TMDb Comprehensive Scraper

Collect rich movie, TV show, and people data from The Movie Database in a single run. Build clean datasets for analytics, content apps, and market tracking with flexible filters, pagination, and structured output. The actor focuses on completeness, stable extraction, and production-ready JSON results.

Features

• Multi-content extraction — Collect movie, tv, person, or both from one actor.
• Search and discovery modes — Run targeted keyword searches or broad discovery with filters.
• Rich record coverage — Include credits, reviews, keywords, images, videos, watch providers, recommendations, and external IDs.
• Cleaner dataset output — Produces consolidated records with null/empty values removed.
• Duplicate protection — Deduplicates items by TMDb ID across pages and queries.
• Configurable scale controls — Tune limits, pages, concurrency, and delays for your workload.

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Use Cases

Content Intelligence

Track trending titles, genres, ratings, and audience engagement signals for dashboards and reports.

Catalog Enrichment

Enhance internal catalogs with overviews, media assets, credits, and provider metadata.

Audience and Creator Research

Collect people profiles and filmography context for talent analysis and editorial planning.

Competitive Monitoring

Monitor what is rising across movies and TV by popularity, vote signals, and release windows.

Automation Pipelines

Feed consistent JSON output into ETL workflows, BI tools, and downstream notifications.

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
apiKey	String	No	—	TMDb API key if you want to run with your own credentials.
useApiFirst	Boolean	No	true	Prioritize key-based mode when apiKey is provided.
contentType	String	No	"tv"	One of movie, tv, person, both.
searchQueries	String	No	""	Comma-separated search terms for movie/TV/person search.
genreIds	String	No	""	Comma-separated genre IDs for discovery filtering.
peopleQuery	String	No	""	Comma-separated search terms for people extraction.
resultsWanted	Integer	No	5	Max movie/TV records per query.
peopleResultsWanted	Integer	No	3	Max people records per query.
maxPages	Integer	No	5	Max paginated result pages to scan per query.
sortBy	String	No	"popularity.desc"	Sorting used in discovery mode.
minVoteCount	Integer	No	0	Minimum vote count for discovery filtering.
minVoteAverage	Number	No	0	Minimum vote average for discovery filtering.
collectPeople	Boolean	No	false	Include cast and crew blocks in content records.
collectReviews	Boolean	No	false	Include review blocks in content records.
collectImages	Boolean	No	false	Include images metadata in content records.
collectKeywords	Boolean	No	false	Include keywords/tags in content records.
collectVideos	Boolean	No	false	Include videos/trailers metadata in content records.
collectWatchProviders	Boolean	No	false	Include watch provider availability data.
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	Apify Proxy	Optional proxy configuration.
metamorph	String	No	—	Optional actor ID to metamorph into after completion.

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Output Data

Each dataset item is a consolidated record.

Field	Type	Description
data_type	String	Record type, e.g. content or person.
source	String	Source mode used for extraction.
auth_mode	String	Authentication mode used for the run.
content_type	String	movie or tv for content records.
query_mode	String	search, discover, or search_person.
search_query	String	Query string that produced the record (when applicable).
tmdb_id	Integer	TMDb ID for movie/TV records.
person_id	Integer	TMDb ID for person records.
title / name	String	Main title/name of the item.
overview / biography	String	Description text.
vote_average	Number	Average vote score (when available).
vote_count	Integer	Total vote count (when available).
genres	Array	Genre objects or IDs depending on response block.
credits	Object	Cast and crew details when enabled.
reviews	Object	Reviews block when enabled.
keywords	Object	Keywords block when enabled.
images	Object	Posters/backdrops/logos/profile image metadata when enabled.
videos	Object	Video metadata when enabled.
watch/providers	Object	Provider availability by region when enabled.
recommendations	Object	Recommended related titles.
similar	Object	Similar related titles.
external_ids	Object	External identity mappings (when available).
collection_details	Object	Collection metadata for movies when enabled.
fetchedAt	String	ISO timestamp of extraction.

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Usage Examples

Basic TV Discovery

{
    "contentType": "tv",
    "resultsWanted": 20,
    "maxPages": 2
}

Movie Search with Rich Metadata

{
    "contentType": "movie",
    "searchQueries": "Inception,Interstellar,Dune",
    "resultsWanted": 10,
    "collectPeople": true,
    "collectReviews": true,
    "collectImages": true,
    "collectKeywords": true,
    "collectVideos": true,
    "collectWatchProviders": true
}

People Research Run

{
    "contentType": "person",
    "searchQueries": "Leonardo DiCaprio,Emma Stone",
    "peopleResultsWanted": 5,
    "maxPages": 2
}

Filtered Discovery by Genre and Votes

{
    "contentType": "both",
    "genreIds": "28,878",
    "sortBy": "popularity.desc",
    "minVoteCount": 1000,
    "minVoteAverage": 7.0,
    "resultsWanted": 25,
    "maxPages": 3
}

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Sample Output

{
    "data_type": "content",
    "source": "tmdb_public_api",
    "auth_mode": "public-no-key",
    "content_type": "movie",
    "query_mode": "search",
    "search_query": "Inception",
    "tmdb_id": 27205,
    "title": "Inception",
    "overview": "Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets...",
    "release_date": "2010-07-15",
    "vote_average": 8.369,
    "vote_count": 38000,
    "genres": [
        { "id": 28, "name": "Action" },
        { "id": 878, "name": "Science Fiction" }
    ],
    "credits": {
        "cast": [
            { "id": 6193, "name": "Leonardo DiCaprio", "character": "Cobb" }
        ]
    },
    "videos": {
        "results": [
            { "type": "Trailer", "site": "YouTube", "key": "YoHD9XEInc0" }
        ]
    },
    "recommendations": {
        "results": [
            { "id": 157336, "title": "Interstellar" }
        ]
    },
    "fetchedAt": "2026-03-14T12:00:00.000Z"
}

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Tips For Best Results

Start Small, Then Scale

• Use resultsWanted between 5 and 20 for quick validation.
• Increase pages and limits after confirming output quality.

Use Search For Precision

• Prefer searchQueries when you need exact titles or names.
• Use discovery mode when you need broad market snapshots.

Keep High-Signal Filters

• Use minVoteCount with minVoteAverage to reduce low-signal titles.
• Pair filters with sortBy for consistent ranking.

Tune Runtime Stability

• Increase delays when running larger pulls.
• Keep concurrency reasonable for your data volume.

Enable Rich Blocks Only When Needed

• Turn on reviews, videos, and provider blocks only for use cases that need them.
• This keeps runs faster and payloads lighter.

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Integrations

Connect dataset output to:

• Google Sheets — Build analyst-friendly reports.
• Airtable — Create searchable media intelligence tables.
• Make — Trigger no-code automations.
• Zapier — Pipe updates to workflows.
• Webhooks — Forward results to your backend.
• Slack — Notify teams on fresh runs.

Export Formats

• JSON — Best for apps and pipelines.
• CSV — Spreadsheet and BI workflows.
• Excel — Business reporting.
• XML — Legacy system integrations.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I no longer get multiple rows for one title?

The actor now emits consolidated records, so each title/person is represented once with rich nested blocks.

Can I run without a TMDb API key?

Yes. The actor supports no-key extraction mode with rich structured output.

How do I reduce null fields in output?

Null, undefined, and empty string values are automatically removed before saving.

How do I avoid duplicate records across pages?

Deduplication by TMDb ID is built in for both content and people records.

Can I collect movies and TV in the same run?

Yes, set contentType to both.

Can I chain this actor to another actor?

Yes, provide metamorph with the target actor ID.

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Support

For issues or feature requests, use the actor issue/support channels in Apify Console.

Resources

• Apify Documentation
• Apify API Reference
• Apify Schedules

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Legal Notice

This actor is designed for legitimate data collection and analysis workflows. You are responsible for complying with all applicable terms and laws for your use case.