YouTube Channel Data Scraper

Overview

The YouTube Channel Data Scraper is an Apify actor that extracts metadata from videos on a YouTube channel. It retrieves video details such as title, video ID, uploader, duration, view count, and more, with options to filter by video type (video, live, short) and limit results. The scraper targets the channel’s Shorts tab if short is included in select_types, otherwise it targets the Videos tab. Each video includes a type attribute indicating whether it is a video, live, or short. The actor uses Apify’s proxies to ensure reliable scraping and includes robust error handling, logging, and retry logic. It’s ideal for analyzing a channel’s content and is accessible via Apify’s UI, CLI, or API in any programming language.

Features

• Comprehensive Metadata: Extracts title, video ID, URL, uploader, uploader ID, upload date, duration, view count, thumbnail, Shorts status, and video type (video, live, or short).
• Channel Flexibility: Accepts channel URLs, names (e.g., @channel), or IDs (e.g., UCxxx).
• Type Filtering: Filter videos by type using select_types (e.g., ["video", "live"] to exclude Shorts).
• Dynamic Tab Selection: Scrapes the Shorts tab if select_types includes short, otherwise scrapes the Videos tab.
• Proxy Support: Uses Apify’s proxies for reliable scraping.
• Robust Execution: Includes detailed logging, 3-minute actor timeout, 90-second scrape timeout, and exponential backoff retries.
• Output Formats: Data stored in Apify’s dataset, exportable as JSON or CSV, with a table view in Apify UI.
• Cross-Language Access: Run via Apify’s REST API or SDKs (Python, Node.js, etc.) for integration with any language.

Input Configuration

The actor accepts a JSON input with the following fields:

Field	Type	Description	Required	Default
channel_identifier	String	Channel URL, name (e.g., @channel), or ID (e.g., UCxxx)	Yes	-
max_results	Integer	Maximum number of videos to scrape (1–1000)	No	10
select_types	Array	Types of videos to include (video, live, short)	Yes	["video", "live", "short"]
sleep_interval	Integer	Seconds to wait between requests	No	2
max_retries	Integer	Maximum retry attempts for failed requests	No	3

Notes:

• select_types must include at least one type (video, live, or short) and cannot be empty.
• If select_types includes short, the scraper targets the channel’s Shorts tab (/shorts); otherwise, it targets the Videos tab (/videos).
• max_results is capped at 1000 to manage runtime and proxy usage.
• Increase sleep_interval or max_retries for heavy scraping or persistent errors.

Example Input:

{
    "channel_identifier": "@Fireship",
    "max_results": 20,
    "select_types": ["video", "live"],
    "sleep_interval": 2,
    "max_retries": 3
}

Output Format

The actor outputs data to Apify’s dataset, viewable as a table in the Apify UI or exportable as JSON/CSV. Each record contains:

Field	Type	Description	Format
title	String	Video title	Text
video_id	String	Unique video ID	Text
url	String	Video URL	Text
uploader	String	Uploader name	Text
uploader_id	String	Uploader ID	Text
upload_date	String	Upload date (YYYYMMDD)	Date
duration	Integer	Duration in seconds	Number
view_count	Integer	Number of views	Number
thumbnail	String	Thumbnail URL	Text
short	Boolean	Is the video a Short	Boolean
type	String	Video type (video, live, or short)	Text
error	String	Error message if scraping failed	Text

Example Output:

[
    {
        "title": "React in 100 Seconds",
        "video_id": "xyz789",
        "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyz789",
        "uploader": "Fireship",
        "uploader_id": "UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA",
        "upload_date": "20250101",
        "duration": 100,
        "view_count": 50000,
        "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xyz789/hqdefault.jpg",
        "short": false,
        "type": "video"
    },
    {
        "title": "Live Coding Session",
        "video_id": "def456",
        "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=def456",
        "uploader": "Fireship",
        "uploader_id": "UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA",
        "upload_date": "20250103",
        "duration": null,
        "view_count": 10000,
        "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/def456/hqdefault.jpg",
        "short": false,
        "type": "live"
    }
]