YouTube Shorts Scraper

Pull YouTube Shorts at scale — exact view, like, and comment counts, hashtags, durations, upload dates, and full creator profiles for every vertical video. Feed it channels, keyword searches, or pasted URLs and get one clean row per Short. Built for creators, social media marketers, and trend researchers who need Shorts performance data in a spreadsheet instead of copying numbers off the app one video at a time.

Why This Scraper?

• Three input modes in one run — scrape a channel's entire Shorts tab, run keyword searches that return Shorts only, or paste direct Short, channel, and /hashtag/<tag>/shorts URLs, and mix all three in a single job.
• Exact view and like counts on every Short — precise figures pulled straight from the video, not the rounded "1.2M"-style numbers shown on cards, plus a per-Short comment count.
• Full channel profile on every row — channel name, handle, channel ID, subscriber count, and verified badge attached to each Short, so there's no separate table to join.
• Extended creator About data on demand — one toggle adds channel description, join date, location, avatar, banner, total video count, and lifetime total views.
• 40+ country and 19-language localization — pull region-specific Shorts and localized titles and metadata for markets from the US and UK to Japan, Brazil, India, and beyond.
• Rich per-Short metadata — hashtags, exact duration (seconds plus readable "0:24" text), thumbnail URL, ISO upload date, and human "2 weeks ago" published text on every result.
• Four content flags per Short — members-only, age-restricted, subtitles-available, and comments-turned-off surfaced for filtering and compliance checks.
• Three sort orders plus a date floor — order the collected Shorts newest, most popular, or oldest, and drop anything older than a date you set ("2024-01-01" or "7 days").
• Flat, one-row-per-Short output — every Short is a single clean row ready for spreadsheets, BI tools, or a database, with no nested unpacking.

Use Cases

Creator & Channel Analytics

• Benchmark your Shorts against a competitor's full Shorts tab by view, like, and comment count
• Track which topics, hashtags, and durations drive the most views on a channel
• Build a performance dashboard from a creator's entire Shorts back-catalog
• Measure posting cadence from exact upload dates and published-time text

Trend & Hashtag Research

• Pull Shorts for a keyword or /hashtag/<tag>/shorts page to see what's surfacing right now
• Compare how a single trend performs across 40+ country markets
• Spot rising formats early by sorting a hashtag's Shorts by most popular

Competitor Monitoring

• Watch rival channels' newest Shorts with a date floor so you only pull recent uploads
• Compare subscriber counts, verified status, and lifetime total views side by side
• Track a competitor's Shorts output volume over time

Influencer & Lead Discovery

• Find creators by keyword search and capture handle, subscriber count, and location
• Shortlist partners by verified badge and subscriber threshold
• Vet reach with extended channel profiles — join date, total videos, total views

Data & Integration

• Feed a flat, one-row-per-Short dataset into BI tools and spreadsheets
• Enrich an existing creator database with fresh Shorts performance figures
• Power alerts on new Shorts from a watchlist of channels

Getting Started

Scrape a Channel's Shorts

The simplest start — one channel, sensible defaults:

{
    "channels": ["@MrBeast"]
}

Keyword Search with a Result Cap

{
    "searchQueries": ["satisfying recipes", "gym motivation"],
    "maxResults": 50,
    "country": "gb"
}

Multi-Source Run with Channel Details

Mix channels, pasted URLs, a hashtag page, sorting, and a date floor in one job:

{
    "channels": ["nasa"],
    "startUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd/shorts",
        "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XCGVurja73c",
        "https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/cooking/shorts"
    ],
    "maxResults": 100,
    "sortBy": "popular",
    "oldestPostDate": "3 months",
    "includeChannelDetails": true
}

Input Reference

What to Scrape

At least one source is required. Combine any of the three.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
channels	string[]	[]	Channel usernames with or without the @ (e.g. nasa, @mkbhd) or channel URLs. Each channel's Shorts tab is scraped independently.
searchQueries	string[]	[]	Keywords to search on YouTube (e.g. satisfying recipes). Only Shorts are returned. Each query runs independently.
startUrls	string[]	[]	Paste YouTube URLs directly — channel URLs (/@handle, /channel/UC..., /c/..., /user/...), individual Short URLs (/shorts/...), and hashtag URLs (/hashtag/...).

Results

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
maxResults	integer	30	Maximum Shorts per channel, search query, or hashtag. Set to 0 to fetch every available Short. An individual Short URL always returns exactly one result.

Filters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
oldestPostDate	string	(none)	Only include Shorts uploaded on or after this date. Accepts an exact date (2024-01-01) or a relative window (7 days, 3 months). Applies to channel inputs.
sortBy	select	Newest first	Order the collected Shorts: Newest first, Most popular, or Oldest first.

Localization

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
country	select	United States	Localize results to one of 40+ countries. Affects which Shorts appear and their localized metadata.
language	select	English	Interface language for Short titles and metadata — one of 19 languages, from Japanese and Korean to Arabic, Hebrew, and Portuguese.

Enrichment

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
includeChannelDetails	boolean	true	Enrich each Short with extended channel details — description, join date, location, avatar, banner, total videos, and total views. Adds one lookup per unique channel. Turn off for faster, leaner results.

Output

Each Short is one flat row. Here's a representative result with channel details enabled:

{
    "id": "XCGVurja73c",
    "type": "short",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XCGVurja73c",
    "title": "I Raced The Fastest Man On Earth",
    "text": "Could I beat an Olympic sprinter? #shorts #challenge",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XCGVurja73c/oardefault.jpg",
    "duration": 24,
    "durationText": "0:24",
    "viewCount": 69694950,
    "likeCount": 1730291,
    "commentsCount": 14000,
    "date": "2026-06-24T16:00:14+00:00",
    "publishedText": "2 weeks ago",
    "hashtags": ["#shorts", "#challenge"],
    "hasSubtitles": false,
    "isMembersOnly": false,
    "isMonetized": null,
    "isAgeRestricted": false,
    "commentsTurnedOff": false,
    "channelName": "MrBeast",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
    "channelId": "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
    "channelUsername": "@MrBeast",
    "numberOfSubscribers": 507000000,
    "isChannelVerified": true,
    "channelDescription": "SUBSCRIBE FOR A COOKIE!",
    "channelJoinedDate": "2012-02-19",
    "channelLocation": "United States",
    "channelAvatarUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/example-avatar.jpg",
    "channelBannerUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/example-banner.jpg",
    "channelTotalVideos": 992,
    "channelTotalViews": 132996068543,
    "input": "@MrBeast"
}

Core Short Fields

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Short video ID
type	string	Always "short"
url	string	Canonical Shorts URL (/shorts/<id>)
title	string	Short title
text	string	Caption / description text
thumbnailUrl	string	Thumbnail image URL
duration	number	Length in seconds
durationText	string	Human-readable length (e.g. 0:24)
date	string	Upload date (ISO 8601)
publishedText	string	Relative published text (e.g. 2 weeks ago)
hashtags	string[]	Hashtags found in the caption
input	string	The source (channel, query, or URL) that produced this row

Engagement

Field	Type	Description
viewCount	number	Exact view count
likeCount	number	Exact like count
commentsCount	number	Number of comments on the Short
commentsTurnedOff	boolean	Whether comments are disabled

Content Flags

Field	Type	Description
hasSubtitles	boolean	Whether captions/subtitles exist
isMembersOnly	boolean	Members-only content flag
isMonetized	boolean	Monetization flag
isAgeRestricted	boolean	Age-restriction flag

Channel

Present on every row.

Field	Type	Description
channelName	string	Channel display name
channelUrl	string	Channel URL
channelId	string	Channel ID (UC...)
channelUsername	string	Channel handle (e.g. @MrBeast)
numberOfSubscribers	number	Subscriber count
isChannelVerified	boolean	Verified badge

Extended Channel

Populated when includeChannelDetails is on.

Field	Type	Description
channelDescription	string	Channel About description
channelJoinedDate	string	Channel creation date
channelLocation	string	Channel country / location
channelAvatarUrl	string	Channel avatar URL
channelBannerUrl	string	Channel banner URL
channelTotalVideos	number	Total videos on the channel
channelTotalViews	number	Lifetime channel view count

Tips for Best Results

• Start small, then scale — set maxResults to 10-30 on your first run to confirm the data fits your needs, then raise it (or use 0 for every available Short).
• Turn on channel details only when you need profiles — it adds one lookup per unique channel. Leave it off for faster, leaner runs when the per-Short numbers are all you want.
• Sorting applies to the collected set — YouTube serves Shorts newest-first, so with a result cap, "Most popular" ranks the Shorts collected under that cap, not YouTube's global ranking. Raise maxResults for a wider popularity pool.
• Use the date floor on channels and hashtags — those arrive newest-first, so oldestPostDate stops collection as soon as an older Short appears. It doesn't narrow keyword searches.
• Mix sources freely — channels, keyword searches, and URLs all run in one job and land in one dataset.
• Match country and language to your target market — a German run localizes titles and metadata, not just which Shorts appear.
• Captions can be blank — text and hashtags come from a Short's caption/description, which some big-brand creators leave empty, so those fields may be blank even when the on-screen title shows a hashtag.

Pricing

From $1.50 per 1,000 results — well below the going rate for YouTube Shorts data. Bronze, Silver, and Gold subscribers pay progressively less; the table below shows the total cost at each discount tier.

Results	No discount	Bronze	Silver	Gold
100	$0.18	$0.17	$0.16	$0.15
1,000	$1.80	$1.70	$1.60	$1.50
10,000	$18.00	$17.00	$16.00	$15.00
100,000	$180.00	$170.00	$160.00	$150.00

A "result" is one Short row in the output dataset. No compute or time-based charges — you pay per result, plus a small fixed per-run start fee.

Integrations

Export data in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS. Connect to 1,500+ apps via:

• Zapier / Make / n8n — Workflow automation
• Google Sheets — Direct spreadsheet export
• Slack / Email — Notifications on new results
• Webhooks — Trigger custom APIs on run completion
• Apify API — Full programmatic access

Legal & Ethical Use

This actor is designed for legitimate research, analytics, and content strategy. You are responsible for complying with applicable laws and YouTube's Terms of Service. Extract only publicly available data, respect creators' rights, and do not use collected data for spam, harassment, or any unlawful purpose. Handle any personal data in line with applicable privacy regulations.