YouTube Channel Scraper

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"]
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
channels	array	List of YouTube channels to scrape. Accepts handles (@veritasium), channel IDs (UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA), full URLs, and legacy /c/ / /user/ paths.
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify Proxy settings. Datacenter proxy works for most cases.

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
}

Field	Type	Description
_input	string	The channel identifier exactly as you supplied it. Use this to join results back to your input list.
_source	string	Internal tag for the path used to fetch the record. S1-primary means the fastest, richest path; values starting with S2- indicate a fallback was used.
_scrapedAt	string	ISO-8601 UTC timestamp when the record was scraped.
channelId	string	YouTube's canonical channel ID (UC...). Stable across handle and rename changes.
title	string	Channel display name (e.g. "Veritasium").
description	string	Channel "About" text. Empty string if not set.
vanityChannelUrl	string	Public vanity URL (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/@veritasium).
isFamilySafe	boolean	true if the channel is marked family-safe by YouTube.
availableCountryCodes	array	ISO country codes where the channel is viewable.
avatar	string	URL of the channel profile picture (highest-res variant).
banner	string	URL of the channel banner image. null if no banner is set. The URL is resolution-suffixed; swap the =w... segment to request a different size.
subscriberCountText	string	Human-readable subscriber count (e.g. "3.2M subscribers"). Empty string when YouTube hides the count.
videoCountText	string	Human-readable video count (e.g. "426 videos"). Empty when not exposed.
tags	string	Channel keywords as a single string, as set by the channel owner.
ownerUrls	array	URLs the channel owner has linked from their page (vanity URL, external links).
rssUrl	string	RSS feed URL for the channel's uploads.
url	string	Canonical channel URL on youtube.com.
isVerified	boolean	true if YouTube displays the verified badge for this channel.

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"
}

_error value	Meaning
not_found	Channel was deactivated, terminated, or never existed.
handle_resolve_failed	A @handle could not be resolved to a channel ID.
invalid_input	The input string did not look like a handle, channel ID, or YouTube URL.
fetch_failed	Transient fetch failure after retries; safe to re-run that input.

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

Platform	Actor	Best for
YouTube	YouTube Video Detail Scraper	Full metadata for any video URL or ID
YouTube	YouTube Playlist Scraper	Items + metadata for any playlist
Twitch	Twitch Channel Scraper	Streamer profile, follower count, status
Instagram	Instagram Account Scraper	Bio, followers, post count
X / Twitter	X Account Scraper	Profile + tweet counts for any handle
Bluesky	Bluesky Account Scraper	atproto profile + counters
Threads	Threads Account Scraper	Profile data for a Threads handle

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.