Youtube Channel Scraper

Extract complete YouTube video data with 30+ metadata fields including views, likes, comments, thumbnails, and more. Built for marketers, researchers, and content creators who need reliable YouTube data at scale.

💰 Pricing & Value

Usage Tier	Videos	Cost	Time	Best For
Free	1-50	$0.00	1-3 min	Testing & small projects
Starter	50-500	$0.01-0.10	5-15 min	Content analysis
Professional	500-5000	$0.10-1.00	30-120 min	Market research
Enterprise	5000+	$1.00-5.00	2-8 hours	Full channel analysis

Pricing includes residential proxies, anti-detection, and all metadata fields

🚀 Quick Start (30 seconds)

1. Basic Channel Scraping

{
  "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@LinusTechTips",
  "max_videos": 100
}

2. With Comments & Engagement

{
  "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
  "max_videos": 50,
  "include_comments": true,
  "max_comments": 25
}

3. Complete Channel Analysis

{
  "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie",
  "max_videos": 0,
  "include_comments": true,
  "extract_chapters": true,
  "extract_hashtags": true
}

📊 What You Get

Complete Video Data (30+ Fields)

• Basic: Title, URL, video ID, upload date, duration
• Engagement: Views, likes, comments count, share count
• Content: Description, hashtags, chapters, captions URL
• Media: Thumbnails (4 sizes), channel info, category
• Analytics: Keywords, tags, monetization status

Real Production Example

{
  "video_id": "sXz3Ftlyp44",
  "title": "Windows Isn't For Us.",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXz3Ftlyp44",
  "view_count": 311000,
  "like_count": 15000,
  "upload_date": "2024-11-20",
  "channel_name": "TechLinked",
  "thumbnails": {
    "default": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sXz3Ftlyp44/default.jpg",
    "medium": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sXz3Ftlyp44/mqdefault.jpg",
    "high": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sXz3Ftlyp44/hqdefault.jpg"
  },
  "hashtags": ["#Windows", "#TechNews"],
  "comments_count": 892
}

🛠️ Configuration Options

Required

• channel_url: Any YouTube channel URL format (@channel, /c/, /channel/)

Optional Settings

• max_videos: Limit results (0 = all videos, max 10,000)
• include_comments: Extract comments with sentiment analysis
• max_comments: Comments per video (0-1000)
• sort_by: "latest", "popular", or "oldest"
• extract_chapters: Video timestamps and topics
• extract_hashtags: Parse description hashtags
• scroll_delay: Anti-detection delay (2000-5000ms)

🎯 Perfect For

• Market Research: Analyze competitor channels and trending content
• Content Strategy: Track engagement patterns and viral topics
• Influencer Marketing: Evaluate creator partnerships and ROI
• Academic Research: Study YouTube content and user behavior
• SEO Analysis: Optimize video metadata and discover keywords

⚡ Performance Guide

Channel Size	Recommended Settings	Memory
Small (<100 videos)	Default settings	512MB
Medium (100-1000)	batch_size: 25	1024MB
Large (1000-5000)	batch_size: 50	2048MB
Extra Large (5000+)	batch_size: 100	4096MB+

🔒 Enterprise Features

• Anti-Detection: Residential proxy rotation + human-like behavior
• Reliability: 99.9% uptime with automatic retry and failover
• Scale: Process 10,000+ videos without memory issues
• Quality: Duplicate removal + data validation
• Speed: Parallel processing with intelligent throttling

🛡️ Troubleshooting

Common Issues & Solutions

Rate Limiting

• Increase scroll_delay to 3000-5000ms
• Enable residential proxies (enabled by default)

Memory Issues

• Reduce batch_size to 5-10 for large channels
• Use higher memory allocation (2048MB+)

Detection Issues

• Stealth mode is enabled by default
• Use residential proxies for best results

Debug Mode

{
  "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@test",
  "max_videos": 5,
  "debug_screenshots": true,
  "headless": false
}

📚 Technical Documentation

• Input Schema: .actor/input_schema.json
• Output Schema: .actor/dataset_schema.json
• Source Code: src/main.py
• Examples: See test_input.json for configurations

🤝 Support & Next Steps

• Get Started: Use the quick start examples above
• Issues: Report via GitHub Issues tab
• Examples: Check test files for advanced configurations
• Community: Join Apify Discord for support

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Built with Playwright, optimized for Apify platform, designed for reliability at scale. Successfully tested with 5M+ video extractions.