YouTube Scraper

Scrape YouTube search results, videos, channels, Shorts, and competitor data with one powerful Actor. Extract clean structured JSON for SEO, lead generation, market research, and monitoring.

This is a complete YouTube scraper, YouTube search scraper, YouTube video scraper, and YouTube channel scraper built for speed, reliability, and production use.

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🚀 Features

• 6 scraper modes in a single Actor
  • Search Results
  • Video Details
  • Channel Info
  • Shorts
  • Keyword Monitor
  • Competitor Monitor
• Full support for YouTube filters via official sp tokens (sort, duration, upload date, 4K/HD/LIVE, result type)
• Clean, flat JSON output – ready for datasets, CRM, or analysis
• Optional contact enrichment (email, phone, website, social links + lead score)
• Concurrent processing with bounded workers
• Pagination support
• Language (hl) and geography (gl) localization
• Desktop / mobile device emulation
• Built for high success rate

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📥 Input

Field	Type	Required	Description	Default
scraperType	String	Yes	Mode to run	searchResults
searchQueries	Array	No*	Keywords for search / shorts / monitors	["python tutorial"]
videoUrls	Array	No*	Video URLs for videoDetails mode	–
channelUrls	Array	No*	Channel URLs for channel / competitorMonitor	–
maxPages	Integer	No	Max pages per query (0 = unlimited)	3
maxResults	Integer	No	Max total results (0 = unlimited, hard cap 10 000)	200
sortBy	String	No	relevance / rating / uploadDate / viewCount	relevance
resultType	String	No	any / video / channel / playlist	any
duration	String	No	any / short / medium / long	any
uploadDate	String	No	any / hour / today / week / month / year	any
features	Array	No	4k, hd, live, subtitles, …	[]
hl	String	No	UI language (en, es, de…)	en
gl	String	No	Country code (us, gb, de…)	us
device	String	No	desktop or mobile	desktop
sp	String	No	Raw YouTube sp token (overrides other filters)	–
includeContactEnrichment	Boolean	No	Extract emails, phones, socials + lead score	true
fetchFullDescriptions	Boolean	No	Open videos to get full description (slower)	false

* Required depending on the selected scraperType.

Input Example

{
  "scraperType": "searchResults",
  "searchQueries": ["best laptop 2026", "python tutorial"],
  "maxPages": 3,
  "maxResults": 150,
  "sortBy": "viewCount",
  "duration": "long",
  "includeContactEnrichment": true
}

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📤 Output

Every record is a flat JSON object pushed to the default dataset.

Common Fields

Field	Description
type	Record type (searchResult, short, videoDetail, channelInfo, keywordMonitorVideo…)
query	Original search query (when applicable)
title / video_title	Video or Short title
link / video_url	Canonical YouTube URL
video_id	11-character video ID
views	View count (integer)
channel_name	Channel display name
channel_url	Channel URL
subscriber_count	Subscriber count (integer when available)
description / channel_description	Text used for enrichment
scraped_at	ISO timestamp
email, phone, website, social_links, lead_score	Contact enrichment fields

Example – Search Result

{
  "type": "searchResult",
  "query": "python tutorial",
  "position_on_page": 1,
  "title": "Python for Beginners – Full Course",
  "link": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfscVS0vtbw",
  "video_id": "rfscVS0vtbw",
  "views": 42000000,
  "length": "4:26:52",
  "published_date": "3 years ago",
  "description": "Learn Python ... contact@example.com",
  "channel_name": "freeCodeCamp.org",
  "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp",
  "channel_verified": true,
  "email": "contact@example.com",
  "lead_score": 45,
  "scraped_at": "2026-08-21T07:30:00+00:00"
}

Example – Channel Info

{
  "type": "channelInfo",
  "channel_name": "Numberphile",
  "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@Numberphile",
  "channel_handle": "@Numberphile",
  "channel_verified": true,
  "subscriber_count": 4500000,
  "channel_description": "Videos about numbers...",
  "thumbnail_url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/...",
  "scraped_at": "2026-08-21T07:30:00+00:00"
}

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🔍 Use Cases

• SEO & Content Research – Discover ranking videos and top channels for any keyword
• Lead Generation – Extract emails, phones, Discord, Instagram, LinkedIn from descriptions
• Competitor Monitoring – Track what competitors publish and how they rank
• Keyword Monitoring – Snapshot search rankings over time
• Market Research – Analyze trends, view counts, and audience engagement
• Shorts Discovery – Find trending short-form content
• Channel Analysis – Pull subscriber counts and descriptions at scale

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

How to scrape YouTube search results?

Set scraperType to searchResults, provide one or more searchQueries, choose sorting and filters, then run the Actor.

Can I scrape only channels or only videos?

Yes. Use the resultType field (video, channel, or playlist) or pass a custom sp token.

Does this work as a YouTube Shorts scraper?

Yes. Choose scraperType: "shorts" or filter search results for Shorts.

How does contact enrichment work?

When enabled, the Actor analyzes description text and extracts emails, phone numbers, websites, and social profiles (Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Discord, Telegram, etc.) plus a lead score (0–100).

Can I monitor keywords or competitors over time?

Yes. Use keywordMonitor or competitorMonitor modes. Each run produces a snapshot + ranked video records that you can store and compare.

Is this a YouTube video scraper and channel scraper?

Yes. The Actor supports dedicated modes for video details and channel information in addition to search.

Will I get blocked?

The Actor routes all requests through premium inbuilt residential infrastructure, which significantly reduces blocking compared with direct requests.

How many results can I get?

Up to 10 000 results per run (hard limit). Use maxResults and maxPages to control volume and cost.

Can I export the data?

Yes. Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML from the Apify platform, or access it via API.

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📌 Notes & Limitations

• Only public data is scraped
• Very deep pagination may return fewer results as YouTube exhausts the feed
• Contact enrichment quality depends on what creators write in descriptions
• fetchFullDescriptions increases runtime and credit usage
• Respect YouTube’s Terms of Service and applicable laws

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🏷️ Keywords

youtube scraper • youtube search scraper • youtube video scraper • youtube channel scraper • youtube shorts scraper • scrape youtube • yt scraper • youtube data extractor • youtube comment scraper • youtube lead generation • youtube competitor monitoring • youtube keyword monitor

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📄 License

This Actor is provided for legitimate research, analysis, and business use. Users are responsible for complying with YouTube’s Terms of Service and all applicable laws.

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