# YouTube Channel & Video Scraper: Search, Stats & Metadata (`neon_innovation_lab/youtube-channel-video-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube search results, channel uploads and playlists with exact views, likes, publish date, tags, description and channel subscribers. Pay per video.

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

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 video scrapeds

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 & Video Scraper: Search, Stats & Metadata

Collect YouTube video data at scale: **search results, a channel's uploads, playlists or specific videos**, each returned with the **exact view count, likes, publish date, length, tags, description, thumbnail and the channel's subscriber count**. One row per video, ready for CSV, JSON or Excel.

Use it for influencer and competitor research, trend and keyword tracking, content calendars, dataset building and AI pipelines. Pair it with the [YouTube Transcript Scraper](https://apify.com/neon_innovation_lab/youtube-transcript-scraper) when you also need what is said in the videos.

### What you get

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `videoId`, `url`, `title`, `description` | Video identity and text |
| `channelName`, `channelId`, `channelUrl`, `channelSubscribers` | Channel and its subscriber count |
| `publishDate`, `lengthSeconds` | When it was published and how long it is |
| `viewCount`, `likeCount` | Exact views, and likes when public |
| `category`, `tags`, `thumbnailUrl`, `hasCaptions`, `isLive` | Extra metadata |
| `sourceType`, `source`, `rank` | Which query, channel or playlist found it and its position |
| `status` | `ok`, `unavailable` or `error` |

```json
{
  "status": "ok",
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
  "channelName": "Rick Astley",
  "channelSubscribers": 4200000,
  "publishDate": "2009-10-25",
  "viewCount": 1600000000,
  "sourceType": "search",
  "source": "never gonna give you up",
  "rank": 1
}
```

(Shortened, illustrative values.)

### Input

| Field | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `searchQueries` | none | Search terms; choose the sort with `searchSort` (relevance, date, views, rating) |
| `channels` | none | Channel URLs, ids or `@handles`; returns uploads newest first |
| `playlists` | none | Playlist URLs or ids |
| `videos` | none | Individual video URLs or ids |
| `maxVideosPerSource` | `30` | Limit for each query, channel and playlist |
| `minViews` | `0` | Skip videos below this view count (skipped videos are free) |
| `includeDescription`, `includeChannelInfo` | `true` | Turn off to speed up and slim output |

```json
{ "searchQueries": ["MCP server tutorial"], "channels": ["@fireship"], "maxVideosPerSource": 50, "searchSort": "date", "minViews": 10000 }
```

At least one of `searchQueries`, `channels`, `playlists` or `videos` is required.

### Pricing (pay per event)

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Video scraped | $0.003 per video |
| Actor start | $0.00005 per run |

That is **$3 per 1,000 videos**; 200 videos cost about $0.60. Unavailable videos and videos skipped by `minViews` are not charged. Set a maximum cost per run in the Apify console.

### Why it is reliable

YouTube blocks most datacenter traffic. This Actor uses residential proxies by default, keeps one IP per video, rotates and retries on bot checks, then makes a slower second pass for anything throttled, so you get a status for every video instead of silent gaps.

### Limits

- Likes are only returned when the creator shows them. Subscriber counts are the rounded figures YouTube displays.
- Search and channel listings return what YouTube serves to anonymous visitors; very deep results may be capped by YouTube.
- Private, deleted and age-restricted videos return `unavailable`.
- Respect YouTube's terms and applicable law when using the data.

### FAQ

**Can I scrape a whole channel?** Yes: pass the channel and raise `maxVideosPerSource`.

**Can I find only popular videos?** Use `searchSort: "views"` and `minViews`.

**Do you return comments?** Not in this Actor. It focuses on video and channel metadata.

**Something broke?** Open an issue from the Issues tab with the run URL and your input.

### More from Neon Innovation Lab

- [YouTube Transcript Scraper](https://apify.com/neon_innovation_lab/youtube-transcript-scraper): transcripts with timestamps for videos, playlists and channels.
- [AI Web Search & RAG Scraper](https://apify.com/neon_innovation_lab/ai-search-rag-scraper): live web search results as clean Markdown for LLM prompts.
- [App Store & Google Play Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/neon_innovation_lab/app-store-play-store-reviews-scraper): reviews for many apps and countries in one run.
- [Google Maps Leads Scraper](https://apify.com/neon_innovation_lab/google-maps-b2b-lead-enricher): businesses from Google Maps with phones, websites and emails found on their sites.

# Actor input Schema

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

YouTube search terms. Returns videos only, in the order set by Search sort.

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

Channel URLs, channel ids (UC...) or @handles. Returns the channel's uploads, newest first.

## `playlists` (type: `array`):

Playlist URLs or ids.

## `videos` (type: `array`):

Individual video URLs or 11-character ids.

## `maxVideosPerSource` (type: `integer`):

Maximum videos for each search query, channel and playlist.

## `searchSort` (type: `string`):

Order for search queries.

## `minViews` (type: `integer`):

Skip videos with fewer views. Skipped videos are not billed.

## `includeDescription` (type: `boolean`):

Adds the full video description.

## `includeChannelInfo` (type: `boolean`):

Adds the channel's subscriber count to each video (one extra lookup per channel).

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

Residential proxies are used by default because YouTube blocks most datacenter IPs.

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

Videos processed in parallel.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "MCP server tutorial"
  ],
  "channels": [
    "@fireship"
  ],
  "playlists": [],
  "videos": [],
  "maxVideosPerSource": 5,
  "searchSort": "relevance",
  "minViews": 0,
  "includeDescription": true,
  "includeChannelInfo": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  },
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `videos` (type: `string`):

One row per video.

# 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 = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "MCP server tutorial"
    ],
    "channels": [
        "@fireship"
    ],
    "maxVideosPerSource": 5,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "RESIDENTIAL"
        ]
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("neon_innovation_lab/youtube-channel-video-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 = {
    "searchQueries": ["MCP server tutorial"],
    "channels": ["@fireship"],
    "maxVideosPerSource": 5,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("neon_innovation_lab/youtube-channel-video-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 '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "MCP server tutorial"
  ],
  "channels": [
    "@fireship"
  ],
  "maxVideosPerSource": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}' |
apify call neon_innovation_lab/youtube-channel-video-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,neon_innovation_lab/youtube-channel-video-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/JZSbphpA25OtGJY0b/builds/czzNGBjGzvZxk0FzS/openapi.json