# YouTube Scraper - Videos, Channels & Search (`dataspace/youtube-video-channel-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube search results, channel videos, Shorts and live streams: views, likes, comment count, exact publish date, duration, tags, category and description, plus channel subscribers, total views and join date. Fast, no API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/dataspace/youtube-video-channel-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Dataspace](https://apify.com/dataspace) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.40 / 1,000 video or channels

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## YouTube Scraper — Videos, Channels & Search

Scrape **YouTube search results, channel videos, Shorts and live streams**, and get for every video: **views, likes, comment count, publish date, duration**, full description, hashtags and the channel's subscriber count. Add **channel info**: subscribers, **total views**, number of videos, join date, country and links.

Fast and reliable — no browser, no YouTube API key, no quota limits.

### What can you do with it?

- **Influencer & creator research** — compare channels by subscribers, total views and engagement (likes and comments per view).
- **Content & trend research** — find the most-viewed videos for any keyword this week or month.
- **Competitor monitoring** — track every new upload of competitor channels on a schedule.
- **Marketing & brand monitoring** — see who talks about your product and how viewers react.
- **AI & data projects** — clean video metadata for dashboards, recommendations and LLM pipelines.

### What data do you get?

One result per video:

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| `title`, `url`, `videoId` | iPhone 17 Review: No Asterisks!, …watch?v=rng_yUSwrgU |
| `viewCount`, `likeCount`, `commentCount` | 6896687, 174608, 5800 |
| `publishedAt`, `publishedTimeText` | 2025-10-01 |
| `durationSeconds`, `durationText` | 680, 11:20 |
| `channelName`, `channelId`, `channelUrl`, `channelSubscriberCount` | Marques Brownlee, UC…, …, 21300000 |
| `description`, `hashtags` | full description and its #hashtags |
| `isShort`, `isLive`, `thumbnailUrl` | flags and thumbnail |
| `source`, `sourceType`, `position` | the search query or channel the video came from |

With **Add channel info**, one extra result per channel:

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| `name`, `handle`, `channelId`, `url` | MrBeast, @MrBeast, UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA |
| `subscriberCount`, `viewCount`, `videoCount` | 520000000, 141855566763, 1005 |
| `joinedDate`, `country` | 2012-02-19, United States |
| `description`, `links`, `avatarUrl`, `isVerified` | channel description, external links, avatar |

#### Example output (real result, shortened)

```json
{
  "type": "video",
  "title": "iPhone 17 Review: No Asterisks!",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rng_yUSwrgU",
  "channelName": "Marques Brownlee",
  "channelSubscriberCount": 21300000,
  "viewCount": 6896687,
  "likeCount": 174608,
  "commentCount": 5800,
  "durationText": "11:20",
  "publishedAt": "2025-10-01",
  "source": "iphone 17 review",
  "sourceType": "search"
}
```

### How to use

1. Add **search queries** and/or **channel URLs** (`@MrBeast`, `https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium`, `/channel/UC…`) and/or **video URLs**.
2. For searches, optionally choose **sort order**, **upload date** and **duration** filters.
3. For channels, choose **Videos**, **Shorts** or **Live streams** and how many of the newest to get.
4. Click **Start** and export as JSON, CSV, Excel, or via API.

#### Example input

```json
{
  "searchQueries": ["iphone 17 review"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 100,
  "sortBy": "views",
  "uploadDate": "month",
  "channelUrls": ["@MrBeast", "https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium"],
  "channelContent": "videos",
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 200,
  "includeChannelInfo": true,
  "includeVideoDetails": true
}
```

In our tests, 2 searches + 2 channels + 3 single videos returned 225 results with full details in about 2 minutes.

### Pricing

Pay per result: **$1.40 per 1,000 results (one result = one video or one channel)**, plus a tiny start fee of $0.00005 per run. Platform usage (compute and proxies) is included — you are not charged anything else. Likes, comment counts, publish dates and descriptions are included.

| Example | Cost |
|---|---|
| the latest 200 videos of a channel | $0.28 |
| 1,000 search results with full details | $1.40 |

Set a maximum cost for a run and the Actor stops when it is reached.

### Tips

- Switch off **Full video details** if you only need titles, views and durations — runs are much faster.
- `publishedAt` is the publish date as shown on YouTube; for search and channel results `publishedTimeText` (e.g. "3 days ago") is also available.
- Duration comes from search and channel listings; for single video URLs it may be empty.
- Schedule the Actor (e.g. daily) with your competitors' channels to track every new upload.

### FAQ

**Does it download videos or collect comments?** No. It collects public video and channel information only — no video/audio downloads, no comments, no commenter data and no e-mail addresses.

**Do I need a YouTube API key?** No, and there are no API quota limits.

**Can I use it from my app or AI agent?** Yes — through the Apify API, Python/JavaScript clients, Zapier, Make, or as a tool for AI agents via Apify MCP.

**Like it?** If this Actor saves you time, please leave a review on the Reviews tab — it helps others find it. Found a problem? Open an issue and it will be fixed quickly.

### Disclaimer

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by YouTube or Google LLC. YouTube is a trademark of Google LLC and is mentioned only to describe the publicly available data source. It collects only publicly available video and channel information that YouTube shows to any visitor — without logging in, without solving CAPTCHAs, without downloading any video or audio and without collecting comments or contact details. Thumbnails are returned as links, not copied. You are responsible for making sure that your use of the data complies with applicable laws (including copyright and data protection laws such as GDPR) and with YouTube's terms.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Search YouTube like in the search box, one query per line (e.g. <code>python tutorial</code>, <code>iphone 17 review</code>).

## `maxResultsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Number of videos to return for each search query.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Like the YouTube search filters.

## `uploadDate` (type: `string`):

Only videos uploaded in this period.

## `duration` (type: `string`):

Only videos of this length.

## `channelUrls` (type: `array`):

Channel URLs or handles, one per line: <code>https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast</code>, <code>@LofiGirl</code>, <code>https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC…</code>.

## `channelContent` (type: `string`):

Which tab of each channel to scrape (newest first).

## `maxVideosPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Number of newest videos to return per channel.

## `includeChannelInfo` (type: `boolean`):

Adds one result per channel: subscribers, total views, number of videos, join date, country, description and links.

## `videoUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional. Video URLs (watch, youtu.be or Shorts links) to get full details for.

## `includeVideoDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Adds the exact like count, comment count, publish date, full description, hashtags and the channel's subscriber count for every video. Included in the price.

## `language` (type: `string`):

YouTube interface language code (e.g. en, de, es, tr).

## `country` (type: `string`):

Two-letter country code for search results (e.g. US, GB, DE, TR).

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Requests switch to a fresh proxy IP automatically if YouTube blocks them.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "python tutorial"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 20,
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "uploadDate": "any",
  "duration": "any",
  "channelContent": "videos",
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 50,
  "includeChannelInfo": true,
  "includeVideoDetails": true,
  "language": "en",
  "country": "US",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `videos` (type: `string`):

One item per video: views, likes, comments, duration, publish date, category, tags and description.

## `channels` (type: `string`):

One item per channel (if enabled): subscribers, total views, videos, join date, country and links.

## `allFields` (type: `string`):

Every video and channel with all fields.

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "python tutorial"
    ],
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("dataspace/youtube-video-channel-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchQueries": ["python tutorial"],
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("dataspace/youtube-video-channel-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "python tutorial"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call dataspace/youtube-video-channel-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,dataspace/youtube-video-channel-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/9CY53juyBVGuFJy9B/builds/Ukdme0Kd4788dvqeo/openapi.json