YouTube Channel API
YouTube channel API — metadata, subscriber count, avatar, and featured content shelves. Creator research and competitor analysis from $0.01/call.
Fetch a channel's homepage including metadata (title, subscriber count, avatar) and content shelves (popular uploads, playlists, featured content). Supports geo targeting.
Try it live
Fill in the fields and hit Run to see a real response.
{
"ok": true,
"data": {
"meta": {
"title": "TED",
"channelId": "UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug",
"subscriberCount": "24.5M"
},
"data": [
{
"title": "Popular uploads",
"type": "shelf"
}
]
}
}Features
Send a channel ID to /v1/youtube/channel and get the meta block with title, channelId, subscriberCount (e.g. 24.5M), and avatar — the channel's identity at a glance.
The data array returns the channel's homepage shelves (e.g. 'Popular uploads', featured sections), each as a typed shelf with its videos.
Pass a geo code to fetch the channel homepage as it appears to viewers in that country.
Surfaces the creator's curated and best-performing content directly from their homepage layout, without browsing YouTube.
Use cases
Channel Overview
Display a complete channel overview page with metadata and featured content.
Creator Research
Research creators by pulling their channel homepage data for analysis.
Content Discovery
Discover a channel's best and featured content without browsing YouTube.
Competitor Analysis
Analyze competitor channels' homepage layout, featured content, and subscriber counts.
Quick start
Copy this snippet and start making calls.
const res = await fetch('https://api.yepapi.com/v1/youtube/channel', {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"id": "UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug",
"geo": "US"
}),
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);The YouTube Channel API — homepage metadata and shelves
The YouTube Channel API returns a channel's homepage as structured data. Send a channel ID (e.g. UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug for TED) to /v1/youtube/channel and get a meta block with title, channelId, and subscriberCount (24.5M), plus a data array of the homepage's content shelves like 'Popular uploads' and featured sections. It's the channel's front page, parsed.
At $0.01 per call it's the starting point for creator research: identity and subscriber count in the meta, curated content in the shelves. Resolve a channel URL with the Resolver endpoint first if you only have a vanity link.
What is a YouTube Channel API?
A YouTube Channel API returns a creator's channel homepage as structured JSON — both the channel's identity and its curated front-page layout. For a channel ID you get a meta object (title, channelId, subscriberCount, avatar) and a data array of the homepage's content shelves: 'Popular uploads', featured playlists, and other sections the creator arranged. Optional geo targeting fetches the regional version of the page. This is the overview endpoint: it gives you who the channel is and what it chooses to showcase, distinct from listing every upload or reading the full about page — both of which have their own dedicated endpoints.
Build your own creator-research tool
Display a complete channel overview — avatar, subscriber count, and the creator's own featured shelves — without scraping the page or browsing YouTube. For competitor analysis, pull several channels' homepages and compare how they curate: which uploads they promote, what they feature, and how big their audience is. Because the shelves include the videos a creator chose to spotlight, you learn their positioning, not just their catalog. Feed shelf videoIds into Video Details for deeper stats, or call Channel About on the same ID for description and social links.
YouTube Channel API pricing — $0.01/call
Each channel homepage fetch costs $0.01 and returns the meta plus the content shelves in one call. There's no daily quota. Researching a list of competitor channels is a cent each, with no unit budget to ration. The official Data API returns channel statistics but not the curated homepage shelf layout — so this endpoint surfaces the creator's actual front-page presentation, which the official API doesn't expose, at a flat per-call rate.
Channel vs. Channel About vs. Channel Videos
These cover a channel at three angles. The Channel endpoint returns the homepage — identity plus curated shelves. Channel About returns the full profile: description, country, total views, join date, and external links. Channel Videos returns the complete upload list, sortable by newest, oldest, or popular. Use Channel for the overview, Channel About for the deep profile, and Channel Videos to enumerate everything they've published — composable on one YepAPI key for full creator intelligence.
Try the YouTube Channel API free
Get $5 in free credit at signup, no card required — 500 channel lookups. Pull a channel's homepage and inspect its subscriber count and content shelves before building your creator-research tool.
Start making API calls in 30 seconds
$5 free credit on signup. No credit card required. Pay per call.
What developers say
“Switched from SerpAPI and cut our SERP costs by 80%. Same data quality, way simpler billing.”
“One API key for AI models, SERP data, and web scraping. Saved us from managing 4 separate providers.”
“The $5 free credit let us prototype our entire rank tracking feature before committing. No other API does that.”
Frequently asked questions
Fetch a channel's homepage including metadata (title, subscriber count, avatar) and content shelves (popular uploads, playlists, featured content). Supports geo targeting.
Each API call costs $0.01. No monthly minimums or subscriptions — you only pay for what you use.
Sign up for a free API key, then send a POST request to /v1/youtube/channel. Check the code example above for a ready-to-use snippet in JavaScript, cURL, or Python.
YepAPI bundles SEO, AI, and web scraping APIs under one key with no monthly minimums. You get lower per-call pricing, a unified dashboard, and one billing account instead of managing multiple providers.
Ready to integrate?
Get your API key and start making calls in 30 seconds. $5 free credit on signup — no credit card required.
More youtube api endpoints
Search
$0.01YouTube search API — find videos, channels, and playlists with filters for date, duration, and type. Structured JSON results from $0.01/call.
Video Details
$0.02Full YouTube video metadata — title, views, likes, description, keywords, thumbnails, and available formats. Video intelligence from $0.02/call.
Comments
$0.01YouTube comments API — fetch top-level comments and replies with author info, likes, and timestamps. Sentiment analysis and engagement research from $0.01/call.