YouTube Shorts Scraper (per channel, lightweight)

Get every Short a YouTube channel has published: title, video id, view count and thumbnail, with the channel name on each row. Paste channel URLs, @handles or channel ids, up to 100 channels per run. You only pay for Shorts that are actually delivered.

Why this scraper

• Shorts are their own tab, and this actor reads it properly. A channel's Shorts do not show up in the regular videos list, so a normal channel scraper misses them entirely.
• Built on a lightweight route. This actor asks YouTube's own internal API instead of loading the page, and needs roughly 6 KB per Short. That is where the low price comes from.
• Only delivered Shorts are charged. A channel that does not exist, or has no public Shorts, comes back as a clear error record at no cost.
• A hard cost ceiling you control. maxShortsPerChannel is the cap: one delivered Short is one charged event.
• Every input format works. @mkbhd, a channel URL, /channel/UC... or a bare channel id.

Who this is for

Short-form content researchers comparing what channels publish and how it performs, competitor analysts tracking Shorts output, and teams that need a channel's Shorts catalogue as input for further processing.

Who this is not for

If you want to watch Shorts, the app does that better. This actor is for getting the list out as data, and it earns its place from the first channel with more Shorts than you want to scroll through.

It returns public video and channel metadata only. No comments, no commenter names, no personal data.

Input example

{
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ"
    ],
    "maxShortsPerChannel": 100,
    "language": "en",
    "country": "US"
}

Output example

{
    "channelId": "UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
    "channelName": "Marques Brownlee",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
    "position": 1,
    "videoId": "R6yNUnRXZ64",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R6yNUnRXZ64",
    "title": "iPhone Duo is here",
    "viewCount": 3000000,
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R6yNUnRXZ64/oardefault.jpg",
    "status": "ok"
}

A channel that cannot be delivered produces an error record instead, and is not charged:

{
    "input": "@thischanneldoesnotexist12345",
    "status": "error",
    "errorCode": "CHANNEL_NOT_FOUND",
    "error": "No channel behind https://www.youtube.com/@thischanneldoesnotexist12345"
}

Error codes: INVALID_CHANNEL, CHANNEL_NOT_FOUND, NO_SHORTS, BLOCKED.

Pricing

Pay per event: one short-listed event per delivered Short. No charge for channels that fail, no charge for channels without Shorts, no separate platform-usage surcharge.

FAQ

Why is the view count rounded? Because YouTube rounds it in the Shorts listing: it reports "3 million views", not the exact figure. The number is converted faithfully from what YouTube says. If you need the exact count, feed the video ids into the YouTube Video Details Scraper from the same publisher.

Is there a publish date? Not in the Shorts listing; YouTube does not include one there. The video details actor has it if you need it.

Are the Shorts in order? Yes, newest first, and every row carries its position.

Is personal data collected? No. Public video and channel metadata only.

What happens when YouTube changes something? Internal routes shift from time to time. The actor is monitored daily and fixed fast, and while it is broken you are not charged, because only delivered Shorts cost anything.