YouTube Channel

Learn how to scrape YouTube channel data and the channel's video list using Web Scraper API. Find out more about its parameters and practical examples.

The youtube_channel source gathers all key channel data, including subscriber, video, and view counts, general metadata, and a list of its videos by providing the YouTube channel_handle.

Request samples

The following example demonstrates how to retrieve channel information and a list of videos from a channel.

cURL

curl 'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries' \
--user 'USERNAME:PASSWORD' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
        "source": "youtube_channel",
        "channel_handle": "@Oxylabs",
        "parse": true,
        "limit": 10
    }'

Python

import requests
from pprint import pprint

# Structure payload.
payload = {
    'source': 'youtube_channel',
    'channel_handle': '@Oxylabs',
    'parse': True,
    'limit': 10
}

# Get response.
response = requests.request(
    'POST',
    'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries',
    auth=('user', 'pass'),
    json=payload,
)

# Print the JSON response with the result.
pprint(response.json())

Node.js

const https = require("https");

const username = "USERNAME";
const password = "PASSWORD";
const body = {
    source: "youtube_channel",
    channel_handle: "@Oxylabs",
    parse: true,
    limit: 10
};

const options = {
    hostname: "realtime.oxylabs.io",
    path: "/v1/queries",
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        Authorization:
            "Basic " + Buffer.from(`${username}:${password}`).toString("base64"),
    },
};

const request = https.request(options, (response) => {
    let data = "";

    response.on("data", (chunk) => {
        data += chunk;
    });

    response.on("end", () => {
        const responseData = JSON.parse(data);
        console.log(JSON.stringify(responseData, null, 2));
    });
});

request.on("error", (error) => {
    console.error("Error:", error);
});

request.write(JSON.stringify(body));
request.end();

HTTP

# The whole string you submit has to be URL-encoded.
https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries?source=youtube_channel&channel_handle=%40Oxylabs&parse=true&limit=10&access_token=12345abcde

PHP

<?php

$params = array(
    'source' => 'youtube_channel',
    'channel_handle' => '@Oxylabs',
    'parse' => true,
    'limit' => 10
);

$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($params));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "USERNAME" . ":" . "PASSWORD");

$headers = array();
$headers[] = "Content-Type: application/json";
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);

$result = curl_exec($ch);
echo $result;

if (curl_errno($ch)) {
    echo 'Error:' . curl_error($ch);
}

curl_close($ch);

Golang

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io/ioutil"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	const Username = "USERNAME"
	const Password = "PASSWORD"

	// Define the payload
	payload := map[string]interface{}{
		"source":         "youtube_channel",
		"channel_handle": "@Oxylabs",
		"parse":          true,
		"limit":          10,
	}

	jsonValue, err := json.Marshal(payload)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error marshalling JSON:", err)
		return
	}

	client := &http.Client{}
	request, err := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries", bytes.NewBuffer(jsonValue))
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error creating request:", err)
		return
	}

	request.SetBasicAuth(Username, Password)
	request.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

	response, err := client.Do(request)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error making request:", err)
		return
	}
	defer response.Body.Close()

	responseText, err := ioutil.ReadAll(response.Body)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error reading response:", err)
		return
	}

	fmt.Println(string(responseText))
}

C#

using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace OxyApi
{
    class Program
    {
        static async Task Main()
        {
            const string Username = "USERNAME";
            const string Password = "PASSWORD";

            var parameters = new
            {
                source = "youtube_channel",
                channel_handle = "@Oxylabs",
                parse = true,
                limit = 10
            };

            var client = new HttpClient();

            Uri baseUri = new Uri("https://realtime.oxylabs.io");
            client.BaseAddress = baseUri;

            var requestMessage = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, "/v1/queries");
            requestMessage.Content = JsonContent.Create(parameters);

            var authenticationString = $"{Username}:{Password}";
            var base64EncodedAuthenticationString = Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(authenticationString));
            requestMessage.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Basic " + base64EncodedAuthenticationString);

            try
            {
                var response = await client.SendAsync(requestMessage);
                response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

                var contents = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
                Console.WriteLine(contents);
            }
            catch (HttpRequestException e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Request error: {e.Message}");
            }
        }
    }
}

Java

package org.example;

import okhttp3.*;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class Main implements Runnable {
    private static final String AUTHORIZATION_HEADER = "Authorization";
    public static final String USERNAME = "USERNAME";
    public static final String PASSWORD = "PASSWORD";

    public void run() {
        // Construct JSON payload
        JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject();
        jsonObject.put("source", "youtube_channel");
        jsonObject.put("channel_handle", "@Oxylabs");
        jsonObject.put("parse", true);
        jsonObject.put("limit", 10);

        Authenticator authenticator = (route, response) -> {
            String credential = Credentials.basic(USERNAME, PASSWORD);
            return response
                    .request()
                    .newBuilder()
                    .header(AUTHORIZATION_HEADER, credential)
                    .build();
        };

        var client = new OkHttpClient.Builder()
                .authenticator(authenticator)
                .readTimeout(180, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
                .build();

        var mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json; charset=utf-8");
        var body = RequestBody.create(jsonObject.toString(), mediaType);
        var request = new Request.Builder()
                .url("https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries")
                .post(body)
                .build();

        try (var response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
            if (response.body() != null) {
                try (var responseBody = response.body()) {
                    System.out.println(responseBody.string());
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception exception) {
            System.out.println("Error: " + exception.getMessage());
        }

        System.exit(0);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Thread(new Main()).start();
    }
}

JSON

{
    "source": "youtube_channel",
    "channel_handle": "@Oxylabs",
    "parse": true,
    "limit": 10
}

Our examples use synchronous Realtime integration method. If you would like to use Proxy Endpoint, or asynchronous Push-Pull integration, refer to the Integration Methods section.

7KB

YT_channel_output.json

Request parameter values

Parameter	Description	Default Value
source	Sets the scraper.	youtube_channel
channel_handle	YouTube channel handle (@example)	–
parse	Specifies whether to parse the scraped data into a structured JSON format.	true
limit	Limits the number of videos returned in the videos array.	20
callback_url	URL to your callback endpoint. More info.	–

– mandatory parameter