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YouTube Video Scraper - Apify Actor Documentation

Overview

This Apify Actor allows you to extract detailed information from YouTube videos. You can fetch video details, comments, transcripts, and recommendations with just a video URL.

Features

The actor supports four main operations:

• Video Information - Get metadata about a video (title, views, likes, description, etc.)
• Video Comments - Extract comments from a video with sorting options
• Video Transcript - Retrieve the video's transcript/captions
• Video Recommendations - Get a list of recommended videos

Input Configuration

Required Fields

• operation (required): Choose what data you want to extract

  • info - Video information
  • comments - Video comments
  • transcript - Video transcript/captions
  • recommendations - Related video recommendations

• videoUrl (required): The YouTube video URL you want to scrape

  • Accepts full URLs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
  • Also works with short URLs: https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
  • Works with Shorts: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID

Optional Fields

• commentsSortBy (for comments operation only):

  • TOP_COMMENTS - Sort by most popular comments (default)
  • NEWEST_FIRST - Sort by newest comments first

• page (for comments/recommendations):

  • Page number to fetch (1-50)
  • Default: 1
  • Use higher numbers to get more results

Usage Examples

Example 1: Get Video Information

{
"operation":"info",
"videoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}

Returns: Video title, channel name, view count, likes, description, upload date, duration, and more.

Example 2: Extract Comments

{
"operation":"comments",
"videoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"commentsSortBy":"TOP_COMMENTS",
"page":1
}

Returns: List of comments with author names, comment text, like counts, and reply counts.

Example 3: Get Video Transcript

{
"operation":"transcript",
"videoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}

Returns: Full transcript with timestamps and text segments in the video's language.

Example 4: Fetch Video Recommendations

{
"operation":"recommendations",
"videoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"page":1
}

Returns: List of recommended videos with titles, channels, thumbnails, and video IDs.

Output Format

The actor returns data in JSON format. Each operation returns a structured object with:

{
"operation":"info|comments|transcript|recommendations",
"videoId":"extracted-video-id",
"data":{ ... },
"page":1// (for paginated results)
}

Success Response Structure

All successful responses include:

• operation - The operation that was performed
• videoId - The extracted YouTube video ID
• data - The actual results (structure varies by operation)

Error Response Structure

If an error occurs:

{
"operation":"...",
"videoId":"...",
"error":"Error message",
"success":false
}

Important Notes

1. No API Key Required: This actor scrapes YouTube directly without needing YouTube API credentials.

2. Video ID Extraction: You can use any valid YouTube URL format - the actor automatically extracts the video ID.

3. Pagination: For comments and recommendations, increase the page parameter to fetch more results. Each page typically contains 20-50 items.

4. Transcript Availability: Not all videos have transcripts. If a video doesn't have captions/subtitles, the transcript operation may return empty results.

5. Performance: The actor includes random delays and retry mechanisms to ensure reliable data extraction.

Tips for Best Results

• Start with page 1: Always begin with the first page and increment if you need more data
• Check transcript availability: Use the info operation first to verify if transcripts are available
• Use TOP_COMMENTS: For most use cases, top comments are more valuable than newest
• Handle errors gracefully: The actor returns error messages if something goes wrong

Common Use Cases

• Content Analysis: Extract video metadata and transcripts for analysis
• Comment Research: Study audience reactions and engagement
• Competitive Analysis: Monitor competitor video performance
• SEO Research: Analyze video recommendations and related content
• Content Creation: Research popular topics and comment trends

Support

If you encounter issues:

1. Verify your video URL is correct and the video is publicly accessible
2. Check if the video has the feature you're trying to access (e.g., comments enabled, captions available)
3. Try reducing the page number if you're hitting limits
4. Contact us via Telegram: @pintoflow for support