Facebook Video Search Scraper

Facebook Video Search Scraper

The Facebook Video Search Scraper is a fast, reliable facebook video search scraper that collects public Facebook Watch search results by keyword — including reels and short-form clips — and exports structured metadata for analysis. It solves the manual effort of discovering and aggregating videos by acting as a facebook video search results scraper and facebook video metadata extractor for marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers. With automation-ready workflows, this facebook video search crawler scales from quick checks to ongoing monitoring and insights.

What data / output can you get?

Below are the real fields this facebook video scraper tool saves to the Apify dataset. You can export to JSON, CSV, or Excel directly from Apify.

Data type	Description	Example value
facebookUrl	Source Facebook search URL	https://www.facebook.com/watch/search?q=football
videoUrl	Direct Facebook video link	https://www.facebook.com/reel/1358643215896084/
title	Video title or caption	“Football Freekick short 🥅⚽”
label	Accessibility label (title, channel, length, etc.)	“I Love Football ❤❤❤ … Video length:0minutes; 6seconds … 1.4K views”
thumbnail_image.uri	Video thumbnail URL	https://scontent.fepa12-1.fna.fbcdn.net/...jpg
video_duration_text	Video length (as text)	“0:29”
video.id	Video ID	“1358643215896084”
video_owner_profile.name	Publisher/page or user name	“Chelsea Highlight Myanmar”
video_owner_profile.url	Page or profile link	https://www.facebook.com/people/Chelsea-Highlight-Myanmar/61550516546696/
video_owner_profile.is_verified	Owner verification status (boolean)	false
relative_time_string	Posted time and sometimes view count	“5 hours ago · 19K views”
save_description	Video description text if present	“#football #freekick #short …”
inputUrl	Original input/search URL	https://www.facebook.com/watch/search?q=football
facebookId	Alias of the search URL	https://www.facebook.com/watch/search?q=football
query	The search keyword used	“football”

Note:

• Some nested fields may be null when not provided by Facebook (e.g., thumbnail_image, video, or videoUrl).
• You can download the dataset in JSON, CSV, or Excel, or access it via API for downstream analytics and BI pipelines.

Key features

• ⚡ Asynchronous, batched extraction
  Efficiently fetches results in batches (up to 20 per request) with pagination for speed and scale.

• 🔎 Scrape Facebook videos by keyword
  Provide keywords in startUrls and the actor turns them into Watch search queries — a simple facebook video discovery scraper workflow.

• 🎯 Reels and short-form support
  Captures roles like VIDEOS/VIDEO/REELS/SHORT_VIDEOS, making it a practical facebook reels search scraper.

• 🧱 Structured, analysis-ready output
  Saves clean fields like videoUrl, title, video_owner_profile, and relative_time_string to power dashboards and ETL.

• 🔁 Robust retries and pagination
  Built-in retry logic for the GraphQL endpoint and safe pagination until the per-query limit is reached.

• 🛡️ Automatic proxy setup
  The actor sets up an Apify Residential proxy internally to improve reliability for this facebook public video scraper.

• 🔌 Automation & integration ready
  Use it as a facebook video search API alternative: connect the resulting dataset to Make/Zapier, n8n, or your own pipelines.

• 👨‍💻 Developer friendly
  Clear JSON schema with stable keys for programmatic use cases like enrichment, trend tracking, and monitoring.

How to use Facebook Video Search Scraper - step by step

1. Sign in to Apify (or create a free account).
2. Open the Facebook Video Search Scraper on the Apify platform.
3. Enter your search terms:
   • Add one keyword per line in startUrls (e.g., football, cricket, basketball). Hashtags or phrases are fine, too.
4. Set limits:
   • Adjust maxVideos (1–1000) to control how many results you want per query.
5. (Optional) Review proxyConfiguration:
   • The input includes a proxy field, but the current build configures an Apify Residential proxy automatically for best performance.
6. Run the actor:
   • Click Start. You’ll see logs with per-page progress and totals collected.
7. Export results:
   • Open the Dataset, then export to JSON, CSV, or Excel, or connect via the Apify API for automation.

Pro tip: Add multiple keywords to startUrls to fan out queries in one run. This is an easy way to operate a social media video scraper for Facebook at scale.

Use cases

Use case name	Description
Market research – video trend tracking	Identify rising topics and creators by collecting titles, owners, and timestamps from public search.
Social media analytics – competitor monitoring	Compare posting cadences and view ranges using relative_time_string and title data.
Content strategy – topic discovery	Build lists of video titles and links to map what resonates across niches.
Brand monitoring – public video discovery	Track brand or product keywords across public videos using this facebook page video search scraper workflow.
Academic research – dataset building	Export structured JSON for longitudinal studies on topics, virality, or narrative framing.
Automation pipelines – API alternative	Treat the dataset as a facebook video search API alternative for ETL into warehouses or dashboards.
Hashtag intelligence – campaign audits	Use hashtag terms as keywords to gather public videos for reporting with this facebook hashtag video scraper approach.

Why choose Facebook Video Search Scraper?

This facebook video search scraper focuses on precision, scalability, and production-grade reliability.

• ✅ Accurate metadata extraction: Structured fields for titles, links, owners, and durations.
• ⚡ Scales with pagination & batching: Efficiently collects up to your per-query limit.
• 🧩 Integration-ready exports: Download CSV/JSON/Excel or fetch via Apify API.
• 👨‍💻 Developer-first schema: Stable keys like videoUrl, title, and video_owner_profile.
• 🛡️ Safer public data focus: Designed for public Facebook Watch search results.
• 🌐 Proxy resilience: Automatically leverages Apify Residential proxy for consistent runs.
• 💸 Cost-effective alternative: A dependable facebook video search API alternative without browser extensions.

In short, it’s a reliable social media video scraper for Facebook that outperforms fragile, extension-based approaches.

Is it legal / ethical to use Facebook Video Search Scraper?

Yes — when done responsibly. This tool targets publicly available Facebook Watch search results and does not access private or authenticated content.

Guidelines to follow:

• Only collect publicly available information.
• Review and respect Facebook’s Terms of Service.
• Use data for legitimate purposes such as research, analytics, or business intelligence.
• Consult your legal team for edge cases and local compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, CCPA).

Input parameters & output format

Example JSON input

{
  "startUrls": ["football", "cricket"],
  "maxVideos": 100,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Parameter reference:

• startUrls (array of strings)
  Description: One keyword per line. The actor turns them into Facebook search URLs automatically. Examples: cricket, football, basketball, cooking, travel.
  Required: Yes
  Default: None

• maxVideos (integer)
  Description: How many videos to scrape per keyword (1–1000). Higher = more results, longer run.
  Required: No
  Default: 20
  Min/Max: 1 / 1000

• proxyConfiguration (object)
  Description: Optional. No proxy by default. If Facebook blocks you, the actor tries datacenter then residential proxies.
  Required: No
  Default: None (prefill: {"useApifyProxy": false})
  Note: In the current build, the actor internally configures an Apify Residential proxy automatically for robustness.

Example JSON output

[
  {
    "facebookUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/watch/search?q=football",
    "videoUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1358643215896084/",
    "label": "Estevao Willian Vs Qarabag - UCL Performance 🇧🇷🔥   #CHM  #football\nChelsea Highlight Myanmar\nVideo length:3minutes; 28seconds\n5 hours ago \n 19K views",
    "thumbnail_image": {
      "uri": "https://scontent.fepa12-1.fna.fbcdn.net/..."
    },
    "video_duration_text": "3:28",
    "video": {
      "id": "1358643215896084"
    },
    "video_owner_profile": {
      "__typename": "User",
      "id": "61550516546696",
      "__isNode": null,
      "__isActor": "User",
      "name": "Chelsea Highlight Myanmar",
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/people/Chelsea-Highlight-Myanmar/61550516546696/",
      "is_verified": false
    },
    "video_broadcast_status": null,
    "save_description": "Estevao Willian Vs Qarabag - UCL Performance 🇧🇷🔥\n\n #CHM\n #football",
    "title": "Estevao Willian Vs Qarabag - UCL Performance 🇧🇷🔥   #CHM  #football",
    "relative_time_string": "5 hours ago · 19K views",
    "facebookId": "https://www.facebook.com/watch/search?q=football",
    "inputUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/watch/search?q=football",
    "query": "football"
  }
]

Notes:

• Some fields may be null when Facebook does not supply them (e.g., video_broadcast_status, thumbnail_image).
• The actor also adds query for traceability.

FAQ – Facebook Video Search Scraper

Do I need to provide a Facebook login or cookies?

No. The actor targets public Watch search results and does not require login for scraping public data.

Can it scrape Facebook Reels?

Yes. The extractor processes roles such as REELS and SHORT_VIDEOS, so reels are included when present in search results.

How many results can I collect per keyword?

You control this with maxVideos (1–1000). The actor paginates and batches requests until it reaches your limit or results run out.

Can I use hashtags as search terms?

Yes. You can include hashtags or any text as entries in startUrls, and the actor will use them as Watch search queries.

Does it handle proxies for me?

Yes. The current build automatically configures an Apify Residential proxy to increase reliability, so you don’t need to manage proxies manually.

What formats can I export?

You can download your dataset as JSON, CSV, or Excel from Apify, or access it via the Apify API for automation.

Which metadata fields are included?

Structured fields such as videoUrl, title, video_owner_profile (with verification), video_duration_text, relative_time_string, and thumbnail_image are included, alongside the originating facebookUrl and query.

Is this a Facebook video search API alternative?

Yes. For many workflows, the dataset and Apify API provide a practical facebook video search API alternative for downstream pipelines and dashboards.

Final thoughts

Facebook Video Search Scraper is built to extract public Facebook video search results at scale — clean, fast, and automation-ready. With structured fields (titles, links, owners, durations) and resilient proxying, it’s ideal for marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers. Connect the dataset to your stack via the Apify API to automate a facebook video titles and links scraper workflow and fuel your reporting or enrichment pipelines. Start extracting smarter, and turn Facebook’s public video ecosystem into actionable data in minutes.