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YouTube Transcript Searcher 🔍📼

Search entire YouTube channels for keywords in video transcripts – get video links, titles, and exact timestamps!

Tired of manually watching hours of videos to find a specific mention? This Actor scans all available transcripts from a YouTube channel and returns every occurrence of your keyword, complete with:

• Video title & URL
• Exact timestamp (e.g., 5:32)
• The spoken text snippet containing the keyword

Ideal for researchers, marketers, podcasters, journalists, and creators doing competitor analysis, topic research, or quote hunting.

🚀 Fast • Accurate • No YouTube API key required • Handles channels with hundreds of videos • Powered by premium rotating residential proxies for maximum reliability

Features

• Search a single keyword or phrase (case-insensitive substring match)
• Accepts channel handle with or without @ (e.g., @lexfridman or MrBeast)
• Optional limit on number of videos processed (perfect for testing large channels)
• Outputs clean, structured JSON – easy to export to CSV or Excel
• Handles both auto-generated and manual captions
• Robust error handling – skips videos without transcripts or with temporary issues
• Built-in polite delays and premium proxy rotation to avoid blocks

Input

The Actor is simple to configure:

Example input JSON (full channel search):

{
"channelName":"@lexfridman",
"keyword":"AI",
"maxVideos":20
}

Example input JSON (quick test):

{
"channelName":"@zSecurity",
"keyword":"hack",
"maxVideos":5
}

Output Example

Each matching mention becomes a separate record in the dataset:

{
"videoId":"XvGeXQ7js_o",
"video_clip":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvGeXQ7js_o&t=5m32s",
"timestamp":"05:32 - 05:48",
"text":"this hacking technique is very powerful and easy to execute",
"keyword":"hack"
}

If no matches are found across all processed videos, a single summary record is pushed:

{
"channelName":"@zSecurity",
"keyword":"hack",
"videosProcessed":"see logs",
"matchesFound":0,
"note":"No matches found, or no videos had transcripts containing the keyword"
}

You can export the results directly as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Apify console.

Use Cases

• Content Research: Locate when a specific topic was discussed on a podcast or tutorial channel
• Competitor Analysis: Track mentions of tools, brands, or techniques across channels
• SEO & Marketing: Find quotable moments for short clips or social posts
• Journalism: Quickly surface statements or claims from interview archives
• Education & Security: Search training channels for explanations of specific concepts

Tips for Best Results

• Transcripts must exist (manual or auto-generated). Very recent videos may not have them yet.
• For large channels, start with a low maxVideos value to test, then increase.
• Matching is case-insensitive and finds substrings (e.g., "hack" matches "hacking").
• Powered by premium rotating residential proxies – highly reliable even for intensive runs.

FAQ

Q: What if a video has no transcript?
A: The video is automatically skipped – no error occurs.

Q: Does it work with private or unlisted videos?
A: No, only public videos with available transcripts.

Q: Can I search multiple keywords at once?
A: Currently one keyword per run. For multiple keywords, launch separate runs.

Issues or feature requests? Feel free to open an issue on the Actor repository.

Built with ❤️ on Apify. Star this Actor if it saves you time!