# TED Talks Scraper (`crawlerbros/ted-talks-scraper`) Actor Scrape TED.com talks with title, speaker, duration, view count, publish/record dates, topics, language, description, thumbnail. Two modes: fetch specific talks by URL/slug, or browse all talks in a topic. Pure HTTP, no auth needed. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/ted-talks-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, Videos - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 22 bookmarks - **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars ## 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 ## TED Talks Scraper Scrape **TED.com** talks — title, speaker, duration, view count, publish/record dates, topics, language, description, and thumbnail. Two modes: fetch specific talks by URL/slug, or browse all talks in a topic. Pure HTTP, no auth, no proxy required. TED.com works from datacenter IPs. ### What you get #### Talk records (`recordType=talk`) | Field | Description | | --- | --- | | `id` | TED talk ID | | `slug` | URL slug (e.g. `sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity`) | | `url` | Canonical talk URL | | `title` | Talk title | | `speaker` | Presenter name (`presenterDisplayName`) | | `partnerName` | TEDx / TED Conference / Independent / etc. | | `description` | Plain-text summary | | `socialDescription` | Optional alt summary used on social embeds (only when different) | | `durationSeconds` | Talk length in seconds | | `durationFormatted` | Human-readable `MM:SS` or `H:MM:SS` | | `viewedCount` | All-time view count | | `publishedAt` | ISO 8601 timestamp the talk was published on TED.com | | `recordedOn` | ISO date the talk was recorded | | `language` | ISO 639-1 language code | | `featured` | `true` for featured talks | | `curatorApproved` | `true` for curator-approved talks | | `hasTranslations` | `true` if subtitle translations exist | | `topics` | Array of topic names (e.g. `creativity`, `business`, `psychology`) | | `thumbnailUrl` | Widescreen thumbnail URL | | `relatedTalkSlugs` | Array of related talk slugs | | `scrapedAt` | ISO 8601 UTC timestamp | Empty fields are dropped from every record at every depth. ### Input | Parameter | Type | Default | Description | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `mode` | Enum | `byUrls` | `byUrls` / `byTopic` / `bySearch` / `bySpeaker` / `byPlaylist` / `browse` | | `talkUrls` | Array | `["sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity"]` | Talk URLs or slugs (mode=byUrls) | | `topic` | Enum | `creativity` | Curated TED topic slug from a 50-item dropdown (mode=byTopic) | | `searchQuery` | String | — | Free-text search query (mode=bySearch) | | `speaker` | String | — | TED speaker slug or URL (mode=bySpeaker) | | `playlist` | String | — | TED playlist numeric ID or full URL (mode=byPlaylist) | | `sort` | Enum | `popular` | `popular` / `newest` / `oldest` for `mode=browse` | | `minViews` | Integer | — | Drop talks with fewer views | | `minDurationSeconds` / `maxDurationSeconds` | Integer | — | Filter by talk length | | `language` | Enum | `(no filter)` | ISO 639-1 dropdown of TED's top-30 languages | | `maxItems` | Integer | `25` | Hard cap (1-1000) | #### Example input — single talk ```json { "mode": "byUrls", "talkUrls": ["sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity"] } ```` #### Example input — multiple talks ```json { "mode": "byUrls", "talkUrls": [ "https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability", "https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action", "do_schools_kill_creativity" ] } ``` #### Example input — browse a topic ```json { "mode": "byTopic", "topic": "creativity", "minViews": 1000000, "maxItems": 50 } ``` #### Example input — short English talks ```json { "mode": "byTopic", "topic": "psychology", "language": "en", "maxDurationSeconds": 600, "maxItems": 25 } ``` #### Example input — search ```json { "mode": "bySearch", "searchQuery": "quantum computing", "maxItems": 30 } ``` #### Example input — by speaker ```json { "mode": "bySpeaker", "speaker": "sir_ken_robinson" } ``` #### Example input — by playlist (Most Popular Talks) ```json { "mode": "byPlaylist", "playlist": "171", "maxItems": 25 } ``` #### Example input — browse most popular talks ```json { "mode": "browse", "sort": "popular", "maxItems": 25 } ``` ### Example output ```json { "recordType": "talk", "id": "66", "slug": "sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity", "url": "https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity", "title": "Do schools kill creativity?", "speaker": "Sir Ken Robinson", "description": "Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.", "durationSeconds": 1151, "durationFormatted": "19:11", "viewedCount": 80129749, "publishedAt": "2006-06-27T00:11:00Z", "recordedOn": "2006-02-25", "language": "en", "curatorApproved": true, "hasTranslations": true, "topics": ["education", "creativity", "psychology"], "thumbnailUrl": "https://pi.tedcdn.com/r/talkstar-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/...", "scrapedAt": "2026-05-06T10:42:18Z" } ``` ### Use cases - **Educational platform content discovery** — Build curated talk libraries by topic. - **Corporate training catalogs** — Index TED talks by length, speaker, or topic for L\&D programs. - **Content recommendation engines** — Match TED talks to user interests via topics + view counts. - **Speaker / influencer research** — Track TED appearances of public figures. - **Academic research** — Snapshot communication / public-speaking dataset. ### FAQ **Do I need a TED account or API key?** No. TED.com pages embed full talk metadata in their `__NEXT_DATA__` JSON blob; the actor reads that directly. **How do I find a topic slug?** Browse https://www.ted.com/topics — every topic page URL ends in the slug (e.g. `/topics/creativity` → `creativity`). Common slugs: `creativity`, `business`, `education`, `psychology`, `technology`, `science`, `health`, `culture`, `art`. **Are transcripts included?** Not in this version. Talk transcripts live on a separate `/transcript` URL and are translated into many languages; capturing them requires an additional fetch per talk and per language. **Why does `mode=byTopic` make N+1 requests?** TED's topic listing returns lighter data per talk. To get full metadata (views, duration, language, etc.), the actor visits each talk's individual URL. Use `mode=byUrls` if you already have the slugs and want fewer round-trips. **How current is the data?** Live — every run hits TED.com at request time. Schedule the actor for daily / weekly refreshes to track view-count growth. **Do I need a proxy?** No. TED.com accepts datacenter IPs without restriction. ### Limitations - TED's topic pages return ~16-20 talks per topic; large catalogs need multiple topic queries. - Transcripts are not yet captured. - Per-talk comments / reactions are not exposed in the public data. - Some old talks have sparse metadata (no language, no `recordedOn`, etc.). # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): What to fetch. ## `talkUrls` (type: `array`): TED talk URLs (e.g. `https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity`) or slugs only (`sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity`). ## `topic` (type: `string`): TED topic slug. Pick one of the curated 50 most-trafficked TED topics. ## `searchQuery` (type: `string`): Free-text query for TED's search engine (e.g. `quantum computing`, `gratitude`). ## `speaker` (type: `string`): TED speaker slug (e.g. `sir_ken_robinson`) or full URL `https://www.ted.com/speakers/sir_ken_robinson`. ## `playlist` (type: `string`): TED playlist numeric ID (e.g. `171`) or full URL `https://www.ted.com/playlists/171/the_most_popular_talks_of_all`. ## `sort` (type: `string`): Order for the /talks browse listing. ## `minViews` (type: `integer`): Drop talks with fewer views than this. ## `minDurationSeconds` (type: `integer`): Drop talks shorter than this. ## `maxDurationSeconds` (type: `integer`): Drop talks longer than this. ## `language` (type: `string`): ISO 639-1 language code. Drops talks not in this language. Empty = no filter. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Hard cap on emitted records. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "byUrls", "talkUrls": [ "sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity" ], "topic": "creativity", "sort": "popular", "language": "", "maxItems": 25 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `records` (type: `string`): Dataset of all scraped TED talks. # 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": "byUrls", "talkUrls": [ "sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity" ], "topic": "creativity", "maxItems": 25 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/ted-talks-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": "byUrls", "talkUrls": ["sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity"], "topic": "creativity", "maxItems": 25, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/ted-talks-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": "byUrls", "talkUrls": [ "sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity" ], "topic": "creativity", "maxItems": 25 }' | apify call crawlerbros/ted-talks-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/ted-talks-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "TED Talks Scraper", "description": "Scrape TED.com talks with title, speaker, duration, view count, publish/record dates, topics, language, description, thumbnail. Two modes: fetch specific talks by URL/slug, or browse all talks in a topic. Pure HTTP, no auth needed.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "Eq257JR0icRjYYFb2" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~ted-talks-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-ted-talks-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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~ted-talks-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-ted-talks-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~ted-talks-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-ted-talks-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": [ "byUrls", "byTopic", "bySearch", "bySpeaker", "byPlaylist", "browse" ], "type": "string", "description": "What to fetch.", "default": "byUrls" }, "talkUrls": { "title": "Talk URLs / slugs (mode=byUrls)", "type": "array", "description": "TED talk URLs (e.g. `https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity`) or slugs only (`sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity`).", "default": [ "sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "topic": { "title": "Topic slug (mode=byTopic)", "enum": [ "creativity", "business", "education", "science", "psychology", "technology", "design", "health", "culture", "art", "music", "politics", "economics", "climate-change", "ai", "humanity", "innovation", "leadership", "motivation", "philosophy", "productivity", "relationships", "space", "storytelling", "sustainability", "women", "work", "writing", "activism", "animals", "architecture", "brain", "cities", "communication", "community", "data", "democracy", "economy", "energy", "environment", "family", "future", "global-issues", "government", "history", "human-body", "identity", "language", "medicine", "nature" ], "type": "string", "description": "TED topic slug. Pick one of the curated 50 most-trafficked TED topics.", "default": "creativity" }, "searchQuery": { "title": "Search query (mode=bySearch)", "type": "string", "description": "Free-text query for TED's search engine (e.g. `quantum computing`, `gratitude`)." }, "speaker": { "title": "Speaker slug or URL (mode=bySpeaker)", "type": "string", "description": "TED speaker slug (e.g. `sir_ken_robinson`) or full URL `https://www.ted.com/speakers/sir_ken_robinson`." }, "playlist": { "title": "Playlist ID or URL (mode=byPlaylist)", "type": "string", "description": "TED playlist numeric ID (e.g. `171`) or full URL `https://www.ted.com/playlists/171/the_most_popular_talks_of_all`." }, "sort": { "title": "Sort (mode=browse)", "enum": [ "popular", "newest", "oldest" ], "type": "string", "description": "Order for the /talks browse listing.", "default": "popular" }, "minViews": { "title": "Min views (optional)", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 10000000000, "type": "integer", "description": "Drop talks with fewer views than this." }, "minDurationSeconds": { "title": "Min duration (seconds)", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 100000, "type": "integer", "description": "Drop talks shorter than this." }, "maxDurationSeconds": { "title": "Max duration (seconds)", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 100000, "type": "integer", "description": "Drop talks longer than this." }, "language": { "title": "Language filter", "enum": [ "", "en", "es", "fr", "de", "it", "pt", "nl", "pl", "ru", "tr", "uk", "cs", "ro", "el", "hu", "sv", "da", "fi", "no", "ar", "he", "fa", "hi", "bn", "ur", "ja", "ko", "zh-cn", "zh-tw", "id", "vi", "th", "ms", "tl", "sw" ], "type": "string", "description": "ISO 639-1 language code. Drops talks not in this language. Empty = no filter.", "default": "" }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Hard cap on emitted records.", "default": 25 } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```