YouTube Channel Scraper

YouTube Channel Scraper creates a structured dataset of channel content items — regular videos, Shorts, and community posts — collected from public YouTube channels. Each dataset item represents one content item and can include its title, description, URL, view, like and comment counts, publish date, thumbnail, tags, categories, language, and availability status. Query the source by pasting one or more channel URLs, set per-channel limits for videos, Shorts, and posts, and retrieve records through the Apify Dataset API or export them as JSON, CSV, Excel, or another supported format.

Dataset at a glance

Property	Value
Source	youtube.com (public channels)
Record unit	One content item — a regular video, a Short, or a community post
Input methods	YouTube channel URLs (channelUrls)
Main identifiers	id, url
Delivery	Apify Dataset and API
Export formats	JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML (Apify dataset exports)
Update model	Fresh records per Actor run
Pricing	$3.00 per 1,000 items

Coverage and available records

The Actor collects content items from public YouTube channels using a URL entry point:

• URL-based: Pass one or more channel URLs in channelUrls (@handle, /channel/ID, /c/name, or /user/name forms). Trailing tab paths such as /videos, /shorts, or /community are accepted and normalized.
• Content types: maxVideos controls how many regular videos are collected from the Videos tab, maxShorts controls Shorts, and maxPosts controls community posts. Setting a value to 0 skips that content type.

Record types and limits:

• Item records are collected per content item with metadata: title, description, URL, counts, publish date, thumbnail, tags, categories, and availability.
• Result caps: each content type has its own per-channel limit, and maxItems applies a hard cap across all channels and content types (0 means unlimited).

Known exclusions: video and audio downloads, transcripts, and comment text are not collected; channel-level subscriber counts are not collected; content not public is not collected; each run captures page state at run time (no historical snapshots).

Data dictionary

Field names below match dataset record JSON properties exactly. Fields marked nullable may be absent or null when the source does not provide them.

Field	Type	Nullable	Description	Example
id	string	No	Content item identifier; best stable deduplication key	smJQdhS-FJU
url	string	No	Watch URL	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smJQdhS-FJU
title	string	No	Content title	If you think everyone is starting to sound like ChatGPT...
description	string	Yes	Video/post description text	Algorithms and AI don't just show us reality...
contentType	string	No	Item type: video, short, or post	short
channelName	string	No	Channel name	TED
channelId	string	Yes	Channel identifier	UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug
channelUrl	string	Yes	Canonical channel URL	https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug
sourceChannelUrl	string	No	The channel URL the run was given	https://www.youtube.com/@TED
durationSeconds	integer	Yes	Duration in seconds	99
durationString	string	Yes	Duration as rendered	1:39
viewCount	integer	Yes	View count	20061
likeCount	integer	Yes	Like count	629
commentCount	integer	Yes	Comment count	18
publishedAt	string	Yes	Publish date (YYYY-MM-DD)	2026-08-06
uploadDate	string	Yes	Upload date (YYYYMMDD)	20260806
thumbnailUrl	string	Yes	Thumbnail image URL	https://i.ytimg.com/vi/smJQdhS-FJU/maxresdefault.jpg
tags	string[]	Yes	Tag list	["TEDTalk", "TED Talks", ...]
categories	string[]	Yes	Category list	["People & Blogs"]
isLive	boolean	No	Whether the item is currently live	false
wasLive	boolean	No	Whether the item was a live stream	false
liveStatus	string	Yes	Live status	not_live
availability	string	Yes	Availability status	public
ageLimit	integer	Yes	Age restriction limit	0
playableInEmbed	boolean	Yes	Whether the item can be embedded	true
language	string	Yes	Primary language code	en
subtitleLanguages	string[]	Yes	Available subtitle language codes	["ab", "aa", "af", ...]
webpageUrl	string	Yes	Resolved watch URL	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smJQdhS-FJU
originalUrl	string	Yes	Original URL form that produced the record	https://www.youtube.com/shorts/smJQdhS-FJU

Example dataset record

Real record produced with the input below (channelUrls: ["https://www.youtube.com/@TED"], maxVideos: 10, maxShorts: 5). The tags and subtitleLanguages arrays are truncated for readability.

{
  "id": "smJQdhS-FJU",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smJQdhS-FJU",
  "title": "If you think everyone is starting to sound like ChatGPT, you're not wrong #TEDTalks",
  "description": "Algorithms and AI don't just show us reality...",
  "contentType": "short",
  "channelName": "TED",
  "channelId": "UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug",
  "sourceChannelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@TED",
  "durationSeconds": 99,
  "durationString": "1:39",
  "viewCount": 20061,
  "likeCount": 629,
  "commentCount": 18,
  "publishedAt": "2026-08-06",
  "uploadDate": "20260806",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/smJQdhS-FJU/maxresdefault.jpg",
  "tags": ["TEDTalk", "TED Talks", "TED"],
  "categories": ["People & Blogs"],
  "isLive": false,
  "wasLive": false,
  "liveStatus": "not_live",
  "availability": "public",
  "ageLimit": 0,
  "playableInEmbed": true,
  "language": "en",
  "subtitleLanguages": ["en", "es"],
  "webpageUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smJQdhS-FJU",
  "originalUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/smJQdhS-FJU"
}

The record above was produced with this input:

{
  "channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@TED"],
  "maxVideos": 10,
  "maxShorts": 5,
  "maxPosts": 0,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

Query and input reference

Input	Type	Required	Default	Accepted values	Description
channelUrls	array (stringList)	Yes	—	@handle, /channel/ID, /c/name, or /user/name	One or more channel URLs; tab paths are normalized
maxVideos	integer	No	50	0 or any positive integer	Maximum regular videos per channel; 0 skips videos
maxShorts	integer	No	0	0 or any positive integer	Maximum Shorts per channel; 0 skips Shorts
maxPosts	integer	No	0	0 or any positive integer	Maximum community posts per channel; 0 skips posts
maxItems	integer	No	0	0 or any positive integer	Hard cap on total records across all channels and content types; 0 = unlimited
maxConcurrency	integer	No	3	1–10	Parallel metadata fetches
proxyConfiguration	object	No	Apify proxy, RESIDENTIAL group	Apify proxy groups or custom proxies	Residential proxies are recommended

Minimal request:

{ "channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@TED"] }

Advanced request with per-type limits:

{
  "channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@TED", "https://www.youtube.com/@kurzgesagt"],
  "maxVideos": 100,
  "maxShorts": 20,
  "maxPosts": 10,
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "maxConcurrency": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }
}

Retrieve the data through the API

The Actor runs on the Apify platform, so there is no server to host and no crawling infrastructure to maintain.

1. Start the Actor with a JSON input (console or API).
2. Wait for the run to finish, or use a synchronous endpoint if you want the response inline.
3. Retrieve items from the run's default dataset.
4. Paginate or export the dataset.

Python example:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR-APIFY-TOKEN")

run_input = {
    "channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@TED"],
    "maxVideos": 20,
    "maxShorts": 10,
}

run = client.actor("datascrapers/youtube-channel-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["id"], item["contentType"], item["title"])

Apify generates ready-to-run Python, JavaScript, and cURL examples on the Actor's API tab. Do not put a real API token in shared code or URLs.

Data quality and record handling

• Conditional fields: count, date, and metadata fields are present only when the source publishes them; older or deleted items may return partial metadata.
• Community posts: a post may resolve to its full video record or, when no details are available, a minimal record with id, title, and url.
• Source changes: YouTube page structure and values can change; unreadable fields are returned as null rather than fabricated.
• Deduplication: the Actor deduplicates items within a run using the content type and identifier. Use id as the stable key and filter repeated runs against previously stored IDs.
• Failures: per-item failures are skipped rather than failing the whole run.

Export and pipeline examples

Destination	Recommended method	Typical use
PostgreSQL / Supabase	Dataset API poll or webhook consumer	Store channel content alongside engagement tables
Google Sheets	Apify Google Sheets integration	Share video shortlists with teams
Data warehouse (BigQuery, Snowflake)	Scheduled export via Apify integration	Channel and content performance analysis
S3 / cloud storage	Scheduled export via Apify scheduler + integration	Archival of channel snapshots

Pricing and cost examples

The Actor uses pay-per-event pricing with one chargeable result event, billed per content item:

Event	Trigger	Rate (per 1,000 items)
Item result	Every video, Short, or post record pushed to the dataset	$3.00

Example costs:

Records	Estimated base cost
1,000	$3.00
10,000	$30.00

Apify paid plans reduce the per-1,000 rate. Compute units consumed by the run are billed by your Apify plan. Estimates depend on the verified pricing model and the options selected for the run.

Limitations and responsible data use

• The Actor collects publicly accessible metadata from YouTube channels only; it does not download videos or audio, and it does not collect transcripts or comment text.
• Channel-level subscriber statistics are not collected.
• Community posts may resolve to a video record or produce a minimal record when details are unavailable.
• Field availability depends on what YouTube renders at run time; some values can be null or missing, and site changes can alter fields.
• The Actor does not provide historical snapshots unless you store them yourself.
• You are responsible for compliance with YouTube's terms of service, applicable privacy law, and any contractual obligations before using the data.

Dataset questions

What does one dataset item represent?

One content item from a YouTube channel — a regular video, a Short, or a community post — with its metadata.

Which field should I use as a unique identifier?

id is the stable content identifier and is the recommended deduplication key. The url is a reasonable secondary key.

Are fields nullable or conditional?

Yes. Count, date, and metadata fields are present only when the source publishes them; older or deleted items may return partial metadata. durationSeconds, viewCount, and similar fields are null when unavailable.

Can I retrieve the records as CSV or JSON?

Yes. The dataset can be exported as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML from the Apify Console, and queried through the Dataset API.

Does the Actor return historical data?

No. Each run captures the state of the channels at run time. To track view or like growth, schedule repeated runs and store the outputs yourself.

What counts as a billable result?

One pay-per-event charge applies for every content item record pushed to the dataset ($3.00 per 1,000 items).

Related datasets from Data Scrapers

• Instagram Post Scraper — Public Instagram posts for cross-platform social media research.
• Twitter X Profile Scraper — Public profile posts for social media monitoring alongside YouTube data.
• TripAdvisor Reviews Scraper — Review data that can be joined with channel research for audience analysis.

Data Scrapers support

Need an additional field, record type, or export workflow? Contact Data Scrapers at stardustspotlight@gmail.com. Include a sample source URL, required fields, expected record volume, and preferred delivery format.