# iTunes Podcasts Scraper (`crawlerbros/itunes-podcasts-scraper`) Actor Scrape podcast data from Apple Podcasts (iTunes) - search podcasts by keyword or genre, get top charts by country, look up episodes, and browse by publisher. No API key required. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/itunes-podcasts-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Integrations - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. Actors are written with capital "A". ## 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. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## iTunes Podcasts Scraper Scrape podcast data from **[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com)** (iTunes) — one of the world's largest podcast directories with 2.5+ million podcasts. Search by keyword, browse top charts by country and genre, look up episodes for any podcast, and find all shows from a publisher. No API key or login required. ### What you can scrape - **Search podcasts** by any keyword across 100+ country stores - **Top podcast charts** by country (40+ countries) and genre (19 genres) - **Episodes** for any specific podcast (title, description, duration, air date, audio URL) - **Publisher catalogs** — all podcasts from a specific publisher/network - Filter by explicit content flag ### Use cases - Market research on podcast popularity and trending topics - Build a podcast discovery tool or recommendation engine - Track top charts across different countries and genres - Analyze publishing frequency and episode metadata - Discover podcasts by specific publishers/networks - Monitor release dates and episode counts for competitive analysis ### Input | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `mode` | select | `search`, `topCharts`, `episodes`, or `byPublisher` | | `searchQuery` | string | Search keywords (required for `mode=search`) | | `country` | select | iTunes store country (40+ options, default: `us`) | | `genreId` | select | Filter by genre (19 podcast genres) | | `podcastId` | integer | iTunes collection ID (required for `mode=episodes`) | | `publisherId` | integer | iTunes artist ID (required for `mode=byPublisher`) | | `explicit` | select | Filter: `notExplicit`, `explicit`, `cleaned` | | `maxItems` | integer | Max records (1–500, default 20) | #### Example inputs **Search for technology podcasts:** ```json { "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "technology", "country": "us", "maxItems": 20 } ```` **Get US top chart podcasts (Technology genre):** ```json { "mode": "topCharts", "country": "us", "genreId": "1318", "maxItems": 50 } ``` **Get episodes for "The Daily" (id: 1200361736):** ```json { "mode": "episodes", "podcastId": 1200361736, "maxItems": 50 } ``` **Get all podcasts from Stanford (artistId: 1280771285):** ```json { "mode": "byPublisher", "publisherId": 1280771285, "maxItems": 100 } ``` **UK True Crime top charts:** ```json { "mode": "topCharts", "country": "gb", "genreId": "1488", "maxItems": 100 } ``` ### Output #### Podcast record (mode=search, topCharts, byPublisher) ```json { "podcastId": 1235836821, "podcastTitle": "The Future of Everything", "artistId": 1280771285, "artistName": "Stanford Engineering", "totalEpisodes": 380, "primaryGenre": "Science", "genres": ["Science", "Podcasts", "Technology"], "genreIds": ["1533", "26", "1318"], "explicitness": "notExplicit", "country": "USA", "latestEpisodeDate": "2026-06-05T14:00:00Z", "feedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/Y8_HoeNW", "podcastUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-everything/id1235836821", "artworkUrl": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/.../600x600bb.jpg", "contentRating": "Clean", "recordType": "podcast", "scrapedAt": "2026-06-10T12:00:00+00:00" } ``` #### Episode record (mode=episodes) ```json { "episodeId": 1000771328091, "podcastId": 1235836821, "episodeTitle": "The future of ultrafast materials and devices", "podcastTitle": "The Future of Everything", "description": "Engineer Aaron Lindenberg is an expert in...", "shortDescription": "X-ray flash photography to make movies of atoms...", "episodeGuid": "1fbc6902-6a83-4823-845f-4844c22b82b6", "durationSeconds": 2236, "airDate": "2026-06-05T14:00:00Z", "genres": ["Science"], "audioUrl": "https://example.com/audio.mp3", "episodeUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/.../id1235836821?i=1000771328091", "podcastUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/.../id1235836821", "feedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/Y8_HoeNW", "artworkUrl": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/.../600x600bb.jpg", "contentType": "audio", "fileExtension": "mp3", "contentRating": "Clean", "recordType": "episode", "scrapedAt": "2026-06-10T12:00:00+00:00" } ``` ### Supported genres Arts, Comedy, Education, Kids & Family, TV & Film, Music, Religion & Spirituality, Technology, Business, Society & Culture, Fiction, History, True Crime, News, Leisure, Government, Health & Fitness, Science, Sports ### Supported countries (sample) United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, India, South Korea, New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru ### How to find a Podcast ID The podcast ID (collection ID) is the number in the Apple Podcasts URL: - `https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id**1200361736**` The publisher/artist ID is the number after `/artist/`: - `https://podcasts.apple.com/us/artist/stanford/**1280771285**` ### FAQ **Do I need an API key?** No. This scraper uses Apple's completely public iTunes Search API (`itunes.apple.com/search`) and RSS feeds. **How many results can I get from a search?** The iTunes Search API returns up to 200 results per query. Use `maxItems` to control output. **Can I get all episodes for a podcast?** The iTunes Lookup API returns up to 200 episodes per call. For podcasts with more episodes, consider parsing the RSS `feedUrl` directly (available in each podcast record). **What country stores are available?** 40+ country stores. The `country` field controls which store's search rankings and charts are used. Podcast availability may differ by country. **What is a "cleaned" explicit rating?** Apple's "Cleaned" rating means the content has been edited to remove explicit language (censored version). ### Data source Data is sourced from [Apple's iTunes Search API](https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AudioVideo/Conceptual/iTuneSearchAPI/) and the [iTunes RSS Generator](https://rss.applemarkets.com). Both are publicly accessible without authentication. # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): What to fetch: search podcasts, get top charts, look up episodes, or browse by publisher. ## `searchQuery` (type: `string`): Keyword(s) to search for podcasts (e.g. 'technology', 'true crime', 'comedy'). ## `country` (type: `string`): Country code for the iTunes store (affects search results and charts). ## `genreId` (type: `string`): Filter by podcast genre. ## `podcastId` (type: `integer`): iTunes collection ID of the podcast (numeric ID from the Apple Podcasts URL). Required for mode=episodes. ## `publisherId` (type: `integer`): iTunes artist ID of the publisher/network. Required for mode=byPublisher. Example: 125443881 (NPR). ## `explicit` (type: `string`): Filter by explicit content flag. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Hard cap on emitted records. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "technology", "country": "us", "genreId": "", "publisherId": 125443881, "explicit": "", "maxItems": 20 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `data` (type: `string`): Dataset containing all scraped Apple Podcasts data. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "technology", "country": "us", "genreId": "", "publisherId": 125443881, "explicit": "", "maxItems": 20 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/itunes-podcasts-scraper").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "technology", "country": "us", "genreId": "", "publisherId": 125443881, "explicit": "", "maxItems": 20, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/itunes-podcasts-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "technology", "country": "us", "genreId": "", "publisherId": 125443881, "explicit": "", "maxItems": 20 }' | apify call crawlerbros/itunes-podcasts-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/itunes-podcasts-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "iTunes Podcasts Scraper", "description": "Scrape podcast data from Apple Podcasts (iTunes) - search podcasts by keyword or genre, get top charts by country, look up episodes, and browse by publisher. No API key required.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "RavlWc7fd7IcKwNUC" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~itunes-podcasts-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-itunes-podcasts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~itunes-podcasts-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-itunes-podcasts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~itunes-podcasts-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-itunes-podcasts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "mode" ], "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "search", "topCharts", "episodes", "byPublisher" ], "type": "string", "description": "What to fetch: search podcasts, get top charts, look up episodes, or browse by publisher.", "default": "search" }, "searchQuery": { "title": "Search query (mode=search)", "type": "string", "description": "Keyword(s) to search for podcasts (e.g. 'technology', 'true crime', 'comedy').", "default": "technology" }, "country": { "title": "Country", "enum": [ "us", "gb", "au", "ca", "de", "fr", "es", "it", "jp", "br", "mx", "in", "kr", "nz", "ie", "se", "dk", "no", "fi", "nl", "be", "ch", "at", "pt", "pl", "ru", "tr", "za", "ng", "gh", "eg", "sg", "hk", "tw", "th", "id", "ph", "my", "vn", "ar", "co", "cl", "pe" ], "type": "string", "description": "Country code for the iTunes store (affects search results and charts).", "default": "us" }, "genreId": { "title": "Genre", "enum": [ "", "1301", "1303", "1304", "1305", "1309", "1310", "1314", "1318", "1321", "1324", "1483", "1487", "1488", "1489", "1502", "1511", "1512", "1533", "1545" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter by podcast genre.", "default": "" }, "podcastId": { "title": "Podcast ID (mode=episodes)", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 9999999999, "type": "integer", "description": "iTunes collection ID of the podcast (numeric ID from the Apple Podcasts URL). Required for mode=episodes." }, "publisherId": { "title": "Publisher/Artist ID (mode=byPublisher)", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 9999999999, "type": "integer", "description": "iTunes artist ID of the publisher/network. Required for mode=byPublisher. Example: 125443881 (NPR)." }, "explicit": { "title": "Explicit content", "enum": [ "", "notExplicit", "explicit", "cleaned" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter by explicit content flag.", "default": "" }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Hard cap on emitted records.", "default": 20 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```