# YouTube Channel API — Channel Stats & Full Video List (`highbrow_fame/youtube-channel-api`) Actor

YouTube channel info (subscribers, video count, description, avatar, links) plus its videos and shorts with views, dates and durations. No key, no login. Unofficial YouTube Channel API.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/highbrow_fame/youtube-channel-api.md
- **Developed by:** [yestrue](https://apify.com/highbrow_fame) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, AI, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$4.00 / 1,000 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 Channel API — Channel Stats & Full Video List

Channel stats and the list of a channel's videos as one clean JSON record per channel: subscribers, video count, description, avatar, banner, keywords, verified badge and external links, plus the newest videos and shorts with views, publish dates, durations and thumbnails — for any @handle, channel URL or UC id. Built on the public channel page and the channel's public RSS feed: no YouTube API key, no quota, no login, nothing downloaded.

**Try it in 1 minute:**

1. Press **Start** — the prefilled input reads three public channels given three different ways (a URL, a handle and a channel id).
2. A few seconds later the **Output** tab shows one record per channel with its stats and its 30 newest videos.
3. Download JSON, CSV or Excel, or call the run from your code and read the dataset.

Price: **$4.00 per 1,000 channels** (one record = one channel with up to `maxVideos` videos). Channels that do not exist or cannot be read are free.

**Use it to:**

- Track subscriber and video counts of your channels and your competitors' on a schedule, in a spreadsheet or a dashboard.
- Pull a channel's latest uploads with views and durations to find what works in your niche.
- Feed an AI agent structured channel data — description, keywords, links, recent titles — instead of a screenshot of the page.
- Resolve handles and custom URLs to UC channel ids in bulk.
- Monitor a list of creators for new videos and shorts, without an API key or quota.

### How it works

1. Every input is turned into the channel's `/videos` page (handles, `/channel/UC...`, `/c/name`, `/user/name` and bare ids all work; YouTube resolves the legacy forms itself). The page is requested in English (`hl=en&gl=US`) with a desktop browser User-Agent; its embedded `ytInitialData` gives the header (title, handle, subscribers, video count, avatar, banner, verified badge, links), the channel metadata (id, description, keywords) and the first ~30 videos with view counts, relative dates and durations.
2. When you ask for more than the first page, the page's own continuation token is followed through YouTube's public web browse endpoint (the key is read from the page, never hardcoded) until `maxVideos`.
3. The channel's public RSS feed adds exact publish timestamps and view counts for the latest 15 uploads; with `includeShorts` the Shorts tab is read too and its videos marked `isShort: true`.
4. Everything is merged by video id, newest first, and cut at `maxVideos`. Country, join date and lifetime views are filled in when YouTube put the About data in the page, else they are null.
5. The first request of every channel goes out directly (YouTube usually answers Apify's servers); retries go through the Apify proxy. A missing channel is a free `NOT_FOUND` record; a page without its data (for example a cookie-consent interstitial — no cookies are used) is retried through the Apify proxy and otherwise becomes a free `FAILED` record with the reason.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `channels` | Handles, channel URLs or UC ids, one per line. Required. |
| `maxVideos` | Newest videos to list per channel (default 30, up to 5,000; ~30 per extra request). |
| `includeShorts` | Also read the Shorts tab and flag shorts (default on). |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Apify proxy for retries (default on; the first request is direct). |
| `maxConcurrency` | Channels read in parallel (default 3). |

### Output

One record per channel:

| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| `channelId`, `handle`, `title`, `description`, `url` | Identity |
| `subscribersText`, `subscribers` | "320M subscribers" and 320000000 |
| `videoCountText`, `videoCount` | "900 videos" and 900 |
| `viewCountText`, `totalViews`, `country`, `joinedDate` | From the About data when it is in the page, else null |
| `avatar`, `banner`, `keywords[]`, `isVerified`, `links[]` | Images, tags, verified badge (best effort), external links `{ title, url }` |
| `videos[]` | `{ id, title, url, publishedAt, publishedText, views, viewsText, duration, durationText, thumbnail, isShort }`, newest first |
| `videosCount` | How many videos are in the record |
| `input`, `status`, `error`, `warnings`, `scrapedAt` | What you gave, why a channel gave nothing, and parts that could not be read |

`publishedAt` is an exact ISO timestamp for the latest 15 uploads (from the feed); older videos carry YouTube's relative `publishedText` ("3 weeks ago"). `views` is exact where YouTube gives an exact count and rounded ("1.2M") otherwise.

#### Example

```json
{
  "input": "@examplescience",
  "channelId": "UCexsci00000000000000011",
  "handle": "@examplescience",
  "title": "Example Science",
  "description": "Short science explainers, one experiment a week.",
  "subscribersText": "1.2M subscribers",
  "subscribers": 1200000,
  "videoCountText": "345 videos",
  "videoCount": 345,
  "viewCountText": null,
  "totalViews": null,
  "country": null,
  "avatar": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/example-avatar=s160",
  "banner": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/example-banner=w2120",
  "keywords": ["example science", "physics", "chemistry"],
  "isVerified": true,
  "joinedDate": null,
  "links": [{ "title": null, "url": "examplescience.org" }],
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@examplescience",
  "videos": [
    { "id": "vid00000001", "title": "Why ice floats: the experiment nobody shows you", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vid00000001", "publishedAt": "2026-10-19T10:00:00.000Z", "publishedText": "1 hour ago", "views": 12, "viewsText": "12 views", "duration": 58, "durationText": "0:58", "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vid00000001/hq720.jpg", "isShort": false },
    { "id": "sho00000001", "title": "Can you boil water with ice?", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sho00000001", "publishedAt": "2026-10-18T15:30:00.000Z", "publishedText": null, "views": 501234, "viewsText": "501,234 views", "duration": null, "durationText": null, "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sho00000001/oar2.jpg", "isShort": true },
    { "id": "vid00000002", "title": "The physics of a bouncing ball, explained with a 1,000 fps camera", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vid00000002", "publishedAt": "2026-10-17T12:00:00.000Z", "publishedText": "2 days ago", "views": 1234567, "viewsText": "1,234,567 views", "duration": 754, "durationText": "12:34", "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vid00000002/hq720.jpg", "isShort": false }
  ],
  "videosCount": 3,
  "status": "OK",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-19T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### FAQ

**Is this an official API?** No, it's an unofficial API built on public pages — the channel's public page and its public RSS feed, the same data anyone sees without signing in. No YouTube Data API key or quota is involved, and nothing is downloaded.

**Why are `totalViews`, `country` and `joinedDate` often null?** YouTube only shows them in the "About" panel, which is not always embedded in the channel page. When the page carries the About data they are filled in; otherwise they stay null rather than guessed.

**Are the counts exact?** Subscribers and video counts are what YouTube shows (rounded, e.g. "1.2M"). Views are exact for the latest 15 videos (from the feed) and wherever the page gives an exact number; otherwise they are YouTube's rounded figure, with the text kept in `viewsText`.

**Can I get all videos of a channel?** Yes: raise `maxVideos` (up to 5,000). Each extra page of about 30 videos is one more request, so a channel with 2,000 videos takes a little over a minute.

**What about a cookie-consent page?** No cookies are used, by design. The page is requested with `hl=en&gl=US` and a desktop browser identity, which normally avoids the interstitial; if a channel still comes back without its data, the run retries through the Apify proxy and otherwise reports a free `FAILED` record with the reason.

**Like it?** A short review on the Store page helps other people find this Actor. Something missing or broken? Tell us on the Issues tab — we read every one.

### Related Actors

- [YouTube Transcript API](https://apify.com/highbrow_fame/youtube-transcript-fast) — captions as text, SRT or VTT
- [RSS & Atom Feed Reader](https://apify.com/highbrow_fame/rss-feed-reader) — any feed or website as one clean list
- [Google News API](https://apify.com/highbrow_fame/google-news-api) — headlines by keyword and topic
- [Web Fetch API](https://apify.com/highbrow_fame/web-fetch-api) — any URL as HTML, text, Markdown or JSON

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

One channel per line: a handle (@veritasium), a channel URL (youtube.com/@handle, /channel/UC..., /c/name, /user/name) or a bare UC... channel id.

## `maxVideos` (type: `integer`):

How many of the channel's newest videos (and shorts) to list. The first 30 come with the channel page; more are loaded page by page, about 30 per request.

## `includeShorts` (type: `boolean`):

Also read the channel's Shorts tab (one more request) and mark those videos with isShort: true. Best effort: shorts beyond the latest 15 carry no date on that tab and are listed after the dated videos.

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

YouTube usually answers Apify's servers directly, so the first request of every channel goes out without a proxy and only retries use the Apify proxy configured here.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many channels to read at the same time.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
    "@veritasium",
    "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"
  ],
  "maxVideos": 30,
  "includeShorts": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "maxConcurrency": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Every result as a JSON record, with a status for each input.

## `resultsCsv` (type: `string`):

The same records as CSV, for a spreadsheet.

# 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 = {
    "channels": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
        "@veritasium",
        "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("highbrow_fame/youtube-channel-api").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 = {
    "channels": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
        "@veritasium",
        "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("highbrow_fame/youtube-channel-api").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 '{
  "channels": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
    "@veritasium",
    "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call highbrow_fame/youtube-channel-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/x9fUERz96cHyVISGQ/builds/jQriH8VIVo5EVAhnx/openapi.json