YouTube Channel API
Scrape YouTube Channel data with one API call. Returns public channel information for a YouTube channel including subscriber count, total video count, total view count, channel description, banner URL, and avatar URL. `author.followers` is YouTube's publicly published subscriber figure. Above 1,000 subscribers YouTube rounds that figure to three significant figures, and `author.ext.followers_approximate` is true. When the channel publishes a contact email in its public description, it is returned as `author.ext.public_email`; otherwise that leaf is null.
Last updated October 2026Maintained by the SocialCrawl team
Returns a YouTube channel's public profile: subscriber count on author.followers (rounded above 1,000), video and view totals, description, banner and avatar URLs, and author.ext.public_email.
Use it when you have a handle, channel id, or channel URL and want an account snapshot before pulling its videos.
Searching 68 platforms in parallel
What can you do with the Channel API?
The Channel endpoint gives you structured YouTube data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.
Example Request
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/channel?handle=MrBeast"import requests
response = requests.get(
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/channel",
params={
'handle': 'MrBeast',
},
headers={"x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)
data = response.json()const response = await fetch(
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/channel?handle=MrBeast",
{
headers: { "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" },
},
);
const data = await response.json();Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| channelId | No | YouTube channel ID. Can pass a channelId, handle or url |
| handle | No | YouTube channel handle without the @ symbol |
| url | No | YouTube channel URL. Can pass a channelId, handle or url |
| hl | No | Preferred response language for localized text (ISO 639-1, e.g. 'en', 'es', 'fr'). |
| forUsername | No | Legacy YouTube username (pre-handle) to look up. |
| contact_email | No | Optional. When 1, also returns author.ext.contact_email: when the bio lists two or more email addresses, the one the creator gives for contacting them personally, copied verbatim from the bio. Null when there is one address or none, when every address belongs to a manager, agency or brand, or when the choice was not confident. author.ext.public_email is unchanged. No extra credits. (1) |
What does the YouTube Channel API return?
Every response follows one unified schema. Here is a real, unmodified response body, so you can see the exact fields you get back before spending a credit.
Example response
{
"success": true,
"platform": "youtube",
"endpoint": "/v1/youtube/channel",
"data": {
"author": {
"id": "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
"username": "@mrbeast",
"display_name": "MrBeast",
"avatar_url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/nxYrc_1_2f77DoBadyxMTmv7ZpRZapHR5jbuYe7PlPd5cIRJxtNNEYyOC0ZsxaDyJJzXrnJiuDE=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
"bio": "SUBSCRIBE FOR A COOKIE!\nNew MrBeast or MrBeast Gaming video every single Saturday at noon eastern time!\nAccomplishments:\n- Raised $20,000,000 To Plant 20,000,000 Trees\n- Removed 30,000,000 pounds of trash from the ocean\n- Helped 2,000 people walk again\n- Helped 1,000 blind people see\n- Helped 1,000 deaf people hear\n- Built wells in Africa\n- Built and gave away 100 houses\n- Adopted every dog in a shelter (twice)\n- Given millions to charity\n- Started my own snack company Feastables\n- Started my own software company Viewstats\n- Gave away a private island (twice)\n- Gave away 1 million meals\n- I counted to 100k\n- Ran a marathon in the world's largest shoes\n- Survived 50 hours in Antarctica\n- Recreated Squid Game in real life\n- Created the largest competition show with 1000 people (Beast Games)\n- Gave $5,000,000 to one person\n- Raised $40,000,000 To Bring Clean Water To Millions Of People\n- Granted 100+ Dream Wishes for Kids Fighting Cancer\n- Gave Away Another $5,000,000 On Beast Games S2\n",
"verified": null,
"followers": 519000000,
"following": null,
"posts_count": 1004,
"likes_count": null,
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
"private": null,
"joined_at": "2012-02-20",
"ext": {
"country": "US",
"public_email": null,
"followers_approximate": true,
"keywords": "mrbeast6000 beast mrbeast Mr.Beast mr",
"total_views": 141401695682,
"joined_at_timestamp": "2012-02-20T00:43:50Z",
"topicCategories": [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_(sociology)"
],
"bannerExternalUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/mHMO_eEMp0dPvh0ADwXhPXNYb_GnjSVsLI8biqF1CpxT8OPl7izhNQsDPD3JHhd5y5Mg9GrP",
"madeForKids": false,
"hiddenSubscriberCount": false,
"related_playlists": {
"likes": "",
"uploads": "UUX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"
},
"topic_ids": [
"/m/02jjt",
"/m/019_rr"
],
"unsubscribed_trailer": "v9QtM6qnG50"
}
},
"computed": {
"engagement_rate": null,
"language": "en",
"content_category": "gaming",
"estimated_reach": null
}
},
"credits_used": 1,
"request_id": "req_example000000",
"cached": false,
"credits_remaining": 9999,
"source": "captured",
"captured_at": "2026-10-02T15:41:11.379Z",
"redacted": true
}Live sample illustrating the unified response shape. Field values reflect the record you query.
How does the YouTube Channel API work?
Send a GET request with your API key and get back clean, structured JSON in our unified schema. Supported computed fields are populated when the source provides the required inputs.
Method
GET
Response
JSON
How do you scrape social media data in seconds?
The fastest social media scraping API for developers. Scrape profiles, posts, comments, and analytics from 68 platforms covering 10B+ monthly active users.
One schema, every platform
Query 68 platforms with identical response structures. Write your integration once.
Computed fields, not just scraped
When an endpoint supports these metrics and the source provides the required inputs, the normalized record includes engagement_rate, estimated_reach, content_category, and language. Ready to use.
See your data before you code
Visual Data Explorer. Paste any URL, get rich result cards, sortable tables, CSV export.
import requests
response = requests.get(
'https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/tiktok/profile',
params={'handle': 'charlidamelio'},
headers={'x-api-key': 'sc_YOUR_API_KEY'}
)
data = response.json(){
"success": true,
"platform": "tiktok",
"data": {
"author": {
"username": "charlidamelio",
"followers": 152400000
},
"engagement": {
"likes": 12400000000,
"engagement_rate": 0.087
},
"metadata": {
"language": "en",
"content_category": "lifestyle"
}
}
}Have a question? We got answers
Find answers to frequently asked questions about SocialCrawl's API, pricing, and capabilities.
Contact usHow do I get a YouTube channel's subscriber count via API?
Can I look up a YouTube channel by @handle?
What fields does GET /v1/youtube/channel return?
Does this endpoint count against YouTube Data API quota?
How fast is the YouTube Channel API?
Does the YouTube Channel API return the exact subscriber count?
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