YouTube Outlier Finder: videos that beat their own channel, for any channel or search

Find the YouTube videos that beat their own channel's normal: each video's views against the median views of that channel's recent uploads (the outlier score), with views per day and age. Give channels to score their uploads, or give searches and every result is scored against its own channel, so a small channel's breakout ranks above a big channel's average video.

That is the method behind paid outlier tools, as a pay-per-video Actor: research a niche, find the ideas and titles that over-performed, and ignore the noise. Videos or Shorts. For YouTubers, editors, agencies and content strategists. No API key, no quota.

What you get

Field	What it holds
Video rows	outlierScore, rank, views, viewsPerDay, publishedAgo, ageDays, title, channel, channelId, channelMedianViews, baselineVideos, durationSeconds or length, thumbnail, url, tooNewToJudge, and in searches search, searchPosition, channelVerified
SUMMARY	what each channel and search returned, notes, channels read and what was charged

What people use it for

• Niche research: the videos in a niche that beat their channel
• Title and thumbnail ideas: what the breakouts have in common
• Competitor tracking: which of a rival's uploads took off
• Shorts research: the Shorts that over-performed
• Sponsor and creator vetting: how a channel's views really behave

How to use it

1. Add searches (a niche, a product, a topic) and/or channels.
2. Pick Videos or Shorts, how many results or uploads, and a minimum score if you want only outliers.
3. Click Start, then sort the Outliers table by score.

Input

Field	Example	Notes
Searches	home espresso machine review	Every result scored against its own channel
Channels	@handle	Their latest uploads scored
Videos or Shorts	Videos
Results per search	20	Up to 200
Videos per channel	50	Up to 100
Only videos scoring at least	0	e.g. 3

Output

Each result is one row in the run's dataset (download it as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read it through the API). An example row (values shortened):

{
  "kind": "video",
  "mode": "search",
  "search": "home espresso machine review",
  "searchPosition": 7,
  "rank": 1,
  "title": "Should You Buy …? 4 Year Review of …",
  "channel": "Example channel",
  "views": 177455,
  "outlierScore": 11.09,
  "channelMedianViews": 16000,
  "baselineVideos": 27,
  "publishedAgo": "2 years ago",
  "viewsPerDay": 243,
  "durationSeconds": 550
}

From runs on 17 October 2026 (names and titles shortened): for the search "home espresso machine review", the 7th result scored 11.09 (177,455 views on a channel whose recent median is 16,000) and another result 34.48 (3.1 million views against a 91,000 median); 12 results and 13 channel baselines took 29 seconds. A record named SUMMARY in the run's key-value store says what each input returned and what was charged.

Pricing

• $0.003 per scored video ($3 per 1,000), with its outlier score, views per day and its channel's median
• Channel baselines are included; channels with no public uploads cost nothing; videos below your minimum score are not charged

What typical jobs cost at the list price:

Job	Cost
20 search results	$0.06
A channel's latest 50 uploads	$0.15
10 searches, 20 results each	$0.60
25 channels, 50 uploads each	$3.75

On Apify's Scale and Business plans the per-event prices are lower (Store discounts). Set Maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached: you never pay more than that.

Tips

• Search a niche and set Only videos scoring at least to 3: what is left are the ideas that worked.
• Use Search: uploaded in the last month to find what is breaking out now.
• Videos younger than 3 days are marked tooNewToJudge and left out of channel medians.

Use it through the API

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("zaiq/youtube-outlier-finder").call(run_input={"searches": ["budget travel tips"], "resultsPerSearch": 50, "minScore": 3})
for row in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(row)

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('zaiq/youtube-outlier-finder').call({"searches": ["budget travel tips"], "resultsPerSearch": 50, "minScore": 3});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

HTTP (one call, results back)

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/zaiq~youtube-outlier-finder/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"searches": ["budget travel tips"], "resultsPerSearch": 50, "minScore": 3}'

Integrations and schedules

• Schedules: run it every hour, day or week from the Apify Console (Schedules) and keep a history of results.
• Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack, Airtable: connect it through Apify's integrations, or send each finished run to a webhook.
• Datasets: results stay in the run's dataset; export them or read them by API whenever you need them.

Use it with AI agents (MCP)

Add Apify's MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com) to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client. The agent can find this Actor and run it for you: ask it for "find YouTube videos about budget travel that got at least 5 times their channel's normal views". AI agents can also pay for runs directly through Apify's agentic payments.

Limits

• Each channel's median is of its latest uploads (up to about 100, leaving out the last 3 days); an old video is compared with the channel's normal today.
• Views on the uploads list are YouTube's rounded figures (120K); search results carry exact views.
• Public videos only, signed out.

FAQ

What is an outlier score?

A video's views divided by the median views of its channel's recent uploads: 5 means five times that channel's normal.

Do I need a YouTube API key?

No. No key and no quota.

Why does a small channel rank above a big one?

Because the score is relative: 100,000 views on a channel that usually gets 10,000 is a bigger outlier than 2 million on one that usually gets 1.5 million.

Does it work for Shorts?

Yes: pick Shorts.

Related Actors from Zaiq

• instagram-reels-outlier-finder: the same for Instagram creators
• youtube-comments-scraper: YouTube comments with insights
• youtube-transcript-scraper: YouTube transcripts
• tiktok-video-script-analyzer: TikTok videos as their script

Support

Questions, a site that changed, or a field you need? Open an issue on this Actor's Issues tab: we answer there, usually within a day.

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