Youtube Shorts Scraper

A powerful Apify Actor for scraping YouTube Shorts videos from channels, usernames, or by keyword search. Extract comprehensive video metadata including views, likes, comments, channel information, and more.

Why Choose Us?

• Comprehensive Data Extraction: Get detailed information about each Shorts video including title, views, likes, comments, channel details, and more
• Flexible Input Support: Works with channel URLs, usernames (with or without @), and keywords for searching Shorts
• Smart Proxy Management: Automatic proxy fallback system (no proxy → datacenter → residential) with retry logic
• Bulk Processing: Process multiple channels/keywords in a single run
• Sorting Options: Sort results by newest, oldest, most viewed, or most liked
• Production Ready: Built with Apify SDK for reliable cloud execution

Key Features

• Multiple Input Types:
  • Channel URLs (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast/shorts)
  • Usernames (e.g., @MrBeast or MrBeast)
  • Keywords (searches YouTube Shorts by keyword)
• Proxy Fallback System: Automatically switches between proxy types if requests are blocked
• Comprehensive Metadata: Extracts title, views, likes, comments, channel info, subscribers, duration, and more
• Sorting: Sort results by date (newest/oldest) or engagement (most viewed/most liked)
• Bulk Processing: Process multiple inputs in a single actor run
• Error Handling: Robust error handling with detailed logging

Input

Input Schema

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "mrbeast" },
    { "url": "@MrBeast" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast/shorts" },
    { "url": "funny shorts" }
  ],
  "maxResults": 50,
  "sortOrder": "newest",
  "maxComments": 0,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Input Fields

• startUrls (required): Array of channel URLs, usernames, or keywords to scrape
  • Channel URLs: https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/shorts
  • Usernames: @ChannelName or ChannelName
  • Keywords: Any search term (e.g., funny shorts)
• maxResults (optional, default: 50): Maximum number of Shorts videos to scrape per input (1-1000)
• sortOrder (optional, default: "newest"): How to sort results
  • "newest": Sort by date (newest first)
  • "oldest": Sort by date (oldest first)
  • "most_viewed": Sort by view count (highest first)
  • "most_liked": Sort by likes (highest first)
• maxComments (optional, default: 0): Maximum comments to extract per video (currently tracks comment count only)
• proxyConfiguration (optional): Proxy settings
  • useApifyProxy: Set to true to use Apify proxy (default: false for direct connection)
  • Actor automatically falls back to datacenter then residential proxy if requests are blocked

Output

Output Format

Each video is saved as a separate item in the dataset with the following structure:

{
  "title": "Giving Trick-or-Treaters Weirder and Weirder Gifts",
  "id": "R7MkZL5i3FQ",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7MkZL5i3FQ",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R7MkZL5i3FQ/hqdefault.jpg",
  "viewCount": 64493572,
  "date": "2025-11-07",
  "likes": 909841,
  "dislikes": null,
  "channelName": "MrBeast",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
  "numberOfSubscribers": 450000000,
  "duration": "0:27",
  "commentsCount": 7171,
  "commentsTurnedOff": false
}

Output Fields

• title: Video title
• id: YouTube video ID
• url: Full YouTube video URL
• thumbnailUrl: Video thumbnail image URL
• viewCount: Number of views
• date: Publication date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
• likes: Number of likes
• dislikes: Always null (YouTube no longer shows dislikes)
• channelName: Channel name
• channelUrl: Channel URL
• numberOfSubscribers: Channel subscriber count
• duration: Video duration (H:MM:SS or M:SS format)
• commentsCount: Number of comments
• commentsTurnedOff: Boolean indicating if comments are disabled

🚀 How to Use the Actor (via Apify Console)

1. Log in at https://console.apify.com and go to Actors
2. Find the youtube-shorts-scraper actor and click it
3. Configure inputs:
   • Add channel URLs, usernames, or keywords in the startUrls field
   • Set maxResults to limit how many videos per input
   • Choose sortOrder for result sorting
   • Configure proxy settings if needed
4. Run the actor
5. Monitor logs in real time to see progress
6. Access results in the OUTPUT tab
7. Export results to JSON or CSV

Best Use Cases

• Content Research: Analyze Shorts performance across multiple channels
• Trend Analysis: Search for trending Shorts by keywords
• Competitor Analysis: Monitor competitor channels' Shorts content
• Data Collection: Build datasets of Shorts videos for analysis
• Content Discovery: Find Shorts videos by topic or keyword

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I scrape private channels?
A: No, the actor only scrapes publicly available Shorts videos.

Q: What happens if a channel has no Shorts?
A: The actor will return an empty result for that input and continue processing other inputs.

Q: How does the proxy fallback work?
A: If proxy is enabled and a request fails, the actor automatically tries datacenter proxy, then residential proxy, with 3 retries at each level.

Q: Can I search for Shorts by keyword?
A: Yes! Simply provide a keyword as an input (e.g., "funny shorts") and the actor will search YouTube Shorts for matching videos.

Q: What's the maximum number of results I can get?
A: The maxResults parameter allows up to 1000 videos per input. For multiple inputs, you'll get up to maxResults for each.

Q: How are results sorted?
A: By default, results are sorted by newest first. You can change this using the sortOrder parameter.

Support and Feedback

For issues, questions, or feedback, please contact support through the Apify platform.

Cautions

• Data is collected only from publicly available sources
• No data is taken from private accounts or password-protected content
• The end user is responsible for ensuring legal compliance (spam laws, privacy, data protection, etc.)
• Respect YouTube's Terms of Service and rate limits
• Use proxies responsibly and in accordance with Apify's proxy usage policies