YouTube Video Details Scraper

Scrapes detailed metadata from YouTube videos and playlists, outputting structured JSON data for analytics, automation, or reporting.

Overview

This Apify actor extracts comprehensive information from YouTube video pages. You provide a list of video or playlist URLs, and it returns a dataset containing fields like title, channel info, view counts, engagement metrics, tags, and descriptions.

Key Features

• Extracts detailed metadata: Title, channel name and ID, views, likes, dislikes, upload date, duration, tags, categories, description, thumbnail URL, age limit, and comment count.
• Handles multiple inputs: Accepts an array of individual video or playlist URLs via startUrls.
• Structured JSON output: Each video's data is returned as a clean JSON object within a dataset.
• Proxy support: Configure Apify Proxy or custom proxies to manage request rates and avoid blocks.

How to Use

You can run the actor via the Apify Console, CLI, or API client.

Apify Console

1. Navigate to the actor's page in the Apify Console.
2. Click Run.
3. In the input, paste your YouTube URLs into the startUrls array (e.g., ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXAMPLE"]).
4. (Optional) Configure proxy settings in the Proxy panel.
5. Click Start.

CLI

apify run --actor <ACTOR_ID> -p input.json

Python (apify-client)

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient('<APIFY_TOKEN>')
run_input = {
    'startUrls': ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ'],
    'proxyConfiguration': {'useApifyProxy': True}
}
run = client.acts.run_actor('<ACTOR_ID>', run_input=run_input)

Input

Configure the actor using an input object with the following properties:

Output

The actor stores results in a dataset. Each item is a JSON object representing one video. Example:

{
  "title": "Example Video",
  "channel": "Channel Name",
  "channel_id": "UC1234567890",
  "views": 12345,
  "likes": 678,
  "dislikes": 10,
  "upload_date": "20250101",
  "duration": 300,
  "tags": ["tag1", "tag2"],
  "categories": ["Entertainment"],
  "description": "Video description...",
  "thumbnail": "https://example.com/thumb.jpg",
  "age_limit": 0,
  "comment_count": 45,
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}

Notes & Troubleshooting

• Proxy: For large-scale scraping, enable Apify Proxy or provide custom proxies via proxyConfiguration or HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY environment variables. Store credentials as secrets.
• Errors: Ensure startUrls is provided. Proxy errors may indicate misconfiguration. Private videos may require authenticated sessions.
• Scheduling & Webhooks: Use the Scheduler and Webhook panels in Apify Console for automated runs and callbacks.
• Storage: Output is saved to the default dataset. Ensure your account has storage access.

References:
* Apify Actor README Guide
* Apify Input & Output Docs
* Apify CLI Docs