YouTube Channel Videos Scraper | Shorts & Streams

Scrape public YouTube channel videos, Shorts, and Streams from channel URLs, @handles, or channel IDs into structured Dataset rows. Each row identifies its channel and source tab, with the title, thumbnail, position, URL, and public metrics that YouTube made available during the run.

What this Actor does

This Actor lists public channel content without downloading video, audio, images, or captions. It accepts bare @handles, bare channel IDs, and supported channel URLs. You can collect one tab or all three; each tab is checked separately so a video found in multiple tabs retains its source context. Available thumbnail URLs and live-status labels come from those same listings, without opening each video. The Actor also writes a per-tab run summary with the number of video rows, empty/error status, skipped entries, whether an additional entry was seen beyond your limit, and any count reported by the source.

Use cases

• Export recent uploads from channels for content research and reporting.
• Build separate inventories of a creator's regular videos, Shorts, and Streams-tab entries.
• Supply discovered video URLs to a transcript workflow when captions are needed.

How to use

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. Enter one or more public channel URLs, @handles, or channel IDs. The prefilled channel is a small working example.
3. Choose a content tab and how many videos to collect per tab. Enter 0 to collect all available entries, then click Start.
4. Open the Dataset for video rows and the run summary for per-tab collection status.

Input

Field	Meaning
channelUrls	Required list of 1–30 public channels. Accept full YouTube URLs, bare @handles, bare UC… channel IDs, or YouTube URLs without https://. URL forms include @handle, /channel/ID, /c/name, and /user/name. Duplicate normalized URLs are processed once.
tab	videos by default; choose shorts, streams, or all. all checks each of the three tabs separately.
maxItemsPerTab	Any positive whole number, or 0 for all available videos. Default 50. Applied independently to every requested tab of every channel. There is no fixed video-count ceiling.

An existing /videos, /shorts, or /streams suffix on a channel URL is normalized away; the tab field determines what is collected. This is the exact input from a successful run:

{"channelUrls":["https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleDevelopers"],"tab":"videos","maxItemsPerTab":5}

Output

Each successful Dataset item represents one public video in one selected channel tab. position is its observed position in that tab, not a stable global rank. videoUrl remains a watch URL even for Shorts; tab tells you where the video was listed. thumbnailUrl is an image link supplied by the listing, not an image downloaded or stored by the Actor. liveStatus can be is_live, is_upcoming, was_live, post_live, not_live, or null when the listing does not identify it. channelSubscriberCount, thumbnailUrl, durationSeconds, viewCount, uploadDate, and liveStatus are nullable because the source does not always supply them. uploadDate, when present, uses YouTube's YYYYMMDD form; the Actor does not invent a date when it is absent.

This is a complete Dataset item from the successful run above:

{
  "status": "success",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleDevelopers",
  "channelId": "UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw",
  "channelName": "Google for Developers",
  "channelSubscriberCount": 2670000,
  "tab": "videos",
  "position": 1,
  "videoId": "YDCB8Bk1OBE",
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDCB8Bk1OBE",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YDCB8Bk1OBE/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEcCNAFEJQDSFXyq4qpAw4IARUAAIhCGAFwAcABBg==&rs=AOn4CLBFOW0pTiZSeww__p1Y1fYG2__vEg",
  "title": "Gemma 4 12B: The Encoder-Free Model Explained",
  "durationSeconds": 147.0,
  "viewCount": 12000,
  "uploadDate": null,
  "liveStatus": null,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-23T10:07:16Z",
  "errorCode": null,
  "errorMessage": null
}

An empty tab receives one status: "empty" item with no video ID. A tab that cannot be collected receives one status: "error" item with a safe errorCode and errorMessage; its videos are not silently replaced with an empty list. A run with an error tab finishes with a failed run status, even if other tabs yielded usable rows. The SUMMARY output records every requested tab, its delivered video count, and limitReached status. Dataset rows can be exported in Apify-supported formats such as JSON and CSV.

Pricing

The Actor charges one video-delivered event for each successfully saved video row. The displayed price per 1,000 is an equivalent for comparison; billing is per delivered video, not in blocks of 1,000. The price depends on your Apify discount tier:

Apify tier	Price per delivered video	Equivalent per 1,000 videos
Free	$0.00100	$1.00
Bronze	$0.00090	$0.90
Silver	$0.00080	$0.80
Gold	$0.00075	$0.75
Platinum	$0.00075	$0.75
Diamond	$0.00075	$0.75

There is no separate start charge. status: "empty" and status: "error" rows, skipped entries, and the run SUMMARY are not charged as video results. Platform usage is included in the event price. Check the Actor's Pricing tab for the active tariff and set a maximum run charge before collecting a large channel. If that limit is reached, the Actor stops collecting additional tabs; already delivered video rows remain in the Dataset and SUMMARY.chargeLimitReached is true.

Related Actors

Actor	Best for
YouTube Transcript Extractor - Timestamps	Turn a discovered video URL into complete available written captions with timestamps.
Social Blade Multi-Platform Analytics Scraper	Add creator audience, growth, and ranking data from public Social Blade profiles.

Limits and data quality

The Actor reads public channel listings only. Private, removed, region-restricted, or otherwise inaccessible content may not appear. YouTube changes listings over time; the same tab can return a different order or count on a later run. limitReached: true means another valid video was observed beyond the effective count limit, which can be your maxItemsPerTab or your run-charge budget. With 0, the Actor continues until the listing ends or the run-charge budget is exhausted; there is no Actor-imposed video-count ceiling. limitReached: false does not prove that YouTube exposed every historical upload. A long run can still stop because of a platform timeout, source rate limit, or network error. Before collecting all of a large channel, review the Pricing tab and your run budget.

This is a lightweight listing rather than a full visit to every video. Titles, thumbnails, and public counts may be present while upload dates or durations are null, especially for Shorts. Thumbnail links may change or stop working later; the Actor does not store image files. A successful row confirms a listed video ID and its observed metadata, not that its media or captions can be downloaded. Results are saved as they are collected. If a handled source error occurs after some videos, those rows remain available, an additional error row identifies the incomplete tab, and the run fails. A platform timeout or forced stop may leave partial Dataset rows without a final tab summary. If the same run restarts, it checks saved rows before continuing; if the listing changed ahead of those rows, it fails rather than duplicating results or charges. Check the final run status before treating the list as complete.

Frequently asked questions

Can I collect Shorts and streams together with regular videos?

Yes. Set tab to all. The item limit applies separately to Videos, Shorts, and Streams. The tab field on each row preserves where it was found.

Can I collect every available video instead of choosing a count?

Yes. Set maxItemsPerTab to 0. The Actor keeps fetching the selected tab of each channel until YouTube returns no more entries. How much YouTube makes available can vary. A handled source failure produces an error row; a hard platform timeout can stop the run before that row is written, so check the run status as well as the Dataset.

Why is an upload date missing?

YouTube's channel listing does not always provide an upload date. The Actor returns null rather than estimating one from relative text or fetching every video individually.

Can I use a handle or channel ID without a full URL?

Yes. Enter @GoogleDevelopers or a YouTube channel ID beginning with UC in channelUrls. The Actor normalizes these to channel URLs; it does not accept a video URL as a channel input.

Does it return transcripts or download media?

No. It returns channel listing data. Use the related transcript Actor for available written captions of specific video URLs.

Responsible use

Use only content you are entitled to access and process. You are responsible for complying with YouTube's terms, applicable copyright and privacy requirements, and local law. Public visibility does not itself grant permission to republish media or personal information.

Support

For an unexpected result, open an issue in the Actor's Issues tab with a run ID, a small public channel URL, the selected tab, and any error code. Do not include credentials or private content.

For API request examples, CSV export workflows, and sample Dataset output, see the YouTube channel scraper examples on GitHub.