YouTube Channel Finder ⚡

Fast, low-cost YouTube channel discovery. Find channels from keywords, video URLs, or channel URLs and export 15 complete channel fields — profile, metrics, and metadata. Powered by the official YouTube Data API v3 with a browserless discovery engine (no headless browser on the fast path).

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🚀 Key Features

• ⚡ Browserless & fast: keyword search, video URLs, and channel URLs are all resolved over plain HTTP — dozens of channels in seconds, no Chromium on the happy path.
• 🎯 Enhanced discovery: keyword search surfaces channels from both channel results and the creators behind video results (5–20+ per search).
• 🎬 Video → channel: drop in video URLs and get the channels behind them.
• 📊 15 channel fields: complete profile with subscriber/video/view counts, description, country, join date, keywords, verification, and type.
• 🔄 Smart deduplication: automatic by ChannelId within a run.
• 🌍 Localization: country and language targeting for discovery.
• 📦 Bulk processing: paste many URLs, upload a text file, or link a remote list.
• 📅 Date filtering: filter channels by join date.
• 💪 Resilient: official API first, automatic fallbacks, browser only as a last resort.

Best for: influencer marketing, partnership discovery, competitive analysis, market research, and creator scouting. Need emails & social links? Pair this with our YouTube Channel Contacts & Social Links Scraper.

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🎯 At a Glance

Feature	Value
Speed	Fast path: dozens of channels in seconds (browserless). Browser fallback: ~7–9s/channel
Discovery	5–20+ channels per search (vs 1–2 traditional)
Inputs	Keywords, channel URLs, video URLs, bulk files
Fields	15 comprehensive channel fields
Method	Official YouTube Data API v3 + browserless HTTP discovery; browser fallback
Deduplication	Automatic by ChannelId
Proxy	Not required

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💡 Why This Scraper?

Most YouTube channel scrapers drive a headless browser for every channel — slow and expensive. YouTube Channel Finder is browserless-first:

Metric	YouTube Channel Finder	Traditional Scrapers
Discovery per search	5–20+ channels	1–2 channels
Fast-path speed	Dozens of channels in seconds	~30–40s per channel
Data source	Official YouTube Data API v3 + HTTP	Browser scraping only
Video URL → channel	✅ Browserless	✅ Browser (slow)
Field coverage	15 fields	Varies
Deduplication	✅ Automatic by ChannelId	❌ Manual
Proxy required	❌ No	Often yes

How it works: keyword searches and video URLs are resolved to channel IDs over plain HTTP, then enriched in batches through the official YouTube Data API v3. If the API's daily free quota is exhausted, enrichment automatically falls back to a hosted API so runs keep working — the headless browser is only used as a final fallback for edge cases.

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📋 Input Parameters

Field	Key	Type	Default	Description
Search Keywords	searchQueries	Array	[]	Search terms, topics, handles, or channel IDs. Surfaces channels from both channel and video results.
YouTube URLs	startUrls	Array<Object|string>	[]	Channel URLs, video URLs (extracts the channel), playlist/search URLs, or bulk text files.
Max channels per query	maxResultsPerQuery	integer	10	Max channels per search keyword (1–50).
Country	regionCode	string	"US"	ISO country code — US, GB, CA, AU, IN, DE, FR, JP, BR, MX.
Language	language	string	"en"	Language code — en, es, de, fr, pt, ja, hi, zh.
From Date	dateFrom	string (YYYY-MM-DD)	""	Filter by channel join date (Joined After). Optional.
To Date	dateTo	string (YYYY-MM-DD)	""	Filter by channel join date (Joined Before). Optional.

Notes:

• 🎯 No required fields — runs out of the box with sensible defaults.
• 🎬 Video URLs welcome — paste watch?v=… links and the actor returns the channels behind them.
• 📁 Bulk upload — one URL per line via text file, or a remote list via requestsFromUrl.
• ⚙️ Proxy, concurrency, and HTTP mode are tuned internally (no configuration needed).

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📤 Output Schema

Comprehensive channel data — 15 fields (flat, spreadsheet-ready)

#	Field	Type	Description
1	ChannelId	String	Unique YouTube channel ID (e.g., UCiHVTkJtWSdc9N3h0nUGWLg)
2	ChannelName	String	Display name
3	ChannelHandle	String	The @handle (e.g., @n8n-io)
4	ChannelURL	String	Canonical channel link
5	ThumbnailURL	String	Profile image / avatar URL
6	Description	String	Channel description / "About" text
7	Country	String | null	Listed country, if available
8	JoinedDate	String | null	Channel creation date (YYYY-MM-DD)
9	SubscriberCount	Integer | null	Total subscribers
10	VideoCount	Integer | null	Total videos uploaded
11	TotalViews	Integer | null	Lifetime view count
12	Keywords	Array	Channel keywords / tags (if public)
13	IsVerified	Boolean	Whether the channel has the verification badge
14	ChannelType	String | null	e.g. "Creator", "Gaming", "Education" (if determinable)
15	ScrapedAt	String (ISO 8601)	Extraction timestamp

ℹ️ Note on IsVerified: the official YouTube Data API does not expose the verification badge, so on the fast API path this field may be false. It is populated when the channel is enriched via the fallback API or the browser path.

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📊 Output Examples

Table View

JSON View

{
  "ChannelId": "UCiHVTkJtWSdc9N3h0nUGWLg",
  "ChannelName": "n8n",
  "ChannelHandle": "@n8n-io",
  "ChannelURL": "https://www.youtube.com/@n8n-io",
  "ThumbnailURL": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/d28uhEsX19s-2S7MeUynZdB9w-HIWCOUf_QHLKwausrb9sbmvQOJWrDEhobxCDg70hoQckHfZA=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
  "Description": "n8n gives technical teams a workflow automation platform that uniquely combines AI capabilities with business process automation. Connect any app or API while maintaining the flexibility of code with the speed of no-code.\n",
  "Country": "Germany",
  "JoinedDate": "2019-06-27",
  "SubscriberCount": 241000,
  "VideoCount": 365,
  "TotalViews": 11468157,
  "Keywords": [
    "n8n",
    "workflow automation",
    "automation",
    "no-code",
    "AI agents"
  ],
  "IsVerified": true,
  "ChannelType": "Education",
  "ScrapedAt": "2026-07-08T12:15:43.000Z"
}

Output benefits:

• 🎯 Flat & clean — numeric counts, ISO dates, typed fields; imports straight into Google Sheets / Excel / BI.
• ⚡ Fast path — official API enrichment in batches, no per-channel browser load.
• 💼 Business-ready — everything needed for partnerships, competitive analysis, and market research.
• 🚀 Enhanced discovery — 5–20+ channels per search.

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🎬 Quick Start

Example 1: Keyword search

{
  "searchQueries": ["n8n"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 20,
  "regionCode": "US",
  "language": "en"
}

Example 2: Video URLs (returns the channels behind the videos)

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sx0o-41r2k" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oAnKSCP4do" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJBP2uy8LcU" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOtJEwVsJic" }
  ]
}

Example 3: Direct channel URLs

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@n8n-io" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiHVTkJtWSdc9N3h0nUGWLg" }
  ]
}

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💪 Performance & Reliability

Architecture (browserless-first)

• Discovery — keyword searches resolve to channel IDs over HTTP; video URLs resolve to their channel by fetching the watch page (no browser).
• Enrichment — channel IDs are enriched in batches through the official YouTube Data API v3 (13/15 fields).
• Automatic fallback — if the API's daily free quota is exhausted, a hosted API enriches channels instead, so runs don't stall.
• Browser last resort — the headless browser is used only for edge cases the HTTP paths can't handle.
• Deduplication — automatic by ChannelId.

Throughput

The browserless fast path processes many channels in seconds (discovery + batched enrichment). When the browser fallback is used, expect ~7–9s per channel.

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📚 Use Cases

• Influencer marketing — find creators by niche with subscriber/verification data.
• Partnership discovery — build target lists with complete channel profiles.
• Competitive analysis — compare competitor channels by subscribers, output, and views.
• Market research — analyze 100–200+ channels by country, type, and niche.
• Creator scouting — surface emerging channels with growth indicators.
• Channel databases — assemble structured, spreadsheet-ready channel records.

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❓ FAQ

Q: How many channels can I discover per search? A: 5–20+ per search — the actor extracts both explicit channel results and the creators behind video results.

Q: Does it scrape every video from a channel? A: No. This actor finds and profiles channels. It does not download a channel's full video list.

Q: How does it stay fast and cheap? A: It's browserless-first — keyword searches and video URLs resolve over plain HTTP, then channels are enriched in batches via the official YouTube Data API v3. A headless browser is only a last-resort fallback, which keeps runs fast and low-cost.

Q: Can I pass video URLs? A: Yes — paste watch?v=… links (or a mix of channel and video URLs) and the actor returns the channels behind them.

Q: Can I filter by channel join date? A: Yes — use dateFrom / dateTo (YYYY-MM-DD). Leave empty to include all channels.

Q: Can I target a country / language? A: Yes — set regionCode and language. Each channel's own country is also extracted when available.

Q: I need creator emails and social links. A: Use our companion actor, YouTube Channel Contacts & Social Links Scraper, which adds email and categorized social links.

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🛠️ Technologies

• Discovery: browserless HTTP resolution of keyword searches and video URLs (YouTube ytInitialData).
• Enrichment: official YouTube Data API v3 (channels.list, batched) with an automatic hosted-API fallback.
• Fallback engine: Puppeteer (headless Chrome) + Crawlee — used only when HTTP paths can't complete.
• Runtime: Node.js 18+.
• Deduplication: ChannelId tracking across all sources.

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📋 Best Practices

1. Start small — test with maxResultsPerQuery: 10 to see 5–20+ channels per search.
2. Use broad keywords — they discover more channels via dual extraction.
3. Mix inputs — combine keywords, channel URLs, and video URLs in one run.
4. Filter by date — use dateFrom / dateTo to target newer or older channels.
5. Export — JSON / CSV / Excel to Sheets, S3, or your CRM.

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📜 Changelog

v2.5 — Browserless update (July 2026)

• ⚡ Browserless-first architecture — keyword search, video URLs, and channel URLs resolved over HTTP; headless browser only as a last-resort fallback.
• 🎬 Video URLs resolved browserlessly (previously required a browser).
• 🔁 Automatic enrichment fallback when the YouTube Data API daily quota is exhausted — runs keep working.
• 🏎️ Major speed & cost improvement on the fast path.
• 🧹 Reliability fixes (About-page navigation, join-date accuracy).

v2.5 — YouTube Data API v3 (Feb 2026)

• Replaced the previous hybrid method with the official YouTube Data API v3 (13/15 fields from the API).
• Removed the legacy third-party extraction API.

Earlier (2025)

• Enhanced discovery (channels from channel + video results, YouTube channel filter), 15-field schema, hybrid HTTP/Puppeteer mode.

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🤝 Compliance

• Collects only public YouTube channel data.
• Uses the official YouTube Data API v3 within its terms.
• Intended for legitimate channel discovery, influencer research, and business intelligence.
• Users are responsible for compliance with applicable laws in their jurisdiction.

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💬 Support

• Issues / feature requests: via GitHub or Apify support.
• Documentation: see the /docs folder for the PRD and guides.

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Built with ❤️ for fast, low-cost channel discovery.