Apple Podcasts Scraper — Podcast Hosts & RSS Emails

Search Apple Podcasts directory by topic and automatically parse each show's RSS feed XML to extract the podcast host/producer email (), artwork, episode count & website.

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1. Architecture & Extraction Pipeline

• Extraction Mechanism: Automatically follows each podcast's RSS feedUrl and extracts the verified owner/producer email address () for guest booking & PR agencies.
• Proxy Overhead: None required for standard runs. Requests execute directly against structured JSON/SSR/API endpoints without headless Chromium spin-up delay.
• Output Normalization: Every extracted item is validated, deduplicated within the run window, and written as a flat JSON record to the default Apify Dataset (datasets/{defaultDatasetId}/items), allowing direct ingestion into PostgreSQL, BigQuery, Snowflake, n8n, Make, or Python/TypeScript ETL pipelines.
• Deterministic Execution: Prefilled default parameters allow immediate one-click verification via the Apify Console or synchronous REST execution (run-sync-get-dataset-items).

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2. Verified Production Dataset Sample

The following JSON record was captured directly from a live production execution of vivid_astronaut/apple-podcasts-lead-scraper on Apify Cloud:

[
  {
    "platform": "podcasts.apple.com",
    "query": "saas founder",
    "collectionId": 1668437429,
    "podcastName": "Bootstrapped : The Lighter Side - The Podcast For B2B SaaS Founders",
    "artistName": "Lighter Capital - We Help Startups Grow",
    "primaryGenreName": "Technology",
    "trackCount": 40,
    "hostEmail": "David@lightercapital.com",
    "feedUrl": "https://anchor.fm/s/d1ad560c/podcast/rss",
    "applePodcastUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bootstrapped-the-lighter-side-the-podcast-for-b2b/id1668437429?uo=4",
    "releaseDate": "2026-07-27T11:00:00Z",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-29T08:32:53.034Z"
  },
  {
    "platform": "podcasts.apple.com",
    "query": "saas founder",
    "collectionId": 1789505730,
    "podcastName": "20 MINUTES by Noco - for B2B SaaS founders and CMOs that move fast",
    "artistName": "Noco agency",
    "primaryGenreName": "Marketing",
    "trackCount": 30,
    "hostEmail": null,
    "feedUrl": "https://anchor.fm/s/fc83b63c/podcast/rss",
    "applePodcastUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/20-minutes-by-noco-for-b2b-saas-founders-and-cmos/id1789505730?uo=4",
    "releaseDate": "2026-10-15T15:56:00Z",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-29T08:32:53.050Z"
  }
]

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3. Input Parameter Specification

Parameter	Type	Default	Technical Specification
queries	array	["saas founder", "artificial intelligence", "real estate investing"]	Enter Podcast Niche or Topic Keywords to extract structured records.
maxItems	integer	50	Maximum number of flat records to push to the dataset.

Example Input Payload (application/json)

{
  "queries": [
    "saas founder",
    "artificial intelligence",
    "real estate investing"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50
}

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4. Measured Runtime & Unit Economics

Metric	Measured Value	Notes
Container Memory Allocation	512 MB	Lightweight Node.js 20 container (apify@^3.2.6)
Median Execution Latency	3.30 s	Cold start to dataset commit for default batch
External Proxy Requirement	$0.00	No residential proxy bandwidth surcharge required
Primary Billing Event	lead-enriched	Charged strictly per committed dataset record
Unit Price (Pay-Per-Event)	$0.0040 / record	Equivalent to $4.00 per 1,000 records

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5. Production Integration (cURL, Python, Claude Code MCP)

5.1 Synchronous REST Execution (cURL)

Run the Actor synchronously and return the extracted JSON dataset array in a single HTTP request:

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/vivid_astronaut~apple-podcasts-lead-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"queries": ["saas founder", "artificial intelligence", "real estate investing"], "maxItems": 50}'

5.2 Python Pipeline Integration (urllib.request)

import json
import os
import urllib.request

APIFY_TOKEN = os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"]
url = (
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/vivid_astronaut~apple-podcasts-lead-scraper/"
    f"run-sync-get-dataset-items?token={APIFY_TOKEN}"
)
payload = {
  "queries": [
    "saas founder",
    "artificial intelligence",
    "real estate investing"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50
}

req = urllib.request.Request(
    url,
    data=json.dumps(payload).encode("utf-8"),
    headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
    method="POST",
)
with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=120) as resp:
    records = json.loads(resp.read().decode("utf-8"))
    print(f"Extracted {len(records)} records from apple-podcasts-lead-scraper")

5.3 Claude Code / Cursor MCP Configuration (.mcp.json)

Expose vivid_astronaut/apple-podcasts-lead-scraper as a callable tool inside Claude Code, Cursor, or any Model Context Protocol client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify-apple-podcasts-lead-scraper": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@apify/actors-mcp-server",
        "--actors",
        "vivid_astronaut/apple-podcasts-lead-scraper"
      ],
      "env": {
        "APIFY_TOKEN": "YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}