Insight Social
GET /v1/youtube/channel/lives

YouTube Channel Lives API

Returns the live and past streams on a channel's Live tab, each with title, URL, thumbnail, view count, publish time, and duration.

Get a free API keyFull API reference

10–70 credits, metered · cursor pagination · failed calls free · 10 free calls to start

curl "https://api.insightsocial.app/v1/youtube/channel/lives?handle=IShowSpeed" \
-H "x-api-key: $INSIGHTSOCIAL_API_KEY"
200 OKJSON
{
"success": true,
"platform": "youtube",
"endpoint": "/v1/youtube/channel/lives",
"schema_version": "2",
"data": {
"items": [
{
"post": {
"id": "<string>",
"url": "<string | null>",
"kind": "<string | null>",
"content": {
"text": "<string | null>",
"media_urls": "<array | null>",
"thumbnail_url": "<string | null>",
"duration_seconds": "<number | null>"
},
"author": {
"id": "<string | null>",
"username": "<string | null>",
"display_name": "<string | null>",
"avatar_url": "<string | null>",
"verified": "<boolean | null>"
},
"engagement": {
"views": "<integer | null>",
"likes": "<integer | null>",
"comments": "<integer | null>",
"shares": "<integer | null>",
"saves": "<integer | null>"
},
"flags": {
"nsfw": "<boolean | null>",
"spoiler": "<boolean | null>",
"pinned": "<boolean | null>",
"deleted": "<boolean>",
"likes_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"comments_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"shares_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"views_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"saves_hidden": "<boolean | null>"
},
"published_at": "<string | null>",
"language": "<string | null>",
"ext": "<object | null>"
}
}
]
},
"pagination": {
"next_cursor": "<string | null>",
"has_more": "<boolean>"
},
"unavailable": [],
"credits_used": "<integer>"
}

When to use it

Use it to track a channel's streaming output; channel/videos returns regular uploads and leaves the Live tab out.

Parameters

Query parameters for GET /v1/youtube/channel/lives. Send your key in the x-api-key header.

NameRequiredDescription
channelIdOne of channelId, handleYouTube channel ID.
handleOne of handle, channelIdYouTube channel handle (with or without @).
includeNoSet to engagement, channel, or both (engagement,channel) to fill more of every row in this one call. engagement fills post.engagement.views, .likes and .comments, post.content.duration_seconds, author.id and post.author.display_name where the row lacks them, and replaces a date derived from a label such as "4 months ago" with the exact publish time (removing post.ext.published_precision). Each join adds 0.2 to 0.7 seconds on a fresh page (one lookup per 50 ids, never more than 8 seconds).
exact_datesNoExact publish dates are on by default and free. Set to false to skip the lookup: those rows then carry the supplier's estimate (a day-granular or coarser label truncated to midnight UTC), marked by post.ext.published_precision and post.ext.published_label.
cursorNoThe pagination.next_cursor from the previous page, sent back unchanged. Omit it for the first page.

Response fields

The same unified schema every platform returns, so code written for YouTube works on the other eight. A field the platform did not provide is null and listed in unavailable.

FieldTypeNotes
idstringAn identifier, always a string. Never parse it as a number: several platforms use ids above 2^53.
urlstring | null
kindstring | nullThe format of the post. Format words only, never a platform name. short = short-form vertical video (a reel, a TikTok, a YouTube Short).
content.textstring | null
content.media_urlsarray | null
content.thumbnail_urlstring | null
content.duration_secondsnumber | null
author.idstring | null
author.usernamestring | null
author.display_namestring | null
author.avatar_urlstring | null
author.verifiedboolean | null
engagement.viewsinteger | nullA count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.likesinteger | nullA count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.commentsinteger | nullA count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.sharesinteger | nullA count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.savesinteger | nullA count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
flags.nsfwboolean | null
flags.spoilerboolean | null
flags.pinnedboolean | null
flags.deletedboolean
flags.likes_hiddenboolean | null
flags.comments_hiddenboolean | null
flags.shares_hiddenboolean | null
flags.views_hiddenboolean | null
flags.saves_hiddenboolean | null
published_atstring | nullISO-8601 timestamp in UTC, ending in Z.
languagestring | nullThe content's language as the platform states it, e.g. en, pt-BR. Detected languages come later (§7.1).
extobject | nullPlatform-specific fields, snake_case.

Every field, error and example is in the YouTube Channel Lives API reference.

How much does the YouTube Channel Lives API cost?

Metered: 10–70 credits a call. The ceiling is reserved when the call starts and you are charged what it actually read.

  • Failed calls are free

    A call that errors or finds nothing costs 0 credits.

  • Know the price first

    Add dry_run=1 and the response quotes the call without making it. Nothing is charged.

  • One balance

    API calls and Chrome extension exports share the same credits, on the free plan too.

See plans and credit packsHow credits work

YouTube Channel Lives API: frequently asked questions

Send GET /v1/youtube/channel/lives with either channelId or handle and your key in the x-api-key header. Returns the live and past streams on a channel's Live tab, each with title, URL, thumbnail, view count, publish time, and duration.

More YouTube endpoints

All YouTube API endpoints