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YouTube Channel About API

Returns the address behind a channel's View email address control on author.ext.public_email, its listed country, and the profile: id, handle, name, avatar, bio, URL, subscribers, join date, views.

GET /v1/youtube/channel/about

Last updated November 2026Maintained by the SocialCrawl team

When to use the YouTube Channel About API

Use it for outreach when GET /v1/youtube/channel returned no email: that lane reads only the public description, this one reads the About tab control. Premium priced, so shortlist first.

From the API reference

Returns the contact email a YouTube channel publishes, including the address behind its View email address control (author.ext.public_email), and the country listed on the channel (author.ext.country, an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code, with the English name in author.ext.country_name), together with the channel's id, handle, name, subscriber count and video count. public_email is only an address the channel publishes on YouTube itself, in its About panel or behind the View email address control; addresses found only on the channel's linked websites or other profiles are not returned. A channel without that control usually answers in a few seconds with public_email null, at 0 credits. CHECK THE CHEAP LANE FIRST: GET /v1/youtube/channel costs 1 credit and already returns author.ext.public_email when the channel writes an address into its public description, which covered 17% of a 12-channel sample. Call this endpoint only when that field came back null; it reads the About tab directly and found an address on a further 58% of the same sample. You are charged ONLY when an address is returned: a channel that publishes none costs 0 credits, and so does a channel that does not exist (404). An address behind the View email address button that has not been read before takes a few minutes to retrieve, and the call waits for it: allow up to 5 minutes before your HTTP client times out. If it is still not ready, the call answers 503 SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE with Retry-After: 300 and is not charged, and the same call made after that interval normally returns the address. A 503 is also returned, uncharged, when the channel shows the button but the address could not be retrieved on that call; the error message says which case it is. Do not store public_email as empty on a 503.

Searching 69 platforms in parallel

·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music logoApple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Yelp logoYelp·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Finance logoFinance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility logoUtility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music logoApple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Yelp logoYelp·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Finance logoFinance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility logoUtility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music logoApple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Yelp logoYelp·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Finance logoFinance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility logoUtility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music logoApple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Yelp logoYelp·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Finance logoFinance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility logoUtility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
YouTube API

What can you do with the Channel About API?

The Channel About endpoint gives you structured YouTube data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.

Example Request

# GET /v1/youtube/channel/about: 25 credits per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
# --max-time 120: this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
# --retry 3: retries timeouts, 429 and 5xx, honoring Retry-After.
# -o response.json keeps only the final attempt's body.
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
IDEMPOTENCY_KEY=$(od -An -N16 -tx1 /dev/urandom | tr -d ' \n')
curl -sS --max-time 120 --retry 3 -o response.json \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
  "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/channel/about?handle=mkbhd" && cat response.json
# GET /v1/youtube/channel/about: 25 credits per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
import os
import random
import time
import uuid

import requests

API_KEY = os.environ.get("SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_KEY")
TIMEOUT_S = 120  # this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
MAX_RETRIES = 3
URL = "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/channel/about"


def backoff(attempt):
    # Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
    return 2 ** attempt * (0.5 + random.random() / 2)


def socialcrawl(params):
    # One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
    idempotency_key = str(uuid.uuid4())
    for attempt in range(MAX_RETRIES + 1):
        try:
            res = requests.get(
                URL,
                params=params,
                headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY, "Idempotency-Key": idempotency_key},
                timeout=TIMEOUT_S,
            )
            body = res.json()
        except (requests.RequestException, ValueError):
            # A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
            if attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
                raise
            time.sleep(backoff(attempt))
            continue
        if body["success"]:
            return body
        error = body["error"]
        # Branch on error["type"], never on the message text.
        if error["type"] == "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND":
            return None  # refunded: nothing to read
        retry_after = res.headers.get("Retry-After")
        # SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
        permanent = error["type"] == "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" and retry_after is None
        if not error.get("retryable") or permanent or attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
            raise RuntimeError(f"{error['type']}: {error['message']} (request_id {body['request_id']})")
        # Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
        time.sleep(float(retry_after) if retry_after else backoff(attempt))


params = {
    "handle": "mkbhd",
}
body = socialcrawl(params)
if body is not None:
    print(body["data"])
// GET /v1/youtube/channel/about: 25 credits per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
// Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
const API_KEY = process.env.SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY ?? "YOUR_API_KEY";
const TIMEOUT_MS = 120_000; // this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
const MAX_RETRIES = 3;

type Page = { next_cursor: string | null; has_more: boolean };
type SocialCrawlResponse =
  | { success: true; data: any; pagination?: Page; credits_used: number; request_id: string }
  | { success: false; error: { type: string; message: string; retryable: boolean }; request_id: string };

const sleep = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
// Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
const backoffMs = (attempt: number) => 2 ** attempt * 1000 * (0.5 + Math.random() / 2);

async function socialcrawl(url: URL) {
  // One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
  const idempotencyKey = crypto.randomUUID();
  for (let attempt = 0; ; attempt++) {
    let res: Response;
    let body: SocialCrawlResponse;
    try {
      res = await fetch(url, {
        headers: {
          "x-api-key": API_KEY,
          "Idempotency-Key": idempotencyKey,
        },
        signal: AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS),
      });
      body = (await res.json()) as SocialCrawlResponse;
    } catch (error) {
      // A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
      if (attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) throw error;
      await sleep(backoffMs(attempt));
      continue;
    }
    if (body.success) return body;
    // Branch on error.type, never on the message text.
    if (body.error.type === "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND") return null; // refunded: nothing to read
    const retryAfter = res.headers.get("Retry-After");
    // SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
    const permanent = body.error.type === "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" && retryAfter === null;
    if (!body.error.retryable || permanent || attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) {
      throw new Error(`${body.error.type}: ${body.error.message} (request_id ${body.request_id})`);
    }
    // Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
    await sleep(retryAfter ? Number(retryAfter) * 1000 : backoffMs(attempt));
  }
}

const url = new URL("https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/channel/about");
url.searchParams.set("handle", "mkbhd");

const body = await socialcrawl(url);
if (body) console.log(body.data);

Parameters

ParameterRequiredDescription
channelIdNoYouTube channel ID. Can pass a channelId, handle or url
handleNoYouTube channel handle without the @ symbol
urlNoYouTube channel URL. Can pass a channelId, handle or url
contact_emailNoOptional. 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)
Example Response

What does the YouTube Channel About 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": "UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
      "username": "@nasa",
      "display_name": "NASA",
      "avatar_url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/eIf5fNPcIcj9ig-wZBeq4stFy1lgjWTW1nLT5dYlFkHZprZ03QBiMcbpwNMB6XSBjrSFGtAGQg=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
      "bio": "NASA's mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.\r\n\r\nTo do that, we have worked around the world—and off it—for more than 60 years, searching for answers to fundamental questions about our place in the universe. We're exploring space and discovering Earth. Join us on this exciting and important journey.\n",
      "verified": null,
      "followers": 15000000,
      "following": null,
      "posts_count": 6139,
      "likes_count": null,
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
      "private": null,
      "joined_at": "2008-06-03",
      "ext": {
        "keywords": "nasa space iss shuttle 50th astronauts planets earth rockets hubble telescopes NASA TV galaxy apollo gemini mercury sta Moon Artemis \"solar system\"",
        "topicCategories": [
          "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society",
          "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge"
        ],
        "bannerExternalUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/wene-k08O5GIa5h7syMVe6IKiiRiKh6vpajQSUYma01_wG5aMOCqvvAdd2NuljADPuUNPpMkrw",
        "madeForKids": false,
        "hiddenSubscriberCount": false,
        "related_playlists": {
          "likes": "",
          "uploads": "UULA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ"
        },
        "topic_ids": [
          "/m/098wr",
          "/m/01k8wb"
        ],
        "unsubscribed_trailer": "QONgJurkigk"
      }
    },
    "computed": {
      "engagement_rate": null,
      "language": "en",
      "content_category": "other",
      "estimated_reach": null
    }
  },
  "credits_used": 1,
  "credits_remaining": 9999,
  "request_id": "req_example000000",
  "cached": false,
  "redacted": true
}

Live sample illustrating the unified response shape. Field values reflect the record you query.

API Details

How does the YouTube Channel About 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

Why SocialCrawl

Why use SocialCrawl for YouTube Channel About data?

We handle the complexity of YouTube data extraction so you can focus on building. Unified schema, AI enrichment, and zero platform logic in your code.

Developer First

How do you scrape social media data in seconds?

The fastest social media scraping API for developers. Scrape profiles, posts, comments, and analytics from 69 platforms covering 10B+ monthly active users.

One schema, every platform

Query 69 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()
[ .JSON ]
{
  "success": true,
  "platform": "tiktok",
  "data": {
    "author": {
      "username": "charlidamelio",
      "followers": 152400000
    },
    "engagement": {
      "likes": 12400000000,
      "engagement_rate": 0.087
    },
    "metadata": {
      "language": "en",
      "content_category": "lifestyle"
    }
  }
}
+ 69 platforms
FAQ

Have a question? We got answers

Find answers to frequently asked questions about SocialCrawl's API, pricing, and capabilities.

Contact us
What does the YouTube Channel About API return?
Returns the address behind a channel's View email address control on author.ext.public_email, its listed country, and the profile: id, handle, name, avatar, bio, URL, subscribers, join date, views. The response uses the same JSON envelope as every SocialCrawl endpoint, with the data, credits_used and request_id fields.
When should I use the YouTube Channel About endpoint?
Use it for outreach when GET /v1/youtube/channel returned no email: that lane reads only the public description, this one reads the About tab control. Premium priced, so shortlist first.
How much does the YouTube Channel About API cost?
Each call costs 25 credits, so the 100 free credits every new account gets cover 4 calls. Credits for failed or empty calls are refunded automatically, and there is no subscription.
What parameters does the YouTube Channel About API need?
Identify the target with one of channelId, handle, url. It also accepts 4 optional parameters, all listed on this page.
How do I call the YouTube Channel About API?
Send a GET request to https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/channel/about?handle=mkbhd with your API key in the x-api-key header. An Authorization: Bearer header works too.

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