# YouTube Channel Scraper — Videos, Shorts, Live & Search (`istmobot/youtube-channel-shorts-scraper`) Actor

Scrape every video, Short and live stream from any YouTube channel, or YouTube search results. Views, likes, comments, exact publish date, duration and channel stats (subscribers, handle, verified). Monitoring mode returns only new uploads. No API key, no login. $1 per 1,000 videos.

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

## Pricing

Pay per event

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 Scraper — Videos, Shorts, Live streams & Search

Scrape **every video, Short and live stream from any YouTube channel**, or the results of any **YouTube search**, with views, likes, comments, exact publish date, duration and channel stats. **Monitoring mode** returns only new uploads, so you can schedule it and get alerts. No YouTube API key, no quota, no login.

### What does YouTube Channel Scraper do?

Give it channels (`@mkbhd`, channel URLs or IDs) and/or search keywords. You get one clean record per video:

- **Videos, Shorts and past live streams** from each channel, newest first, as many as you want, including the full channel.
- **Views, duration and age** for every item.
- **Exact stats** (optional): publish date, exact view count, **likes**, **comment count** and full description.
- **Channel stats on every row**: name, @handle, subscriber count, video count, verified badge, avatar, keywords and description.
- **YouTube search results** for any keyword, with channel name and link.
- **Only new videos** mode: run it daily and get just the new uploads from your channels or new videos for your keywords.
- Export as **JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML**, or use the Apify API, Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets and webhooks.

### Use cases

- **Competitor and creator monitoring**: get every new upload from a list of channels each day.
- **Influencer research**: compare subscribers, views per video, likes and posting frequency.
- **Shorts analytics**: find which Shorts of a channel perform best.
- **Content and SEO research**: see what ranks on YouTube search for your keywords.
- **Datasets for AI and analytics**: build video catalogs for dashboards, LLM agents and RAG. Combine with [YouTube Transcript Scraper](https://apify.com/istmobot/youtube-transcript-scraper) to get the transcript of each video.

### How to use it

1. Add **channels** (URL, `@handle` or `UC...` ID) and/or **search queries**.
2. Choose **Videos**, **Shorts** and/or **Live streams**, and the max number of results per tab.
3. Turn on **Include exact stats** for likes, comments and exact dates.
4. Click **Start** and download your data.

For monitoring, turn on **Only new videos** and [schedule](https://docs.apify.com/platform/schedules) the Actor, for example once a day. The first run returns the latest videos; later runs return only uploads you have not received yet.

### How much does it cost?

Pay per result, no subscription:

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Actor start | $0.001 per run |
| `video` (one video, Short or stream) | **$0.001**, or $1 per 1,000 videos |
| `video-details` (only with *Include exact stats*) | $0.0005 per video |

Errors (channel not found, blocked requests) are **never charged**. Proxy costs are included. The Apify free plan's $5 monthly credit covers about **5,000 videos**.

### Input

| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `channels` | | Channel URLs, `@handles` or `UC...` IDs |
| `searchQueries` | | YouTube search keywords |
| `contentTypes` | `["videos", "shorts"]` | `videos`, `shorts`, `streams` |
| `maxResultsPerSource` | `30` | Max videos per channel tab and per search query |
| `includeDetails` | `false` | Exact date, views, likes, comments, description |
| `onlyNew` | `false` | Return only videos not returned by previous runs |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Apify Proxy | Rotates IPs automatically when YouTube blocks |

Example:

```json
{
    "channels": ["@mkbhd", "https://www.youtube.com/@Fireship"],
    "searchQueries": ["iphone 17 review"],
    "contentTypes": ["videos", "shorts"],
    "maxResultsPerSource": 50,
    "includeDetails": true
}
```

### Output

```json
{
    "type": "video",
    "videoId": "ESABTN4VtrA",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESABTN4VtrA",
    "title": "iPhone Duo Review: First Generation Fun!",
    "viewCount": 12332726,
    "viewCountText": "12M views",
    "publishedTimeText": "5 days ago",
    "publishedAtApprox": "2026-10-22T00:44:51.749Z",
    "publishedDate": "2026-10-21",
    "likeCount": 198144,
    "commentCount": 14000,
    "durationSeconds": 1745,
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ESABTN4VtrA/hq720.jpg",
    "description": "What it's actually like to use the first folding iPhone...",
    "channelId": "UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
    "channelName": "Marques Brownlee",
    "channelHandle": "@mkbhd",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
    "subscriberCount": 21400000,
    "subscriberCountText": "21.4M subscribers",
    "channelVideoCountText": "1.8K videos",
    "isVerified": true,
    "source": "@mkbhd (videos)",
    "sourceType": "channel",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-27T00:44:56.937Z"
}
```

`type` is `video`, `short` or `stream`. Without *Include exact stats*, `viewCount` comes from the rounded list value (e.g. `12M`) and only `publishedAtApprox` is available. Shorts lists show no date or duration, so turn on *Include exact stats* to get the date of Shorts. `commentCount` is rounded the way YouTube shows it (e.g. `14K`). Search results include channel name and link, but not subscriber counts.

### FAQ

**Do I need a YouTube API key?** No. There is no API quota and no login.

**Can I scrape a full channel?** Yes. Set `maxResultsPerSource` high (e.g. `10000`) and the Actor pages through the whole tab.

**How does "Only new videos" work?** The Actor remembers the video IDs it returned for each channel tab and search query, in a key-value store in your account named `youtube-channel-shorts-scraper-state`. Delete that store to start over.

**Is it legal?** The Actor only reads public data that YouTube shows to any visitor. You are responsible for how you use the data, including personal data rules such as GDPR.

Found a bug or need a field? Open an issue on the Actor's **Issues** tab. We usually reply within 24 hours.

# Actor input Schema

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

Channels to scrape. Accepts channel URLs (https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd, /channel/UC..., /c/..., /user/...), @handles or UC channel IDs.

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

Optional. Keywords to search on YouTube, e.g. "iphone 17 review". Returns matching videos with views, age, duration and channel.

## `contentTypes` (type: `array`):

Which channel tabs to scrape: regular videos, Shorts and/or past live streams. Results come newest first.

## `maxResultsPerSource` (type: `integer`):

Maximum videos for each channel tab and each search query. Use a big number (e.g. 10000) for a full channel.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Opens each video to add the exact publish date, exact view count, like count, comment count and full description. Lists only show rounded views and relative age ("5 days ago"); Shorts lists have no date at all. Extra $0.0005 per video.

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

Return only videos not returned by previous runs with this option on. Schedule the Actor (e.g. daily) to get new uploads from your channels or new videos for your keywords, and connect it to Slack, email, Google Sheets or a webhook.

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

Apify Proxy is used to avoid YouTube rate limits. The Actor rotates to a fresh IP when a request is blocked.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd"
  ],
  "contentTypes": [
    "videos",
    "shorts"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerSource": 10,
  "includeDetails": false,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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": [
        "@mkbhd"
    ],
    "contentTypes": [
        "videos",
        "shorts"
    ],
    "maxResultsPerSource": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("istmobot/youtube-channel-shorts-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 = {
    "channels": ["@mkbhd"],
    "contentTypes": [
        "videos",
        "shorts",
    ],
    "maxResultsPerSource": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("istmobot/youtube-channel-shorts-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 '{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd"
  ],
  "contentTypes": [
    "videos",
    "shorts"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerSource": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call istmobot/youtube-channel-shorts-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,istmobot/youtube-channel-shorts-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/LxdeqPsBkYpJArfN8/builds/zxK6k6ZSW6eBIZp1e/openapi.json