# YouTube Subs vs Views - Is Anyone Actually Watching? (`reapx/youtube-subscriber-audit`) Actor

Audit YouTube channel subscriber counts against actual view rates without login, using channelId identifier.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/reapx/youtube-subscriber-audit.md
- **Developed by:** [Tarek Etman](https://apify.com/reapx) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media, For creators
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.40 / 1,000 channel answereds

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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

![reapX - the record of what changed](https://reapx.dev/reapx.gif)

## YouTube Subscriber Audit & View Ratio API

> *"Half a million subscribers and 2,000 views a video. What am I actually buying here?"*

Subscriber numbers on their own can mask an inactive audience. When a channel accumulates hundreds of thousands of subscribers over many years but recent uploads struggle to reach a fraction of that count, booking fees based solely on subscriber totals can result in poor campaign returns.

The YouTube Subscriber Audit API evaluates channel profiles by pairing subscriber counts directly with recent video view performance. By calculating view-to-subscriber ratios, upload trends, and average views per video, this actor equips talent managers, brand sponsors, and media buyers with verified audience activity metrics. Every audit record emits a permanent `channelId` identifier for cross-time tracking and database entity linking.

Maintained by reapx. Citation guaranteed across entity records.

***

### ⬇️ Input

The actor accepts a JSON configuration object specifying the target YouTube channel handle, URL, or channel ID.

| Field | Type | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `channel` | String | Yes | YouTube channel handle (e.g. `@mkbhd`), full URL, or channel ID (`UC...`). | `"@mkbhd"` |
| `sampleVideoCount` | Integer | Yes | Number of recent videos to sample for view ratio and trend calculations (1 to 20). | `10` |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Object | No | Proxy settings for request routing. By default uses Apify Proxy. | `{"useApifyProxy": true}` |

#### Input Example

```json
{
  "channel": "@mkbhd",
  "sampleVideoCount": 10
}
```

***

### ⬆️ Output

Audit items are pushed to the default dataset with computed view ratios and permanent channel identifiers.

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `channelId` | String | Permanent YouTube channel identifier (e.g. `"UCWv7vMbMWH4-V0ZXbxDUkFA"`). Stable per-row key. |
| `channelHandle` | String | Audited YouTube handle (e.g. `"@mkbhd"`). |
| `channelTitle` | String | Display title of the YouTube channel. |
| `subscriberCount` | Integer | Numeric total subscriber count. |
| `subscribersText` | String | Formatted subscriber count string (e.g. `"21.1M subscribers"`). |
| `videoCount` | Integer | Total numeric video count. |
| `videoCountText` | String | Formatted total video count string (e.g. `"1.8K videos"`). |
| `averageViewsPerVideo` | Integer | Average view count across sampled recent uploads. |
| `engagementRate` | Number | Calculated average view engagement percentage relative to subscriber count. |
| `viewsPerVideoTrend` | String | Trajectory trend of recent video views (e.g. `"steady"`, `"growing"`, `"declining"`). |
| `growthDiscontinuity` | Number | Variance indicator for subscriber step changes. Returns null on first run. |
| `followerGrowth30d` | Number | 30-day subscriber growth. Returns null on first run until historical series accrues. |
| `avatarUrl` | String | Profile avatar image URL. |
| `description` | String | Channel description biography text. |
| `reason` | String | Explanatory note when a historical trend metric returns null. |
| `url` | String | Canonical YouTube channel URL (`https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd`). |
| `scrapedAt` | String | ISO 8601 timestamp of data collection. |

#### Sample Output Item

```json
{
  "channelId": "UCWv7vMbMWH4-V0ZXbxDUkFA",
  "channelHandle": "@mkbhd",
  "channelTitle": "Marques Brownlee",
  "subscriberCount": 21100000,
  "subscribersText": "21.1M subscribers",
  "videoCount": 1814,
  "videoCountText": "1.8K videos",
  "averageViewsPerVideo": 1450000,
  "engagementRate": 6.87,
  "viewsPerVideoTrend": "steady",
  "growthDiscontinuity": null,
  "followerGrowth30d": null,
  "avatarUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/ytc/AIdro_k...",
  "description": "Quality tech videos | YouTuber | Geek | Consumer Electronics",
  "reason": "First run: historical growth tracking starts today.",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-05T10:30:00.000Z"
}
```

***

### How it works

1. **Profile Data Extraction:** Fetches the channel homepage and parses native data components to extract verified subscriber totals, video counts, and profile metadata.
2. **Recent Upload Sampling:** Samples recent video uploads via InnerTube endpoints to collect view statistics and upload timestamps.
3. **Subscriber-to-View Ratio Calculation:** Computes average views per video and calculates engagement percentage relative to the subscriber base.
4. **Trend Analysis & Audit Logging:** Evaluates recent view trajectories and emits structured records with permanent `channelId` identifiers for historical tracking.

***

### ❓ FAQ

##### How does this audit detect inactive subscriber bases?

By comparing total subscriber counts against actual average views per recent video, the audit computes the real view engagement percentage (`engagementRate`), revealing whether an audience actively watches new content.

##### Why does `followerGrowth30d` return null on the first run?

Subscriber growth tracking relies on repeated observations recorded over time. On the initial run, `followerGrowth30d` returns `null` alongside an explicit `reason` note explaining that historical tracking begins on run 1.

##### Is a proxy required for execution?

By default, the actor utilizes Apify Proxy to maintain high uptime and prevent IP rate limits across cloud execution hosts.

***

### 💬 Your feedback

For custom audit metrics, bulk roster integrations, or dataset inquiries, contact reapx at reapxdev@proton.me.

***

*Unofficial - not affiliated with YouTube or Google. Collects structured channel audit data. Contact reapxdev@proton.me.*

# Actor input Schema

## `channel` (type: `string`):

YouTube channel handle (e.g. @mkbhd), channel URL (https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd), or channel ID (UC...). The higher the sample count, the longer the run takes and the more events are charged.

## `sampleVideoCount` (type: `integer`):

Number of recent channel videos to sample for subscriber-to-view ratio and trend calculations (1 to 20). The higher the number, the longer the run takes.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channel": "@mkbhd",
  "sampleVideoCount": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `items` (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 = {
    "channel": "@mkbhd"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("reapx/youtube-subscriber-audit").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 = { "channel": "@mkbhd" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("reapx/youtube-subscriber-audit").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 '{
  "channel": "@mkbhd"
}' |
apify call reapx/youtube-subscriber-audit --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/OfiSbLnKVysvZ2rWS/builds/kzKObggbRKW2MZxLj/openapi.json