YouTube Channel Scraper - Extract Complete Channel Data with Advanced Sorting

Extract comprehensive YouTube channel data including videos, shorts, live streams, community posts, and channel analytics with independent sorting options for each content type. Built on Apify platform with intelligent proxy fallback and async processing.

🎯 Overview

The YouTube Channel Scraper is a powerful Apify Actor designed to extract complete channel information from YouTube. Whether you need competitor analysis, content research, influencer marketing data, or channel analytics, this scraper provides structured data extraction with flexible sorting options for videos, shorts, posts, and live streams.

This actor scrapes publicly available YouTube channel data including channel metadata, subscriber counts, video statistics, shorts content, live streaming information, and community posts. All data is extracted in real-time with automatic proxy management to ensure reliable data collection.

✨ Key Features

Comprehensive Data Extraction

• Channel Information: Description, subscriber count, join date, location, verification status, avatar, banner
• Videos: Title, duration, view count, publish date, thumbnail, video URL with customizable sorting
• Shorts: Complete shorts data with engagement metrics, comments, likes, view counts
• Live Streams: Current and past live streams with viewer counts, chat IDs, scheduled times
• Community Posts: Text posts, images, polls with likes and comments count

Advanced Sorting Capabilities

• Independent Sort Orders: Configure separate sorting for videos, shorts, posts, and live streams
• Video Sorting: Sort by date, rating, relevance, title, or view count
• Shorts Sorting: Sort by date, rating, relevance, or view count
• Posts Sorting: Sort by date or relevance
• Live Streams Sorting: Sort by date, relevance, or view count

Intelligent Proxy Management

• Automatic Fallback: Starts without proxy, automatically switches to datacenter proxy if blocked
• Residential Proxy Support: Falls back to residential proxies with 3 retries if datacenter fails
• Smart Logging: Detailed proxy status logs for monitoring and debugging
• Persistent Configuration: Once residential proxy is activated, it remains for the entire run

Performance & Reliability

• Async Processing: Concurrent requests for faster data extraction
• Automatic Retries: Exponential backoff retry mechanism for failed requests
• Live Data Saving: Results saved to dataset in real-time as scraping progresses
• Error Handling: Graceful error handling with detailed logging

📋 Input Configuration

Required Fields

startUrls (array, required)

• List of YouTube channel URLs, usernames, or keywords
• Supports multiple formats: Full URL (https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast), Username (@MrBeast or MrBeast), Channel ID
• Example: ["https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast", "@PewDiePie"]

Optional Fields

maxResults (integer, default: 10)

• Maximum number of results per category (videos, shorts, live streams, posts)
• Range: 1-1000

sortOrderVideos (string, default: "date")

• Options: date, rating, relevance, title, viewCount

sortOrderShorts (string, default: "date")

• Options: date, rating, relevance, viewCount

sortOrderPosts (string, default: "date")

• Options: date, relevance

sortOrderLiveStreams (string, default: "date")

• Options: date, relevance, viewCount

maxComments (integer, default: 0)

• Maximum comments per video/post (0-10000)
• Reserved for future comment scraping functionality

proxyConfiguration (object)

• Apify proxy configuration
• Default: {"useApifyProxy": false} (starts without proxy)
• Actor automatically handles proxy fallback if requests are blocked

Input Example

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie"
  ],
  "maxResults": 50,
  "sortOrderVideos": "viewCount",
  "sortOrderShorts": "date",
  "sortOrderPosts": "date",
  "sortOrderLiveStreams": "viewCount",
  "maxComments": 0,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

📊 Output Structure

Results are automatically saved to the Apify dataset and organized by channel username as top-level keys. Each channel includes:

Channel Data Structure

{
  "scrapedAt": "2025-12-08T17:04:54.964324",
  "totalChannels": 2,
  "maxResultsPerCategory": 50,
  "MrBeast": {
    "about": {
      "channelName": "MrBeast",
      "channelUsername": "MrBeast",
      "channelId": "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
      "numberOfSubscribers": "453M",
      "channelTotalVideos": 929,
      "channelTotalViews": 102823749612,
      "isChannelVerified": true
    },
    "videos": [
      {
        "id": "8bMh8azh3CY",
        "title": "100 Pilots Fight For A Private Jet",
        "duration": "28:46",
        "viewCount": 50075792,
        "date": "1 day ago",
        "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bMh8azh3CY"
      }
    ],
    "shorts": [...],
    "live": [...],
    "posts": [...],
    "stats": {
      "totalVideos": 50,
      "totalShorts": 50,
      "totalLiveStreams": 38,
      "totalPosts": 50
    }
  },
  "summary": {
    "totalVideos": 100,
    "totalShorts": 50,
    "totalLiveStreams": 38,
    "totalPosts": 96
  }
}

Key Output Fields

Channel Data: channelName, channelUsername, channelId, numberOfSubscribers, channelTotalVideos, channelTotalViews, channelJoinedDate, channelLocation, isChannelVerified, channelDescription, channelDescriptionLinks

Video Data: id, title, duration, viewCount, date, url, thumbnailUrl, order

Shorts Data: videoId, title, videoUrl, viewsText, likesCount, commentsCount, publishDate

Live Streams Data: videoId, title, isLive, isUpcoming, concurrentViewers, liveChatId, scheduledStartTime

Community Posts Data: postId, type, textContent, imageUrls, pollOptions, likesCount, commentsCount, publishedAt

🚀 How to Use

Running on Apify Platform

1. Navigate to console.apify.com
2. Create new actor or upload this repository
3. Configure input with channel URLs and sorting preferences
4. Click "Start" and monitor real-time logs
5. Access results in OUTPUT tab
6. Export data as JSON, CSV, or Excel

Running Locally

cd YouTube-Channel-Scraper
pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m src

Note: Local testing requires Apify SDK credentials or code modifications.

💡 Use Cases

Content Research & Analysis: Analyze competitor channels, track video performance, research trending topics, monitor channel growth

Influencer Marketing: Build influencer databases, analyze content engagement, track posting schedules, evaluate collaboration partners

Market Research: Study industry channels, analyze content trends, track market leaders, research audience preferences

Data Analytics: Aggregate channel statistics, build analytics dashboards, track performance metrics, generate competitive reports

Content Aggregation: Collect content for curation platforms, build recommendation systems, create discovery tools, aggregate multi-channel feeds

🔧 Technical Details

Architecture: Python 3, Apify SDK, aiohttp (async), JSON format, Apify Dataset storage

Proxy Strategy:

1. Initial request without proxy
2. Fallback to datacenter proxy if blocked (403, 429, 503)
3. Fallback to residential proxy if datacenter fails
4. 3 retries with exponential backoff on residential proxy
5. Persistent residential proxy usage once activated

Performance: Up to 10 concurrent requests, automatic pagination, incremental data saving, graceful error recovery

📝 Best Practices

1. Start with maxResults: 10 to test configuration
2. Monitor proxy fallback events in real-time logs
3. Choose sort orders based on analysis needs
4. Process multiple channels in single run for efficiency
5. Export results periodically for backup

⚠️ Important Notes

• Public Data Only: Only accesses publicly available YouTube data
• Rate Limiting: Automatic retry logic included
• Proxy Usage: Automatic fallback; manual configuration optional
• Data Accuracy: Real-time extraction; metrics may vary slightly
• Legal Compliance: Ensure compliance with YouTube Terms of Service

🆘 Support & Custom Solutions

For custom solutions, feature requests, or technical support:

Email: dev.scraperengine@gmail.com

We provide custom scraper development, feature enhancements, technical support, integration assistance, and bulk data extraction services.

📄 License & Terms

This actor is provided as-is for data extraction purposes. Users are responsible for ensuring compliance with YouTube Terms of Service, data protection regulations (GDPR, CCPA), local laws, and intellectual property rights.

🔄 Updates & Changelog

Version 0.1

• Initial release with comprehensive channel scraping
• Independent sort orders for all content types
• Intelligent proxy fallback system
• Async processing with retry logic
• Real-time data saving to dataset

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Ready to extract YouTube channel data? Deploy this actor on Apify and start scraping comprehensive channel information with advanced sorting options today!