# YouTube Competitor Monitor - AI Insights (`perdurable_cougar/youtube-channel-intelligence`) Actor

Monitor YouTube competitors automatically. Track new videos, watchlist terms, product mentions, pain points, competitor moves, trends, and business opportunities. Get AI-powered cross-channel reports with evidence, confidence scores, priority rankings, and optional Discord alerts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/perdurable_cougar/youtube-channel-intelligence.md
- **Developed by:** [Bob](https://apify.com/perdurable_cougar) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 94.7% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $120.00 / 1,000 cross-channel intelligence reports

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 Competitor Monitor - AI Insights

Automatically monitor YouTube competitors and turn new videos into structured competitive intelligence.

**Cross-channel intelligence reports cost $0.12 each. AI video analyses cost $0.03 per video.**

### Why use this?

Instead of manually watching competitor channels, this Actor automatically monitors new videos and turns them into structured competitive intelligence.

Use it to spot competitor moves, product complaints, recurring trends, content gaps, and business opportunities across multiple YouTube channels.

### What it does

This Actor can:

- Monitor up to 5 YouTube channels
- Detect newly published videos
- Fetch video transcripts
- Track custom watchlist terms
- Analyze new videos with AI
- Detect competitor moves
- Find repeated customer pain points
- Surface emerging themes and trends
- Identify content gaps
- Identify potential business opportunities
- Compare signals across multiple channels
- Generate ranked executive intelligence reports
- Deliver new reports to Discord automatically

### Example use cases

#### Competitor monitoring

Monitor channels covering your industry and automatically detect:

- New product launches
- Competitor positioning
- Feature comparisons
- Product weaknesses
- Changes in creator sentiment
- Frequently mentioned brands

#### Product research

Track topics such as:

- Apple
- Samsung
- AI
- battery
- foldables
- cameras

The Actor finds relevant mentions and connects them to the original videos.

#### Market intelligence

Instead of reading individual transcripts manually, combine evidence from multiple creators to identify:

- Repeated complaints
- Common product strengths
- Competitive advantages
- Market gaps
- Business opportunities

### Cross-channel intelligence

When enough videos are available across multiple channels, the Actor generates a cross-channel report containing:

- Watchlist activity
- Competitor moves
- Repeated themes
- Repeated pain points
- Emerging trends
- Content gaps
- Business opportunities
- Recommended actions

Each important signal can include:

- Confidence score
- Priority score
- Number of supporting videos
- Number of supporting channels
- Watchlist matches
- Source video links
- Explanation of why the signal matters

### Executive reports

Important signals are ranked automatically so you can focus on what matters most.

Example:

> **94/100 — Competitor Move**
>
> Xiaomi is positioning its premium phones against Apple while reducing switching friction through familiar interface design.
>
> Supported by 2 channels and 2 videos.

### Inputs

#### YouTube channels

Add the channels you want to monitor.

Example:

- `https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd`
- `https://www.youtube.com/@Mrwhosetheboss`

#### Watchlist terms

Add companies, products, topics, or phrases you want to track.

Example:

- Apple
- Samsung
- AI
- battery

#### Intelligence goal

Choose what the analysis should prioritize:

- Competitor intelligence
- Product research
- Trend detection
- Content strategy
- Market research
- General intelligence

#### Discord delivery

Optionally enter your own Discord webhook.

When new intelligence is generated, the Actor can automatically send a compact report to your Discord channel.

The webhook is stored as an encrypted secret input.

### Automated monitoring

This Actor works well with Apify Tasks and Schedules.

For example, run it every 6 hours.

Already processed videos are remembered, so future runs focus on new content instead of repeatedly analyzing the same videos.

If there is nothing new, no additional AI video analysis is performed.

### Pricing

This Actor uses Pay Per Event pricing.

- Actor start: **$0.003**
- Successful AI video analysis: **$0.03 per video**
- Cross-channel intelligence report: **$0.12 per report**
- Platform usage: **included**

A failed or policy-blocked AI analysis is not charged as a successful video analysis.

### Output

Video results can include:

- Video title and URL
- Channel
- Transcript availability
- Watchlist matches
- AI summary
- Products and companies mentioned
- Competitors mentioned
- Positive and negative signals
- Pain points
- Important claims
- Emerging trends
- Content opportunities
- Business opportunities
- Actionable insights

Cross-channel reports combine information across multiple videos and channels into a single intelligence view.

### Built for continuous intelligence

This is not just a transcript scraper.

The goal is to continuously monitor public YouTube content and transform new videos into structured, evidence-backed competitive intelligence that can be used for research, product strategy, content strategy, and market monitoring.

# Actor input Schema

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

Add 1-5 YouTube channel URLs or channel IDs.

## `watchTerms` (type: `array`):

Products, companies, topics, or phrases to watch for across channels.

## `goal` (type: `string`):

What the analysis should prioritize.

## `maxVideosPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Maximum recent videos to inspect from each channel.

## `analyzeWithAI` (type: `boolean`):

Use GPT-6 Luna for grounded structured intelligence.

## `maxAnalysisVideos` (type: `integer`):

Cost safety limit across all monitored channels.

## `generateCrossChannelSummary` (type: `boolean`):

Combine successful video analyses to detect patterns across channels.

## `discordWebhookUrl` (type: `string`):

Optional Discord webhook used to deliver newly generated intelligence reports. The value is encrypted by Apify.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@Mrwhosetheboss"
  ],
  "watchTerms": [
    "Apple",
    "Samsung",
    "AI",
    "battery"
  ],
  "goal": "competitor_intelligence",
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 2,
  "analyzeWithAI": true,
  "maxAnalysisVideos": 4,
  "generateCrossChannelSummary": 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("perdurable_cougar/youtube-channel-intelligence").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("perdurable_cougar/youtube-channel-intelligence").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 '{}' |
apify call perdurable_cougar/youtube-channel-intelligence --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,perdurable_cougar/youtube-channel-intelligence"
        }
    }
}
```

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/NYXo0AQbILuJchug1/builds/Pq1kKmdeaUJrKDVxn/openapi.json