YouTube Channel & Video Scraper - Views, Likes, Dates

YouTube Channel & Video Scraper -- Views, Likes, Comment Counts and Dates

Extract Channel Statistics and Video Metadata at Scale

Turn any YouTube channel or video URL into structured data in minutes. For a channel you get its subscriber count and its uploads; for each video you get views, publish date and duration, plus likes, comment count and description when the video is opened -- what you need for competitive analysis, influencer vetting or content research, without manual data entry.

Whether you are benchmarking competitor channels, auditing creator performance for influencer partnerships, or building a dataset of trending content in your niche, this actor delivers clean, export-ready data at a fraction of the cost of commercial analytics tools.

What data can you extract?

Channel data

Field	Type	Description
dataType	string	Record type identifier (channel)
channelName	string	Display name of the YouTube channel
channelUrl	string	Full URL to the channel page
subscriberCount	string	Formatted subscriber count (e.g., "300M subscribers")
totalViews	string	Reserved. Currently empty: YouTube does not show lifetime views on the page this Actor reads
videoCount	integer	Number of public videos, as YouTube displays it (rounded for large channels: "1K videos" becomes 1000)
subscriberCountNumeric	integer	Subscriber count parsed into a plain number (e.g., 300000000)
channelDescription	string	Channel's About section text
joinDate	string	Reserved. Currently empty
country	string	Filled only when YouTube lists a single country for the channel; otherwise empty
thumbnailUrl	string	URL of the channel's profile image
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of when the data was collected

Video data

Field	Type	Description
dataType	string	Record type identifier (video)
channelName	string	Name of the channel that uploaded the video
channelUrl	string	URL of the channel
videoTitle	string	Title of the video
videoUrl	string	Direct link to the video
viewCount	string	Views as YouTube gives them: "89M views" in a channel listing, the full figure when the video is opened ("89,423,104 views" or plain digits). Use viewCountNumeric to sort
viewCountNumeric	integer	View count parsed into a plain number
likeCount	string	Likes as displayed ("1.2M"). Needs the video to be opened: videoUrls, or includeVideoDetails for channels
commentCount	string	Number of comments as displayed ("62K"). The count only, not the comment texts. Needs the video to be opened
publishDate	string	Publish date as YouTube gives it: relative in a channel listing ("3 weeks ago"), a date when the video is opened (its format varies; use publishDateIso to sort)
publishDateIso	string	The same date as YYYY-MM-DD. Exact when the video is opened; estimated from the relative text in a plain channel listing
duration	string	Video length (e.g., "12:34")
videoDescription	string	Video description text (up to 2,000 characters). Needs the video to be opened
tags	array	Tags the creator set. YouTube does not always expose them to this Actor, so the list is often empty
thumbnailUrl	string	URL of the video thumbnail image
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of when the data was collected

Use cases

• Competitor benchmarking -- Track rival channels over time to understand their growth trajectory, posting frequency, and top-performing content formats.
• Influencer vetting -- Pull real subscriber counts, view averages, and engagement data before committing budget to a creator partnership.
• Content strategy research -- Analyze which topics, titles, thumbnails, and video lengths generate the most views in your niche.
• Market trend analysis -- Build datasets of trending content across multiple channels to identify emerging topics before they peak.
• Academic and media research -- Collect structured YouTube data for studies on media consumption, algorithmic reach, or creator economics.

Two modes, and which fields each one returns

This is the thing to get right before your first run, because it decides what lands in your export.

channelUrls — the inventory pass. Give it channels and it walks their uploads. Every row carries channelName, subscriberCount, videoTitle, videoUrl, viewCount, publishDate, publishDateIso (estimated) and duration. On its own it does not open each video, so likeCount, commentCount and videoDescription stay empty. That is the fast option: 360 videos of 3 channels took under 10 seconds in our test.

channelUrls + includeVideoDetails — the full pass. Turn the option on and every video of the channel is opened as well, which adds likeCount, commentCount, videoDescription and the exact date. It is slower (200 videos took about 40 seconds in our test) and videos keep only the listing fields when YouTube does not serve their page. Now and then YouTube answers a whole run with "too many requests"; the run then stops asking, says so in the log and returns the listing fields for every video. In our tests that happened in 1 run out of 8, and running again got the details. The number of rows, and so the price, is the same either way.

videoUrls — the detail pass. Give it specific videos (watch links, youtu.be links or Shorts links) and each one is opened, so you get the full record: likeCount ("19M"), commentCount ("2.4M"), videoDescription and the exact date.

If you only need depth on a few videos, run channelUrls first, sort by viewCountNumeric, then feed the top URLs back through videoUrls.

Scraping channel statistics in bulk

channelUrls takes a list, so a competitive set is one run. Every row repeats channelName and subscriberCount alongside the video data, which means the export is already joined — no separate channel table to merge.

subscriberCount arrives as the displayed string and subscriberCountNumeric as a number, so sorting and filtering work without parsing "12.4M" yourself. Same for views: viewCount and viewCountNumeric.

Use maxVideosPerChannel to control depth. Twenty is usually enough to see a channel's current direction; fifty covers a year for most creators.

Exporting video metadata to a spreadsheet

The dataset is flat, so CSV and Excel exports open with no nested columns to flatten.

For a content audit, the columns that carry the analysis are publishDateIso, duration and viewCountNumeric. Group by month to see cadence, and plot duration against views to find the length that actually performs for that channel.

tags is the one field that comes back as an array, and it is often empty. Most spreadsheet tools join it with commas automatically; in pandas it stays a list you can explode.

Finding creators for sponsorship outreach

Sponsorship qualification is a ratio, not a subscriber count.

Pull a set of channels with channelUrls, then compare viewCountNumeric on recent uploads against subscriberCountNumeric. A channel whose typical video reaches a healthy share of its subscriber base has an audience that shows up. One with a large following and thin views is renting attention it no longer has — the exact deal that looks good in a media kit and underperforms.

publishDateIso is the second filter: a creator who has not uploaded in four months is not a campaign partner, whatever the subscriber number says.

One honest limit: this Actor returns what YouTube shows publicly. It does not extract creator email addresses — those live on the channel's about page behind a captcha, or in a media kit. Use the channel URL as your starting point for contact.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
channelUrls	array	No	[]	List of YouTube channel URLs to scrape (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast)
videoUrls	array	No	[]	List of individual video URLs to extract metadata from
maxVideosPerChannel	integer	No	50	Maximum number of videos to collect per channel (1--500)
includeVideoDetails	boolean	No	false	Open each channel video to add likes, comment count, description and the exact date. Slower
maxConcurrency	integer	No	3	Number of channels or videos processed in parallel (1--10)

At least one channel URL or video URL must be provided.

Example output

A channel row, then one of its videos with includeVideoDetails on (real output, November 2026; description shortened here):

{
    "dataType": "channel",
    "channelName": "MrBeast",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
    "subscriberCount": "526M subscribers",
    "subscriberCountNumeric": 526000000,
    "videoCount": 1000,
    "channelDescription": "SUBSCRIBE FOR A COOKIE! New MrBeast or MrBeast Gaming video every single Saturday...",
    "totalViews": "",
    "joinDate": "",
    "country": "",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-11-11T04:52:53.119Z"
}

{
    "dataType": "video",
    "channelName": "MrBeast",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
    "subscriberCount": "526M subscribers",
    "subscriberCountNumeric": 526000000,
    "videoTitle": "Beat Professional Athlete, Win $100,000",
    "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c2e1NcI3Sc",
    "viewCount": "89,423,104 views",
    "viewCountNumeric": 89423104,
    "likeCount": "1.2M",
    "commentCount": "62K",
    "publishDate": "Oct 31, 2026",
    "publishDateIso": "2026-10-31",
    "duration": "22:28",
    "videoDescription": "Is it possible for me to beat the world's best athletes in a...",
    "tags": [],
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_c2e1NcI3Sc/hqdefault.jpg",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-11-11T04:52:53.919Z"
}

How much does it cost?

This actor uses a pay-per-event pricing model. You are charged a small start fee per run plus a fee for each data record (channel or video) that is successfully extracted. Current rates are shown on the Pricing tab of the Actor page.

There are no monthly subscriptions or minimum commitments. You only pay for the data you extract.

Tips and tricks

• Start with a small run. Test with one channel and 10 videos to verify the output format meets your needs before scaling up.
• Turn on includeVideoDetails when you need engagement. A plain channel listing has title, views, date and duration. Likes, comment counts and descriptions need each video to be opened, which is what the option does.
• Shorts go through videoUrls. The channel mode reads the Videos tab of a channel, which does not list Shorts. A Shorts link passed in videoUrls works like any other video.
• Schedule recurring runs. Set up a daily or weekly schedule on Apify to track channel growth and new video performance over time. Export results to Google Sheets or a database via Apify integrations.

FAQ

How do I scrape YouTube channels and video metadata? Add one or more channel URLs (like https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast) or individual video URLs, set how many videos you want per channel, and click Start. You get subscriber counts, views, likes, comment counts, titles, descriptions and publish dates as a clean dataset you can export to JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Do I need an API key or Google login to use this YouTube scraper? No. There is no YouTube Data API key, Google Cloud project, or login required. Provide channel or video URLs and the actor returns the public data directly.

Why use this instead of the official YouTube Data API? The official YouTube Data API has a daily quota that large channel scrapes burn through quickly and requires a Google Cloud project and API key. This scraper has no quota or key to manage and lets you collect channel stats plus video metadata across many channels in one run. The official API remains the better source for tags, comment texts and exact lifetime channel views.

What is a good YouTube Data API alternative for competitor research? This actor is a no-key YouTube Data API alternative: instead of provisioning a Google Cloud project and rationing quota units, you get subscriber counts, view and like counts, comment counts and descriptions ready for benchmarking and influencer vetting.

How fresh is the scraped YouTube data and can I track channels over time? Every run reads YouTube live, so data is current at run time. Schedule daily or weekly runs to track subscriber growth, new uploads, and video performance, building a time series for competitor benchmarking.

Is scraping public YouTube data legal? This tool collects only publicly available channel and video data. You are responsible for complying with YouTube's terms, applicable laws such as GDPR and CCPA, and using the data ethically. Do not collect personal data without a lawful basis.

Automate it

Add this YouTube scraper to an Apify Schedule to track competitor channels, new uploads, and video performance automatically every day or week — ideal for ongoing competitor benchmarking and influencer monitoring. Connect the output to Make, n8n, Zapier, Google Sheets, Slack, or a webhook through Apify integrations so fresh channel and video data flows straight into your dashboards, client reports, or alerts. Recurring runs turn one-off snapshots into a growth time series.

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