Youtube Trending Scraper

Youtube Trending Scraper

Youtube Trending Scraper is a fast, reliable YouTube trending videos scraper that collects structured metadata from each region’s trending chart. It helps you scrape YouTube trending videos by country and category, returning titles, URLs, channels, views, likes, publish dates, thumbnails, and more. Built for marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers, this YouTube trending data extractor enables large-scale trend discovery, content research, competitor analysis, and analytics-ready datasets across regions and categories.

What data / output can you get?

Below are the exact fields this YouTube trending crawler pushes to the Apify dataset for each video. You can export to JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Apify platform.

Data field	Description	Example value
type	Record type (always “video”)	"video"
id	YouTube video ID	"2dmCaK0qslM"
title	Video title	"Top 10 Gaming Moments of the Week"
status	Extraction status	"OK"
url	Full watch URL	"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dmCaK0qslM"
description	Video description text	"Highlights from this week’s biggest plays..."
duration	Duration in seconds (integer or null)	894
views	View count (string)	"1,487,513"
likes	Like count (string)	"124,690"
comments	Comment count (string)	"1K"
channel.id	Channel ID	"UCabc123xyz"
channel.name	Channel name	"GameHub"
channel.handle	Channel handle (if detected)	"@gamehub"
channel.url	Channel URL (if detected)	"https://www.youtube.com/@gamehub"
channel.subscriberCount	Subscriber count label	"4.8M subscribers"
channel.badges	Channel badges	["Verified"]
keywords	Video keywords/tags	["gaming","highlights","esports"]
category	Video category	"Gaming"
thumbnails[].url	Thumbnail URL	"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2dmCaK0qslM/maxresdefault.jpg"
thumbnails[].width	Thumbnail width (if detected)	168
thumbnails[].height	Thumbnail height (if detected)	94
embedUrl	Embeddable player URL	"https://www.youtube.com/embed/2dmCaK0qslM"
isLive	Whether it’s live content	false
isFamilySafe	Family-safe flag	true
isRatingsAllowed	Ratings allowed flag	true
isPrivate	Private flag	false
isExclusive	Exclusive flag	false
isUnlisted	Unlisted flag	false
publishDate	ISO publish date (if available)	"2025-10-31T07:06:17-07:00"
uploadDate	ISO upload date (if available)	"2025-10-31T07:06:17-07:00"
relativeDate	Relative publish text (currently null)	null

Note: Some fields may be null or empty when not present in the page (e.g., thumbnails width/height, channel handle, relativeDate). Results are available as a YouTube trending dataset and can be exported programmatically via the Apify API.

Key features

• 🧠 Bold proxy management with fallbacks Automatically routes requests via Apify Proxy (recommended for a YouTube trending web scraper), with built-in fallback from datacenter to residential when blocks or incomplete HTML are detected.

• 🌍 Multi-country, multi-category coverage A YouTube trending by country scraper that accepts 2-letter country codes (e.g., US, GB, IN, BD, JP) and supports categories: music, gaming, movies, sports, entertainment.

• 🎯 Tunable sampling controls Limit how many videos you collect per country with maxVideosPerInput (default 10, set 0 for unlimited) to speed up or broaden your sample.

• 🧩 Comprehensive metadata extraction Collects titles, URLs, descriptions, views, likes, comments, channel info (ID, name, @handle, URL, subscriberCount, badges), thumbnails with dimensions, category, dates, and safety flags.

• ⚙️ Developer-friendly and Python-powered Built as a Python YouTube trending scraper using the Apify SDK. Integrate via the Apify API for “Get YouTube trending videos programmatically” workflows.

• 🚀 Concurrency with quality checks Uses controlled concurrency and validation (title/views/channel checks) to ensure meaningful records even under rate limits.

• 🔌 Workflow-ready outputs Export your YouTube trending dataset in JSON/CSV/Excel or plug into automation platforms and internal pipelines as a YouTube trending tracker.

• 🛡️ Production-grade reliability Retries, proxy switching, and structured logging help your YouTube trending crawler stay resilient at scale.

How to use Youtube Trending Scraper - step by step

1. Sign in to Apify
   Create or log in to your Apify account.

2. Open the actor
   Search for “youtube-trending-scraper” and open it in the Apify Console.

3. Add inputs
   In “startUrls”, enter one 2-letter country code per line (e.g., US, GB, IN, BD, JP). Unknown text defaults to US; a youtube.com link with &gl=XX uses region XX.

4. Select category
   Set “contentType” to one of: music, gaming, movies, sports, entertainment. Default is gaming.

5. Control volume
   Set “maxVideosPerInput” (default 10). Use 0 for unlimited to scrape all IDs from each region’s page.

6. Configure proxy (recommended)
   Use “proxyConfiguration” to enable Apify Proxy. If you leave it off and the run encounters blocking or thin pages, the scraper can still step up to datacenter → residential automatically.

7. Run the actor
   Click Start. The YouTube trending analytics tool fetches IDs per region/category, then visits each watch page to extract full metadata.

8. Monitor progress and export
   Watch logs for progress updates and proxy switches. When finished, view the dataset and export to JSON, CSV, or Excel—or fetch via API.

Pro tip: Chain this YouTube trending API-style output into your BI stack or automation (e.g., data warehouses, dashboards) to track category trends over time.

Use cases

Use case	Description
Marketing + trend discovery	Identify viral themes across regions and categories to guide creative and media planning.
Competitive intelligence	Monitor a YouTube top charts scraper feed for competitors’ new hits and performance signals.
Content strategy (publishers/creators)	Analyze what’s rising in gaming, music, sports, and entertainment to plan timely productions.
Regional performance benchmarking	Compare countries’ trending charts to localize campaigns and messaging.
Data science + analytics	Build a YouTube trending dataset for modeling view velocity, category shifts, and engagement correlations.
Programmatic monitoring	Use as a YouTube trending tracker in scheduled jobs to capture daily top lists.
Developer pipelines	Integrate the YouTube trending API output from Apify into ETL, warehousing, and dashboards.

Why choose Youtube Trending Scraper?

Built for precision and resilience, this YouTube trending videos scraper combines smart proxy handling with robust extraction to deliver consistent, analytics-ready data.

• ✅ Accurate and structured output, validated for meaningful fields
• 🌐 Multi-country and multi-category coverage for global insights
• 📈 Scalable with controlled concurrency and retries
• 🧑‍💻 Developer access via the Apify API and Python-based implementation
• 🔒 Public data only—no login or cookies required
• 💸 Efficient sampling controls to manage cost and performance
• 🔗 Easy exports and workflow integration for downstream analytics

Compared to browser extensions or unstable scripts, this production-ready YouTube trending web scraper provides stronger reliability, proxy rotation, and consistent JSON records at scale—ideal for operational pipelines.

Is it legal / ethical to use Youtube Trending Scraper?

Yes—when used responsibly. This tool extracts publicly available information from YouTube watch pages and trending charts.

Guidelines for compliant use:

• Collect and use only public data.
• Respect YouTube’s Terms of Service and your local regulations.
• Avoid scraping private, unlisted, or authenticated content.
• Adhere to data protection laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and internal policies.
• Consult your legal team for edge cases and jurisdiction-specific requirements.

Input parameters & output format

Example input JSON:

{
  "startUrls": ["US", "GB", "IN"],
  "contentType": "gaming",
  "maxVideosPerInput": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Input parameters:

• startUrls (array, required): One 2-letter country code per line (US, GB, IN, BD, JP, …). Each line corresponds to that region’s trending chart. Unknown text defaults to US; a youtube.com link with &gl=XX uses region XX. Default: none.
• contentType (string, optional): Which vertical chart to read. One of: music, gaming, movies, sports, entertainment. Default: gaming.
• maxVideosPerInput (integer, optional): Max trending videos to keep per country row. Set 0 for unlimited. Default: 10.
• proxyConfiguration (object, optional): Route traffic through Apify Proxy so YouTube is less likely to block or return thin pages. Prefill: { "useApifyProxy": false }.

Example output JSON:

{
  "type": "video",
  "id": "2dmCaK0qslM",
  "title": "Video Title Here",
  "status": "OK",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dmCaK0qslM",
  "description": "Video description text...",
  "duration": 894,
  "views": "1487513",
  "likes": "124690",
  "comments": "1K",
  "channel": {
    "id": "UCabc123xyz",
    "name": "Channel Name",
    "handle": "@channelname",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@channelname",
    "subscriberCount": "4.81M subscribers",
    "thumbnails": [],
    "badges": ["Verified"]
  },
  "keywords": ["keyword1", "keyword2", "keyword3"],
  "isRatingsAllowed": true,
  "isLive": false,
  "isFamilySafe": true,
  "category": "Gaming",
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isExclusive": false,
  "thumbnails": [
    {
      "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2dmCaK0qslM/maxresdefault.jpg",
      "width": 168,
      "height": 94
    }
  ],
  "embedUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/2dmCaK0qslM",
  "isEmbeddable": true,
  "isUnlisted": false,
  "publishDate": "2025-10-31T07:06:17-07:00",
  "relativeDate": null,
  "uploadDate": "2025-10-31T07:06:17-07:00"
}

Notes:

• Required input: startUrls.
• Some output fields may be null when not present (e.g., thumbnails width/height, channel.handle, relativeDate).
• status returns “OK” when the video ID is detected; otherwise “UNKNOWN”.

FAQ

Do I need to log in or provide cookies to scrape?

No. The actor collects public data from watch pages and trending charts without login or cookies. It’s a YouTube trending web scraper designed for public information only.

Can I get trending videos by country and category?

Yes. Provide 2-letter country codes in startUrls and set contentType to one of music, gaming, movies, sports, or entertainment. This functions as a YouTube trending by country scraper with category filtering.

How many videos can I scrape per country?

Control volume with maxVideosPerInput. The default is 10. Set it to 0 for unlimited to get all available trending video IDs for each region.

Is there an API I can use to integrate the results?

Yes. Every Apify actor run provides an API to access the dataset, so you can Get YouTube trending videos programmatically and build pipelines around this YouTube trending API output.

What happens if YouTube blocks my requests?

The actor has an intelligent proxy system. It can start without a proxy, then automatically step up to datacenter and residential proxies if it detects blocks or thin pages, improving reliability for your YouTube trending crawler.

Which data fields are included in the output?

Fields include id, title, url, description, views, likes, comments, channel object (id, name, handle, url, subscriberCount, badges), category, keywords, thumbnails with dimensions, publish/upload dates, and flags like isLive and isFamilySafe. See the Output section for the full schema.

Is this built with Python?

Yes. It’s a Python YouTube trending scraper using aiohttp and BeautifulSoup under the hood, orchestrated via the Apify SDK for production-ready runs.

Can I export the YouTube trending dataset?

Yes. After the run, export to JSON, CSV, or Excel from the dataset UI or programmatically via Apify APIs—perfect for BI tools and dashboards.

Closing thoughts

Youtube Trending Scraper is built to extract trending video metadata across regions and categories with reliability and scale. With smart proxy management, comprehensive fields, and flexible limits, it serves marketers, analysts, developers, and researchers alike. Use the Apify API to automate pipelines, or export to CSV/JSON/Excel for rapid analysis. Start extracting smarter trends and power your next insight with structured, accurate YouTube trending data.