# YouTube Video Data Scraper - Views, Likes & Change Monitor (`neverempty/youtube-video-data-scraper`) Actor

Give it video URLs or ids and get the view count, like count, length, publish date, category, tags and caption languages for each one. Turn monitoring on and a video comes back only when its numbers actually move, so you are never charged twice for the same figures.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/neverempty/youtube-video-data-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [NeverEmpty](https://apify.com/neverempty) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.46 / 1,000 video returneds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## YouTube Video Data Scraper — views, likes, and what actually changed

Give it video URLs or ids. With monitoring on, **you are never charged twice for the same figures** - a video comes back only when one of its numbers actually moves.

Every row carries the view count, the **like count**, likes per thousand views, the length, the publish time, the category, the uploader's tags, and which caption languages exist.

### Best for

- **Tracking performance over time** — `viewDelta`, `likeDelta` and `changedFields` give you the movement since the last run, so you can store a series without diffing anything yourself.
- **Vetting a list of videos** — likes per thousand views next to the raw counts, plus whether captions exist, in one pass.
- **Feeding a dataset** — tags, category, length and publish time are all on the row, so nothing needs a second request.

### Measured on this Actor, 2026-09-07

Read from a real watch page (`ngPkbaZliaU`):

| | |
|---|---|
| View count | 5,020,910 |
| Like count | **95,353** |
| Likes per 1,000 views | 18.99 |
| Length | 389 s |
| Caption languages | **7** |
| Uploader tags | 4 |
| Category | Science & Technology |

🔴 **Leave the proxy on.** Requested from Apify's own IP, YouTube answered with *"Sign in to confirm you're not a bot"* in place of the player data on **5 of 5** attempts — no video could be read at all. Through a proxy the data came back on **10 of 10**. This Actor reports that page as a bot check and retries on a new session; it never reports it as a video with no views.

### One row per video

| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| `input`, `videoId`, `videoUrl` | What you asked for and what it resolved to |
| `title`, `description` | From the video's own data, not the page heading |
| `channelId`, `channelTitle`, `channelUrl`, `subscriberCountText` | The channel that published it |
| `viewCount`, `likeCount`, `likesPerThousandViews` | The two counts, and the ratio — computed only when both are readable |
| `lengthSeconds` | Duration |
| `publishedAt`, `publishedAtRaw` | The same instant as ISO and as YouTube's own string |
| `category`, `keywords` | Category and the tags the uploader set |
| `hasCaptions`, `captionLanguages` | Whether captions exist and in which languages |
| `isLiveContent`, `isFamilySafe`, `allowRatings`, `availableCountryCount` | Flags YouTube publishes |
| `thumbnailUrl`, `playabilityStatus`, `playabilityReason` | Thumbnail and whether it can be played |
| `isFirstCheck`, `previousCheckedAt`, `previousViewCount`, `viewDelta`, `likeDelta`, `changedFields` | Monitoring |

Everything comes from the video's own `videoDetails` block. A watch page is full of recommended videos from other channels; this Actor never reads ids out of that, and a page that resolves to a different video than the one you asked for is reported rather than returned.

### Monitoring, and what it costs

Turn **monitoring mode** on and the numbers are remembered per video. On later runs:

- a video whose numbers have not moved is **not returned and not charged**;
- a video that moved comes back with `viewDelta`, `likeDelta` and `changedFields`;
- a video it has never seen is always returned once.

The numbers are remembered **per video, not per list**, so adding a video to a list does not reset the history or re-charge the ones already being watched.

Monitoring adds a flat access fee of **$5, charged once per calendar month (UTC)**, on the first monitoring run of that month — once, no matter how many lists or scheduled tasks you run. Runs with monitoring off never trigger it.

### Rows that are never charged

- `no-such-video` — YouTube said `playabilityStatus: ERROR` for it. The id may be wrong, or the video private, removed or region-locked.
- `blocked` — YouTube answered with a bot check instead of the player data. **This is not a statement about the video.** The run retries on a new proxy session; if you see this row, every retry came back the same way.
- `incomplete-page` — the page arrived without the player data and without a bot-check message. Reported rather than guessed at.
- `no-change` — monitoring ran and nothing had moved.
- `no-match` — videos were read and none matched your filters.
- `unreadable` — the page could not be parsed, or the input was not a YouTube video.

### Which pages this Actor requests

Only `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<id>&hl=en&gl=US`. YouTube's `robots.txt` disallows `/results`, `/feeds/videos.xml` and `/youtubei/`, and this Actor cannot be made to request them: anything that is not a video id or a video URL is rejected before any request is made.

### Input

- **`videos`** — URLs or 11-character ids. Watch links, `youtu.be` links, `/shorts/` links and bare ids all work.
- **`maxVideos`** — how many rows to return in total.
- **`monitoringMode`**, **`monitorMode`**, **`resetMonitoringState`** — see above.
- **`minViews` / `maxViews` / `minLengthSeconds` / `maxLengthSeconds` / `publishedAfter`** — numeric and date filters. A video whose count could not be read is **kept**, not treated as zero.
- **`requireCaptions`**, **`excludeLive`** — keep only captioned videos, or drop live content.
- **`keywords` / `keywordMatch` / `excludeKeywords`** — match on title, description, channel, tags and category.
- **`useProxy`** — leave it on; see the measurement above.

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
    "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "monitoringMode": true,
  "monitorMode": "views-change",
  "maxVideos": 100
}
```

### Questions

**Why is the like count missing on some videos?**
Because the uploader turned ratings off. `allowRatings` says so, and `likeCount` stays null rather than being filled with a zero.

**Do I get charged for a video that does not exist?**
No. Only rows carrying video data are charged.

**Why did every video come back as `blocked`?**
The proxy was off, or every retry hit a bot check. On Apify's own IP this happened on 5 of 5 attempts in the measurement above.

**Can I use this to watch a whole channel?**
This Actor takes a list of videos. To list a channel's videos first, use the channel scraper below and feed its `videoId` column in here.

### Other tools by NeverEmpty

- [YouTube Channel Videos & Views Scraper](https://apify.com/neverempty/youtube-channel-videos)
- [YouTube Transcript Scraper](https://apify.com/neverempty/youtube-transcript-reliable)
- [YouTube Channel Email Scraper](https://apify.com/neverempty/youtube-channel-emails)

# Actor input Schema

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

Video URLs or 11-character ids. A watch link, a youtu.be link, a /shorts/ link and a bare id all work. Anything that is not a YouTube video comes back as a row saying so, rather than being guessed at. Only /watch pages are requested, because YouTube's robots.txt disallows /results, /feeds and the internal API paths.

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

How many rows to return in total. You are charged for the rows you actually receive.

## `monitoringMode` (type: `boolean`):

Off = return every video you listed, charged per row. On = remember the numbers and, on later runs, return a video only when one of them actually moved; unchanged videos cost nothing. The numbers are remembered per video, not per list, so adding a video does not reset the history. **Monitoring adds a flat access fee of $5, charged once per calendar month (UTC)** on the first monitoring run of that month, no matter how many lists or scheduled tasks you run. Runs with monitoring off never trigger it.

## `monitorMode` (type: `string`):

Any change = the video comes back when views, likes, length or title move. View change only = it comes back only when the view count moves.

## `resetMonitoringState` (type: `boolean`):

Clears every remembered number for this Actor, so the next run returns each video once again and starts a fresh history.

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

Drop videos below this view count. Videos whose view count could not be read are kept, not treated as zero. 0 = no minimum.

## `maxViews` (type: `integer`):

Drop videos above this view count. 0 = no maximum.

## `minLengthSeconds` (type: `integer`):

Drop videos shorter than this. Useful for skipping Shorts. 0 = no minimum.

## `maxLengthSeconds` (type: `integer`):

Drop videos longer than this. 0 = no maximum.

## `publishedAfter` (type: `string`):

Keep only videos published on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `requireCaptions` (type: `boolean`):

Keep only videos with a caption track. The languages are returned in captionLanguages.

## `excludeLive` (type: `boolean`):

Drop videos YouTube marks as live or as a finished stream.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Keep only videos whose title, description, channel, tags or category contains these words.

## `keywordMatch` (type: `string`):

Any = at least one keyword. All = every keyword.

## `excludeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Drop videos whose title, description, channel, tags or category contains any of these words.

## `useProxy` (type: `boolean`):

Leave this on. Measured on 2026-09-07: requested from Apify's own IP, YouTube answered with "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" in place of the player data on 5 of 5 attempts, so no video could be read; through a proxy the data came back on 10 of 10. A page that comes back as a bot check is reported as one, never as a video with no views, and the run switches to a new proxy session and tries again.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
    "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "maxVideos": 100,
  "monitoringMode": false,
  "monitorMode": "any-change",
  "resetMonitoringState": false,
  "minViews": 0,
  "maxViews": 0,
  "minLengthSeconds": 0,
  "maxLengthSeconds": 0,
  "publishedAfter": "",
  "requireCaptions": false,
  "excludeLive": false,
  "keywords": [],
  "keywordMatch": "any",
  "excludeKeywords": [],
  "useProxy": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One row per video: the id and URL, the title and description, the channel that published it with its id and subscriber text, the view count and like count with likes per thousand views, the length in seconds, the publish time as both an ISO instant and YouTube's own string, the category and the tags the uploader set, whether captions exist and in which languages, whether it is live, family-safe and allows ratings, the thumbnail, the playability status, and how many countries it is available in. In monitoring mode each row also carries the previous view count, the change since the last run and which numbers moved. Videos that do not exist, pages that came back as a bot check, and videos whose numbers had not changed are returned with the reason and are not charged.

# 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 = {
    "videos": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
        "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("neverempty/youtube-video-data-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 = { "videos": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
        "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("neverempty/youtube-video-data-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 '{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
    "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ]
}' |
apify call neverempty/youtube-video-data-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,neverempty/youtube-video-data-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/fvE9Wy1yYKAvccbXX/builds/jjrKIeENQKxh99Oci/openapi.json