. Identify channels covering your industry.

B2B Partnerships

Discover business channels with LinkedIn profiles. Find decision makers through channel descriptions. Connect via multiple social platforms.

Competitive Analysis

Map competitor social media presence. Discover partnership networks. Analyze market communication channels.

Content Marketing

Identify collaboration opportunities. Find guest posting channels. Build relationships with content creators.

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Best Practices

1. Start small: Test with maxResultsPerQuery: 10 to verify results
2. Use keywords effectively: Broad keywords discover more channels through dual extraction
3. Email detection: Start with "normal" mode, use "aggressive" only if needed
4. Respect privacy: Only use publicly available contact information ethically
5. Filter results: Use HasEmail and HasLinks to find contactable channels
6. Verify contacts: Higher EmailConfidence scores are more reliable
7. Export strategically: Use CSV for CRM import, JSON for programmatic access
8. API-only mode: Set includeContacts: false for fastest extraction when you don't need contacts

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Changelog

v1.0 (Current - YouTube Channel Contacts & Social Links Scraper)

• Hybrid Architecture: YouTube Data API v3 for standard fields + Puppeteer for contacts
• Contact Extraction: Email addresses with confidence scoring from About page
• Social Links: All external links categorized by platform
• 32 Total Fields: 15 standard (API) + 17 contact (scraping)
• Smart Categorization: Auto-detect Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc.
• Link Aggregator Detection: Linktree, Beacons, etc.
• 3 Email Modes: Strict, normal, aggressive detection
• Business Inquiry Flag: Detects hidden email availability (behind CAPTCHA)
• Automatic Fallback: Full Puppeteer scraping when API unavailable
• Outreach Ready: Export directly to CRM tools

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Compliance

• Intended for legitimate channel discovery, influencer research, and business intelligence
• Collects only public YouTube channel data
• Uses YouTube Data API v3 within Google's usage policies
• Does not attempt to bypass CAPTCHAs or access gated content
• Users responsible for compliance with applicable laws in their jurisdiction

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Support

• Issues: Report via GitHub or Apify support
• Feature requests: Open an issue with your use case
• Documentation: See /docs folder for detailed PRD and guides

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Built for production-ready channel discovery and outreach