YouTube Channel Scraper

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Extract public channel metadata from any YouTube channel in bulk — title, description, subscriber count, video count, banner, avatar, owner URLs, keywords, RSS feed, and canonical channel URL — in a clean structured JSON output.

Why use this actor

• No account / no login required — just give it a YouTube handle, channel ID, or channel URL.
• No API key needed — no YouTube Data API quota; this actor returns the same data the YouTube site shows.
• Flexible identifier — handles (@veritasium), channel IDs (UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA), full URLs (https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium), and legacy /c/ / /user/ paths all resolved automatically.
• Rich detail — title, description, avatar, banner, owner URLs, channel keywords, family-safe flag, country availability, vanity URL, and the RSS feed link in one clean record.
• Bulk input — pass hundreds of channels in one run; one dataset row per channel.
• Automatic retries — transient failures retry with exponential backoff; channels that genuinely don't exist surface as _error: "not_found" so you can triage failures.
• Stable JSON output suitable for pipelines, spreadsheets, and databases — every row carries _input, _source, _scrapedAt envelope fields so you can join results back to your input list.

How it works

1. You provide a list of YouTube channels — handles, channel IDs, or URLs.
2. The actor resolves each input to its canonical channel and fetches the channel record the same way YouTube's web app does, then assembles a flat JSON record.
3. Results stream into your dataset, ready to download as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

You do not need to manage scrapers, browsers, or rotating IPs — all handled internally.

Input

{
"channels":[
"@veritasium",
"@mkbhd"
],
"proxyConfiguration":{
"useApifyProxy":true,
"apifyProxyGroups":["DATACENTER"]
}
}

Output

Input: @veritasium

{
"_input":"@veritasium",
"_source":"S1-primary",
"_scrapedAt":"2026-05-18T10:43:06.849335+00:00",
"channelId":"UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA",
"title":"Veritasium",
"description":"An element of truth - videos about science, education, and anything else we find interesting.",
"vanityChannelUrl":"http://www.youtube.com/@veritasium",
"isFamilySafe":true,
"availableCountryCodes":["IQ","TV","ES","PM","CK","MZ","CL","WF","IL","MP","... 240 more"],
"avatar":"https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/7vCbvtCqtjQ3YLgsJt7Y952MQV1sBvhllSCSxHP8_sVZdcPCBrITfhkN2RdyCuwPnsByq-1GoA=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
"banner":null,
"subscriberCountText":"",
"videoCountText":"",
"tags":"\"science videos\" science \"science education\" \"science literacy\" veritasium misconceptions physics education astronomy chemistry biology teaching learning math",
"ownerUrls":[
"http://www.youtube.com/@veritasium"
],
"rssUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA",
"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA",
"isVerified":false
}

Error envelope

Channels that don't exist or fail to fetch return a structured error instead of crashing the run:

{
"_input":"@this-channel-does-not-exist-xyz",
"_error":"not_found",
"_errorDetail":"channel not found",
"_source":"S1-primary",
"_scrapedAt":"2026-05-18T10:43:09.012345+00:00"
}

Filter on _error to triage failed rows.

Pricing

This actor is billed per result: $3.50 per 1,000 channels. Each successful channel = 1 result. Errors (not-found, terminated) are not billed.

Other Sosmed Actors

Browse the full catalog at apify.com/xtracto.

Notes

• subscriberCountText is a rounded human-readable string (e.g. "3.2M subscribers") — YouTube hides exact counts publicly. Parse the prefix if you need a numeric value. Channels under 1,000 subscribers, and channels that have opted to hide their counter, return an empty string.
• videoCountText is similarly text-based and may be empty for channels that hide their uploads tab.
• Banner URLs are resolution-suffixed; replace the =w1060-... segment to get the size you want. Channels with no banner return banner: null.
• The channelId (UC...) is the most reliable identifier — handles and vanity URLs can change, but channelId does not.
• Deactivated, terminated, or never-existed channels return {"_error": "not_found", "_input": "..."}. Handle changes are usually reflected within minutes.
• For large jobs (>500 channels), Apify Proxy is recommended to keep throughput stable.