Apple Podcasts Scraper — iTunes Search

Search Apple Podcasts (iTunes) by keyword and get every podcast as clean, structured JSON — name, author, episode count, rating, genre, feed URL and artwork. Uses the public iTunes Search API. No API key required.

Built for podcast directories, newsletter writers, media researchers and anyone building a podcast discovery feed.

Why this Actor

• No API key, no login, no proxy budget — speaks to Apple's public iTunes Search API directly.
• Rich podcast metadata — episode count, primary genre, content advisory, release date and country on every row.
• Feed URL included — the feedUrl lets you subscribe or re-publish episodes without a second lookup.
• Multi-keyword support — search several topics or niches in one run.
• Pay per result — a small fee per podcast returned; a 100-podcast run costs a fraction of a cent.

How it works

For each keyword the Actor calls the iTunes Search API (entity=podcast), normalises the response, and outputs one dataset item per podcast — up to maxPodcastsPerKeyword per keyword.

Input

{
  "keywords": ["technology", "true crime"],
  "maxPodcastsPerKeyword": 10
}

Field	Type	Description
keywords	array	Search terms — required
maxPodcastsPerKeyword	integer	Podcasts to return per keyword (default 10, max 200)

Output (one item per podcast)

{
  "keyword": "technology",
  "podcastId": 1530262988,
  "podcastName": "The Tech Podcast",
  "author": "Tech Media",
  "trackCount": 250,
  "contentAdvisoryRating": "Clean",
  "primaryGenreName": "Technology",
  "genres": ["Technology", "News", "Business"],
  "podcastUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tech-podcast/id1530262988",
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.example.com/techpodcast.xml",
  "artworkUrl": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/.../600x600bb.jpg",
  "releaseDate": "2026-07-01T00:00:00Z",
  "country": "USA"
}

Use cases

• 🎙️ Podcast discovery — build a browsable directory of shows in any niche.
• ✍️ Newsletter content — curate fresh shows and episodes for a tech or culture newsletter.
• 📊 Media research — map the podcast landscape for a topic: authors, genres, episode counts.
• 🤖 Feed generation — collect feedUrl values to aggregate episodes automatically.
• 🔎 Competitor tracking — watch which shows appear for your keywords over time.

Run it from the API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/darknezz~apple-podcasts-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"keywords":["technology"],"maxPodcastsPerKeyword":25}'

Scheduling: attach an Apify Schedule (e.g. weekly) to track new shows entering your niche.

Pricing

Pay per event: a small fee for each podcast scraped, plus Apify's standard platform events (actor start + dataset item). No subscription — you pay only for what you run.

FAQ

Do I need an Apple ID or API key? No. The Actor uses Apple's public iTunes Search API, which requires no authentication.

Why does trackCount vary? It is Apple's reported episode count for the show at search time; very new shows may report lower counts.

Can I fetch episodes, not just shows? Not yet — this Actor focuses on podcast search results. Ask in the Issues tab if you need episode-level scraping.

How many podcasts can I get? Up to maxPodcastsPerKeyword (max 200 per keyword).

Is scraping this legal? The iTunes Search API is Apple's public, unauthenticated endpoint. You are responsible for complying with Apple's terms and applicable laws for how you use the data.