# YouTube Channel Video Catalog & Profile Scraper (`vexaloom-labs/youtube-channel-video-catalog-and-profile-scraper`) Actor

Get a YouTube channel's profile details (subscribers, description, links, verification) together with its video, Shorts, playlist or live-stream catalog, for one channel or many at once.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/vexaloom-labs/youtube-channel-video-catalog-and-profile-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [vexaloom-labs](https://apify.com/vexaloom-labs) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.49 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## YouTube Channel Video Catalog & Profile Scraper

Point this actor at a YouTube channel and get its full public catalog back — the latest uploads, the complete back-catalog, Shorts, live and upcoming streams, playlists, podcast shows and channel courses — with exact view and like counts, publish dates, durations and descriptions, plus the channel profile: subscribers, description, links, country, join date, total views and verification.

### What this actor does

- **Complete video catalog:** newest, most popular or oldest first, paged through the channel's entire upload list
- **Exact per-video metrics:** exact view count, exact like count, publish date, exact duration, description and category (when YouTube makes it publicly visible)
- **Every public surface:** Shorts (with its own sort), live/upcoming/past streams, playlists, podcast shows, courses and music releases
- **Channel profile:** subscribers, video count, handle, description, avatar, banner, country, join date, total views, external links, verification, keywords
- **Members-only listings:** optionally list members-only videos (titles and public metadata) when YouTube offers that filter for the channel
- **Bulk channels:** paste URLs, handles (`@name`) or channel IDs, one per line
- **Empty fields are omitted** — empty text and missing numbers are left out instead of emitted as `null`

### Output per video row

Each long-form video is one row. Optional scalar fields are omitted when YouTube does not expose a value.

| Field | Type | Example |
|-------|------|---------|
| `videoId` | string | `"0e3GPea1Tyg"` |
| `title` | string | `"$456,000 Squid Game In Real Life!"` |
| `url` | string | `"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e3GPea1Tyg"` |
| `viewCount` | integer (optional; exact only) | `905688793` |
| `viewCountText` | string (optional) | `"905,688,793 views"` |
| `likeCount` | integer (optional; exact only) | `2009889` |
| `publishedAt` | string (optional) | `"2026-10-03"` or `"2026-10-03T09:00:01-07:00"` |
| `category` | string (optional) | `"Entertainment"` |
| `publishedTimeText` | string (optional) | `"2 days ago"` |
| `duration` | string (optional; may be `"LIVE"`) | `"25:42"` |
| `durationSeconds` | integer (optional) | `1542` |
| `thumbnailUrl` | string (optional) | Video thumbnail URL |
| `description` | string (optional) | Video description |
| `isLive` | boolean | `false` |
| `isShort` | boolean | `false` |
| `isUpcoming` | boolean (only when true) | `true` |
| `isMembersOnly` | boolean (only when true) | `true` |
| `concurrentViewersText` | string (live only) | `"2K watching"` |
| `badges` | array (optional) | Card badges such as `"New"` or `"4K"` |
| `authorMetadata` | object | Channel details (see below) |
| `scrapedAt` | string | `"2026-10-18T12:00:00+00:00"` |

If `includeExactMetrics` is off, `viewCount`/`likeCount`/`publishedAt`/`category` are omitted and the listing-page values (`viewCountText`, `publishedTimeText`) are returned instead. `category` and exact like counts are omitted when YouTube does not make them publicly visible.

#### Surface arrays

`shorts`, `playlists`, `liveVideos`, `podcasts`, `courses` and `releases` are attached to the first video row of each channel (or to the channel-only row when `maxVideos` is 0) and are never repeated on every row.

- `shorts[]` — `videoId`, `title`, `viewCountText`, `url`, `thumbnailUrl`, `type: "short"`; exact metrics are added when `includeExactMetrics` is on
- `playlists[]` — `playlistId`, `title`, `url`, `thumbnailUrl`, `videoCountText`, `videoCount`, `lastUpdatedText`
- `liveVideos[]` — the same video fields as a normal row, including `isLive`, `isUpcoming` and `concurrentViewersText`
- `podcasts[]` — `podcastShowId`, `title`, `url`, `thumbnailUrl`, `episodeCountText`, `episodeCount`, `lastUpdatedText`
- `courses[]` / `releases[]` — `playlistId`, `title`, `url`, `thumbnailUrl`, `videoCountText`, `videoCount`

#### `authorMetadata` fields

| Field | Type | Example |
|-------|------|---------|
| `channelId` | string | `"UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"` |
| `channelName` | string | `"MrBeast"` |
| `handle` | string | `"@MrBeast"` |
| `channelUrl` | string | `"https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast"` |
| `description` | string | Channel description |
| `subscriberCountText` | string | `"466M subscribers"` |
| `subscriberCount` | integer (optional; exact text only) | `8390` |
| `videoCount` / `videoCountText` | integer / string | `948` / `"948 videos"` |
| `country` | string (optional, ISO code) | `"CZ"` |
| `location` | string (optional) | `"Czechia"` |
| `joinedDateText` | string (optional) | `"Joined Feb 20, 2012"` |
| `totalViews` / `totalViewsText` | integer / string (optional) | `2424926` / `"2,424,926 views"` |
| `externalLinks[]` | array (optional) | `[{"title": "Website", "url": "https://..."}]` |
| `aboutDescription` | string (optional) | Description as shown on the About panel |
| `avatarUrl`, `bannerUrl` | string | Image URLs |
| `isVerified`, `isFamilySafe` | boolean | `true` |
| `isOfficialArtistChannel` | boolean (only when true) | `true` |
| `keywords` | array (optional) | Owner-set channel keywords |
| `channelLinks[]` | array (optional) | Header links: `[{"title": "...", "url": "..."}]` |
| `rssUrl` | string (optional) | The channel's upstream RSS URL (YouTube's feed availability varies) |

Numeric profile counts are emitted only when YouTube supplies an unabridged integer (for example `1,234 subscribers`). Rounded labels such as `466M subscribers` stay in the matching `*Text` field; an approximate value is never presented as an exact count.

If a channel page cannot be fetched or parsed at all, a row with `channelUrl`, `error`, `success: false` and `scrapedAt` is returned instead.

### Input

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|-------|------|----------|---------|-------------|
| `channelUrls` | string\[] | Yes | – | Channel URLs, `@handles` or channel IDs |
| `maxVideos` | integer | No | 50 | Max long-form videos per channel (0–10000). 0 returns profile only |
| `sortVideosBy` | string | No | `"newest"` | `newest`, `popular`, `oldest` (falls back to newest when unavailable) |
| `sortShortsBy` | string | No | `"newest"` | Shorts sort: `newest`, `popular`, `oldest` |
| `includeAbout` | boolean | No | true | About-panel fields: total views, join date, location, country, links |
| `includeShorts` | boolean | No | false | Include the Shorts tab |
| `maxShorts` | integer | No | 20 | Cap for Shorts (1–2000) |
| `includeLiveVideos` | boolean | No | false | Include live, upcoming and past streams |
| `maxLiveVideos` | integer | No | 20 | Cap for streams (1–500) |
| `includePlaylists` | boolean | No | false | Include playlists |
| `maxPlaylists` | integer | No | 20 | Cap for playlists (1–500) |
| `includePodcasts` | boolean | No | false | Include podcast shows |
| `maxPodcasts` | integer | No | 50 | Cap for podcast shows (1–500) |
| `includeCourses` | boolean | No | false | Include courses |
| `maxCourses` | integer | No | 50 | Cap for courses (1–500) |
| `includeReleases` | boolean | No | false | Include music releases |
| `maxReleases` | integer | No | 50 | Cap for releases (1–500) |
| `includeMembersOnly` | boolean | No | false | Also list members-only videos when YouTube offers that filter |
| `includeExactMetrics` | boolean | No | true | Also fetch each video's exact counts, dates and descriptions (slower; turn off for listing-page values only) |
| `market` | string | No | `"US"` | Market/region for content availability (31 countries) |
| `language` | string | No | `"en"` | Language for YouTube's interface text (relative dates) |

#### Supported channel formats

- `@MrBeast` — handle
- `https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast` — full URL
- `https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA` — channel ID URL
- `UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA` — raw channel ID
- `MrBeast` — plain name (treated as a handle)

#### Example: catalog with every surface

```json
{
  "channelUrls": ["@MrBeast"],
  "maxVideos": 100,
  "sortVideosBy": "popular",
  "includeShorts": true,
  "maxShorts": 50,
  "includeLiveVideos": true,
  "includePlaylists": true
}
```

#### Example: profile-only enrichment for a lead list

```json
{
  "channelUrls": ["@MrBeast", "@mkbhd", "@kurzgesagt"],
  "maxVideos": 0,
  "includeAbout": true
}
```

#### Example: podcast and course discovery

```json
{
  "channelUrls": ["@LofiGirl", "@Fireship"],
  "maxVideos": 10,
  "includePodcasts": true,
  "includeCourses": true,
  "includeReleases": true
}
```

#### Example: members-only backlog

```json
{
  "channelUrls": ["@LinusTechTips"],
  "maxVideos": 50,
  "includeMembersOnly": true
}
```

### Use cases

- **Channel research** — map a creator's complete output, posting cadence and growth metrics
- **Competitor analysis** — compare catalogs, view/like counts and publishing frequency across a niche
- **Content auditing** — inventory every video on a channel to find gaps and evergreen performers
- **Influencer vetting** — subscriber counts, verification, country and engagement signals in one run
- **Media monitoring** — track news and live channels, including upcoming broadcasts
- **ML datasets** — exact counts, ISO dates and descriptions ready for analysis

### FAQ

**Do I need a YouTube API key?**
No. The actor reads public YouTube pages and YouTube's own web endpoints; no API key, login or cookie is required.

**Which sort orders are available?**
Newest, most popular and oldest — for both long-form videos and Shorts. If a channel does not offer a chosen order, newest-first is used and the run log says so.

**Why are some counts exact and others text only?**
YouTube shows rounded labels like `466M subscribers` on channel pages. The actor keeps that label in its `*Text` field and never expands it into a fake exact number. Exact `viewCount` and `likeCount` come from each video's own metadata.

**What does `includeExactMetrics` do?**
It fetches each video's exact views, likes, publish date, category and description. Turning it off makes runs faster and cheaper but returns listing-page values only.

**How far back does the catalog go?**
The actor pages through the channel's entire upload list, up to your `maxVideos` setting (maximum 10,000 per channel). Channels with tens of thousands of uploads are limited only by that cap.

**What can I learn about members-only or age-restricted videos?**
Titles, publish dates, durations and like counts are public for members-only videos when the channel shows them in its Members-only filter — those rows carry `isMembersOnly: true` and are added in addition to your `maxVideos` setting. Age-restricted videos are listed like any other video, with their public title, views, likes and duration; only *playback* is age-gated. Members-only and age-gated playback still requires a logged-in session; the actor never logs in.

**Are live streams included?**
Yes, with `includeLiveVideos`: active streams include `isLive` and a `concurrentViewersText` (for example `"2K watching"`), scheduled premieres carry `isUpcoming`, and past streams come back with durations.

**How fresh is the data?**
Data is fetched live at run time — there is no cache. Every run reflects the channel's current state. If a channel's catalog page cannot be fetched at all, the actor falls back to YouTube's public channel feed and returns that channel's latest 15 uploads instead of an empty result.

**Do I need to set up a proxy?**
No. The actor uses a working public connection to YouTube automatically. Just fill in the input and run it.

**Is this affiliated with YouTube?**
No. This is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by YouTube or Google.

# Actor input Schema

## `channelUrls` (type: `array`):

YouTube channel URLs, handles (@username), or channel IDs (UCxxx). Accepts any format.

## `maxVideos` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of videos to scrape per channel. Set to 0 to get only channel info without videos.

## `sortVideosBy` (type: `string`):

How to sort the channel's video listings. If YouTube does not offer the chosen sort for a channel, newest-first is used.

## `sortShortsBy` (type: `string`):

How to sort the channel's Shorts listing (when includeShorts is enabled). Falls back to newest-first when the channel offers no Shorts sort.

## `includeAbout` (type: `boolean`):

Extract total views, join date, location, country, and external links from the channel About page.

## `includeShorts` (type: `boolean`):

Scrape the channel Shorts tab and include Shorts in the output.

## `maxShorts` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of Shorts to return (when includeShorts is enabled).

## `includeLiveVideos` (type: `boolean`):

Scrape the channel Live/Streams tab and include live, upcoming, and past streams.

## `maxLiveVideos` (type: `integer`):

Maximum live/stream videos to return (when includeLiveVideos is enabled).

## `includePlaylists` (type: `boolean`):

Scrape the channel Playlists tab and include playlist metadata in the output.

## `maxPlaylists` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of playlists to scrape (when includePlaylists is enabled).

## `includePodcasts` (type: `boolean`):

Scrape the channel Podcasts tab and include podcast shows (when the channel has one).

## `maxPodcasts` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of podcast shows to return (when includePodcasts is enabled).

## `includeCourses` (type: `boolean`):

Scrape the channel Courses tab and include course playlists (when the channel has one).

## `maxCourses` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of courses to return (when includeCourses is enabled).

## `includeReleases` (type: `boolean`):

Scrape the channel Releases tab and include release playlists (when the channel has one).

## `maxReleases` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of releases to return (when includeReleases is enabled).

## `includeMembersOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Also list members-only videos (titles and public metadata) when YouTube offers the Members-only filter for this channel. Rows carry isMembersOnly and are added in addition to maxVideos. Playback still requires the membership.

## `includeExactMetrics` (type: `boolean`):

Also fetch each video's exact view and like counts, duration, publish date, category, and description. Turn off for faster, cheaper runs with listing-page values only.

## `market` (type: `string`):

Country used for regional content availability and localized results (YouTube gl parameter).

## `language` (type: `string`):

Language for YouTube's interface text (relative dates like "2 days ago"). Titles and descriptions stay in the creator's own language.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@Apify"
  ],
  "maxVideos": 3,
  "sortVideosBy": "newest",
  "sortShortsBy": "newest",
  "includeAbout": true,
  "includeShorts": false,
  "maxShorts": 20,
  "includeLiveVideos": false,
  "maxLiveVideos": 20,
  "includePlaylists": false,
  "maxPlaylists": 20,
  "includePodcasts": false,
  "maxPodcasts": 50,
  "includeCourses": false,
  "maxCourses": 50,
  "includeReleases": false,
  "maxReleases": 50,
  "includeMembersOnly": false,
  "includeExactMetrics": true,
  "market": "US",
  "language": "en"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `videos` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all scraped channel info, author metadata, and video rows.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "channelUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@Apify"
    ],
    "maxVideos": 3,
    "includeAbout": true,
    "includeShorts": false,
    "includeLiveVideos": false,
    "includePlaylists": false,
    "includePodcasts": false,
    "includeCourses": false,
    "includeReleases": false,
    "includeMembersOnly": false,
    "includeExactMetrics": true
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("vexaloom-labs/youtube-channel-video-catalog-and-profile-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@Apify"],
    "maxVideos": 3,
    "includeAbout": True,
    "includeShorts": False,
    "includeLiveVideos": False,
    "includePlaylists": False,
    "includePodcasts": False,
    "includeCourses": False,
    "includeReleases": False,
    "includeMembersOnly": False,
    "includeExactMetrics": True,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("vexaloom-labs/youtube-channel-video-catalog-and-profile-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "channelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@Apify"
  ],
  "maxVideos": 3,
  "includeAbout": true,
  "includeShorts": false,
  "includeLiveVideos": false,
  "includePlaylists": false,
  "includePodcasts": false,
  "includeCourses": false,
  "includeReleases": false,
  "includeMembersOnly": false,
  "includeExactMetrics": true
}' |
apify call vexaloom-labs/youtube-channel-video-catalog-and-profile-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,vexaloom-labs/youtube-channel-video-catalog-and-profile-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/fNm0e9I6ncv8nf6jt/builds/6GWCnW79ucQmuV0Ao/openapi.json