Channels

The API now supports the ability to mark your channel or videos as "made for kids." In addition, channel and video resources also now contain a property that identifies the "made for kids" status of that channel or video. The YouTube API Services Terms of Service and Developer Policies were also updated on 10 January 2020. For more information, see the revision histories for the YouTube Data API Service and the YouTube API Services Terms of Service.

A channel resource contains information about a YouTube channel.

Methods

The API supports the following methods for channels resources:

list
Returns a collection of zero or more channel resources that match the request criteria. Try it now.
update
Updates a channel's metadata. Note that this method currently only supports updates to the channel resource's brandingSettings and invideoPromotion objects and their child properties. Try it now.

Resource representation

The following JSON structure shows the format of a channels resource:

{
  "kind": "youtube#channel",
  "etag": etag,
  "id": string,
  "snippet": {
    "title": string,
    "description": string,
    "customUrl": string,
    "publishedAt": datetime,
    "thumbnails": {
      (key): {
        "url": string,
        "width": unsigned integer,
        "height": unsigned integer
      }
    },
    "defaultLanguage": string,
    "localized": {
      "title": string,
      "description": string
    },
    "country": string
  },
  "contentDetails": {
    "relatedPlaylists": {
      "likes": string,
      "favorites": string,
      "uploads": string
    }
  },
  "statistics": {
    "viewCount": unsigned long,
    "subscriberCount": unsigned long,  // this value is rounded to three significant figures
    "hiddenSubscriberCount": boolean,
    "videoCount": unsigned long
  },
  "topicDetails": {
    "topicIds": [
      string
    ],
    "topicCategories": [
      string
    ]
  },
  "status": {
    "privacyStatus": string,
    "isLinked": boolean,
    "longUploadsStatus": string,
    "madeForKids": boolean,
    "selfDeclaredMadeForKids": boolean
  },
  "brandingSettings": {
    "channel": {
      "title": string,
      "description": string,
      "keywords": string,
      "trackingAnalyticsAccountId": string,
      "unsubscribedTrailer": string,
      "defaultLanguage": string,
      "country": string
    },
    "watch": {
      "textColor": string,
      "backgroundColor": string,
      "featuredPlaylistId": string
    }
  },
  "auditDetails": {
    "overallGoodStanding": boolean,
    "communityGuidelinesGoodStanding": boolean,
    "copyrightStrikesGoodStanding": boolean,
    "contentIdClaimsGoodStanding": boolean
  },
  "contentOwnerDetails": {
    "contentOwner": string,
    "timeLinked": datetime
  },
  "localizations": {
    (key): {
      "title": string,
      "description": string
    }
  }
}

Properties

The following table defines the properties that appear in this resource:

Properties
kind string
Identifies the API resource's type. The value will be youtube#channel.
etag etag
The Etag of this resource.
id string
The ID that YouTube uses to uniquely identify the channel.
snippet object
The snippet object contains basic details about the channel, such as its title, description, and thumbnail images.
snippet.title string
The channel's title.
snippet.description string
The channel's description. The property's value has a maximum length of 1000 characters.
snippet.customUrl string
The channel's custom URL. The YouTube Help Center explains eligibility requirements for getting a custom URL as well as how to set up the URL.
snippet.publishedAt datetime
The date and time that the channel was created. The value is specified in ISO 8601 format.
snippet.thumbnails object
A map of thumbnail images associated with the channel. For each object in the map, the key is the name of the thumbnail image, and the value is an object that contains other information about the thumbnail.

When displaying thumbnails in your application, make sure that your code uses the image URLs exactly as they are returned in API responses. For example, your application should not use the http domain instead of the https domain in a URL returned in an API response.

Channel thumbnail URLs are available only in the https domain, which is how the URLs appear in API responses. You might see broken images in your application if it tries to load YouTube images from the http domain. Thumbnail images might be empty for newly created channels and might take up to one day to populate.
snippet.thumbnails.(key) object
Valid key values are:
  • default – The default thumbnail image. The default thumbnail for a video – or a resource that refers to a video, such as a playlist item or search result – is 120px wide and 90px tall. The default thumbnail for a channel is 88px wide and 88px tall.
  • medium – A higher resolution version of the thumbnail image. For a video (or a resource that refers to a video), this image is 320px wide and 180px tall. For a channel, this image is 240px wide and 240px tall.
  • high – A high resolution version of the thumbnail image. For a video (or a resource that refers to a video), this image is 480px wide and 360px tall. For a channel, this image is 800px wide and 800px tall.
snippet.thumbnails.(key).url string
The image's URL. For additional guidelines on using thumbnail URLs in your application, see the snippet.thumbnails property definition.
snippet.thumbnails.(key).width unsigned integer
The image's width.
snippet.thumbnails.(key).height unsigned integer
The image's height.
snippet.defaultLanguage string
The language of the text in the channel resource's snippet.title and snippet.description properties.
snippet.localized object
The snippet.localized object contains a localized title and description for the channel or it contains the channel's title and description in the default language for the channel's metadata.
  • Localized text is returned in the resource snippet if the channels.list request used the hl parameter to specify a language for which localized text should be returned, the hl parameter value identifies a YouTube application language, and localized text is available in that language.
  • Metadata for the default language is returned if an hl parameter value is not specified or a value is specified but localized metadata is not available for the specified language.
The property contains a read-only value. Use the localizations object to add, update, or delete localized metadata.
snippet.localized.title string
The localized channel title.
snippet.localized.description string
The localized channel description.
snippet.country string
The country with which the channel is associated. To set this property's value, update the value of the brandingSettings.channel.country property.
contentDetails object
The contentDetails object encapsulates information about the channel's content.
contentDetails.relatedPlaylists object
The relatedPlaylists object is a map that identifies playlists associated with the channel, such as the channel's uploaded videos or liked videos. You can retrieve any of these playlists using the playlists.list method.
contentDetails.relatedPlaylists.likes string
The ID of the playlist that contains the channel's liked videos. Use the playlistItems.insert and playlistItems.delete methods to add or remove items from that list.
contentDetails.relatedPlaylists.favorites string
This property has been deprecated.

The ID of the playlist that contains the channel's favorite videos. Use the playlistItems.insert and playlistItems.delete methods to add or remove items from that list.

Note that YouTube has deprecated favorite video functionality. For example, the video resource's statistics.favoriteCount property was deprecated on August 28, 2015. As a result, for historical reasons, this property value might contain a playlist ID that refers to an empty playlist and, therefore, cannot be fetched.
contentDetails.relatedPlaylists.uploads string
The ID of the playlist that contains the channel's uploaded videos. Use the videos.insert method to upload new videos and the videos.delete method to delete previously uploaded videos.
statistics object
The statistics object encapsulates statistics for the channel.
statistics.viewCount unsigned long
The number of times the channel has been viewed.
statistics.commentCount unsigned long
This property has been deprecated.

The number of comments for the channel.
statistics.subscriberCount unsigned long
The number of subscribers that the channel has. This value is rounded down to three significant figures. For more details about how subscriber counts are rounded, see Revision History or YouTube Help Center.
statistics.hiddenSubscriberCount boolean
Indicates whether the channel's subscriber count is publicly visible.
statistics.videoCount unsigned long
The number of public videos uploaded to the channel. Note that the value reflects the count of the channel's public videos only, even to owners. This behavior is consistent with counts shown on the YouTube website.
topicDetails object
The topicDetails object encapsulates information about topics associated with the channel.

Important: For more details about changes related to topic IDs, see the topicDetails.topicIds[] property definition and the revision history.
topicDetails.topicIds[] list
A list of topic IDs associated with the channel.

This property has been deprecated as of November 10, 2016. It will be supported until November 10, 2017.

Important: Due to the deprecation of Freebase and the Freebase API, topic IDs started working differently as of February 27, 2017. At that time, YouTube started returning a small set of curated topic IDs.
topicDetails.topicCategories[] list
A list of Wikipedia URLs that describe the channel's content.
status object
The status object encapsulates information about the privacy status of the channel.
status.privacyStatus string
Privacy status of the channel.

Valid values for this property are:
  • private
  • public
  • unlisted
status.isLinked boolean
Indicates whether the channel data identifies a user that is already linked to either a YouTube username or a Google+ account. A user that has one of these links already has a public YouTube identity, which is a prerequisite for several actions, such as uploading videos.
status.longUploadsStatus string
Indicates whether the channel is eligible to upload videos that are more than 15 minutes long. This property is only returned if the channel owner authorized the API request. For more information about this feature, see YouTube Help Center.

Valid values for this property are:
  • allowed – This channel can upload videos that are more than 15 minutes long.
  • disallowed – This channel is not able or eligible to upload videos that are more than 15 minutes long. A channel is only eligible to upload long videos if it is in good standing based on YouTube Community Guidelines and it does not have any worldwide Content ID blocks on its content.

    After the channel owner resolves the issues that are preventing the channel from uploading longer videos, the channel will revert to either the allowed or eligible state.
  • eligible – This channel is eligible to upload videos that are more than 15 minutes long. However, the channel owner must first enable the ability to upload longer videos through Phone verification. For more details about this feature, see YouTube Help Center.
status.madeForKids boolean
This value indicates whether the channel is designated as child-directed, and it contains the current "made for kids" status of the channel. For example, the status might be determined based on the value of the selfDeclaredMadeForKids property. For more information about setting the audience for your channel, videos, or broadcasts, see YouTube Help Center .
status.selfDeclaredMadeForKids boolean
In a channels.update request, this property allows the channel owner to designate the channel as child-directed. The property value is only returned if the channel owner authorized the API request.
brandingSettings object
The brandingSettings object encapsulates information about the branding of the channel.
brandingSettings.channel object
The channel object encapsulates branding properties of the channel page.
brandingSettings.channel.title string
The channel's title. The title has a maximum length of 30 characters.
brandingSettings.channel.description string
The channel description, which appears in the channel information box on your channel page. The property's value has a maximum length of 1000 characters.
brandingSettings.channel.keywords string
Keywords associated with your channel. The value is a space-separated list of strings. Channel keywords might be truncated if they exceed the maximum allowed length of 500 characters or if they contained unescaped quotation marks ("). Note that the 500 character limit is not a per-keyword limit but rather a limit on the total length of all keywords.
brandingSettings.channel.trackingAnalyticsAccountId string
The ID for a Google Analytics account that you want to use to track and measure traffic to your channel.
brandingSettings.channel.unsubscribedTrailer string
The video that should play in the featured video module in the channel page's browse view for unsubscribed viewers. Subscribed viewers may see a different video that highlights more recent channel activity.

If specified, the property's value must be the YouTube video ID of a public or unlisted video that is owned by the channel owner.
brandingSettings.channel.defaultLanguage string
The language of the text in the channel resource's snippet.title and snippet.description properties.
brandingSettings.channel.country string
The country with which the channel is associated. Update this property to set the value of the snippet.country property.
brandingSettings.watch object
Note: This object and all of its child properties have been deprecated.

The watch object encapsulates branding properties of the watch pages for the channel's videos.
brandingSettings.watch.textColor string
Note: This property has been deprecated.

The text color for the video watch page's branded area.
brandingSettings.watch.backgroundColor string
Note: This property has been deprecated.

The background color for the video watch page's branded area.
brandingSettings.watch.featuredPlaylistId string
Note: This property has been deprecated. The API returns an error if you attempt to set its value.
brandingSettings.image object
This property and all of its child properties have been deprecated.

The image object encapsulates information about images that display on the channel's channel page or video watch pages.
brandingSettings.image.bannerImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for the banner image shown on the channel page on the YouTube website. The image is 1060px by 175px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerMobileImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for the banner image shown on the channel page in mobile applications. The image is 640px by 175px.
brandingSettings.image.watchIconImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for the image that appears above the video player. This is a 25-pixel-high image with a flexible width that cannot exceed 170 pixels. If you do not provide this image, your channel name will appear instead of an image.
brandingSettings.image.trackingImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a 1px by 1px tracking pixel that can be used to collect statistics for views of the channel or video pages.
brandingSettings.image.bannerTabletLowImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a low-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in tablet applications. The image's maximum size is 1138px by 188px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerTabletImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a banner image that displays on the channel page in tablet applications. The image is 1707px by 283px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerTabletHdImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a high-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in tablet applications. The image's maximum size is 2276px by 377px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerTabletExtraHdImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for an extra-high-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in tablet applications. The image's maximum size is 2560px by 424px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerMobileLowImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a low-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in mobile applications. The image's maximum size is 320px by 88px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerMobileMediumHdImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a medium-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in mobile applications. The image's maximum size is 960px by 263px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerMobileHdImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a high-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in mobile applications. The image's maximum size is 1280px by 360px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerMobileExtraHdImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a very high-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in mobile applications. The image's maximum size is 1440px by 395px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerTvImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for an extra-high-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in television applications. The image's maximum size is 2120px by 1192px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerTvLowImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a low-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in television applications. The image's maximum size is 854px by 480px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerTvMediumImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a medium-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in television applications. The image's maximum size is 1280px by 720px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerTvHighImageUrl string
This property has been deprecated.

The URL for a high-resolution banner image that displays on the channel page in television applications. The image's maximum size is 1920px by 1080px.
brandingSettings.image.bannerExternalUrl string
This property specifies the location of the banner image that YouTube uses to generate the various banner image sizes for a channel.
brandingSettings.hints[] list
This property and all of its child properties have been deprecated.

The hints object encapsulates additional branding properties.
brandingSettings.hints[].property string
This property has been deprecated.

A property.
brandingSettings.hints[].value string
This property has been deprecated.

The property's value.
auditDetails object
The auditDetails object encapsulates channel data that a multichannel network (MCN) would evaluate while determining whether to accept or reject a particular channel. Note that any API request that retrieves this resource part must provide an authorization token that contains the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtubepartner-channel-audit scope. In addition, any token that uses that scope must be revoked when the MCN decides to accept or reject the channel or within two weeks of the date that the token was issued.
auditDetails.overallGoodStanding boolean
This field indicates whether there are any issues with the channel. Currently, this field represents the result of the logical AND operation over the communityGuidelinesGoodStanding, copyrightStrikesGoodStanding, and contentIdClaimsGoodStanding properties, meaning that this property has a value of true if all of those other properties also have a value of true. However, this property will have a value of false if any of those properties has a value of false. Note, however, that the methodology used to set this property's value is subject to change.
auditDetails.communityGuidelinesGoodStanding boolean
Indicates whether the channel respects YouTube's community guidelines.
auditDetails.copyrightStrikesGoodStanding boolean
Indicates whether the channel has any copyright strikes.
auditDetails.contentIdClaimsGoodStanding boolean
Indicates whether the channel has any unresolved claims.
contentOwnerDetails object
The contentOwnerDetails object encapsulates channel data that is visible only to the YouTube Partner that has linked the channel to their Content Manager.
contentOwnerDetails.contentOwner string
The ID of the content owner linked to the channel.
contentOwnerDetails.timeLinked datetime
The date and time of when the channel was linked to the content owner. The value is specified in ISO 8601 format.
localizations object
The localizations object encapsulates translations of the channel's metadata.
localizations.(key) object
The language of the localized metadata associated with the key value. The value is a string that contains a BCP-47 language code.
localizations.(key).title string
The localized channel title.
localizations.(key).description string
The localized channel description.