Quickstart¶
import os
import pandas as pd
from youtube_api import YoutubeDataApi
In order to access the API, you’ll need to get a service key from the Google Cloud Console . I like to store my API keys as environment variables in ~/.bash_profile so that I don’t have to hard code them.:
YT_KEY = os.environ.get('YOUTUBE_API_KEY') # you can hardcode this, too.
yt = YouTubeDataAPI(YT_KEY)
We now have created a YouTubeDataAPI class as yt, which can be used to make API calls, such as searching for the most relevant videos of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
searches = yt.search(q='alexandria ocasio-cortez',
max_results=5)
print(searches[0])
{'video_id': 'LlillsHgcaw',
'channel_title': 'Fox News',
'channel_id': 'UCXIJgqnII2ZOINSWNOGFThA',
'video_publish_date': datetime.datetime(2019, 2, 19, 4, 57, 51),
'video_title': 'Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez taken to task by fellow progressives',
'video_description': 'New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticizes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over her opposition to the Amazon deal.',
'video_category': None,
'video_thumbnail': 'https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LlillsHgcaw/hqdefault.jpg',
'collection_date': datetime.datetime(2019, 2, 20, 14, 48, 19, 487877)}
All API requests are parsed from raw JSON into dictionaries.
Typically an API call returns a list of dictionary objects. This is perfect for converting into Pandas DataFrames, or saving as JSON.
df_search = pd.DataFrame(searches)
df_search.head(5)
| channel_id | channel_title | collection_date | video_category | video_description | video_id | video_publish_date | video_thumbnail | video_title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | UCXIJgqnII2ZOINSWNOGFThA | Fox News | 2019-02-20 14:49:34.262643 | None | New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticizes ... | LlillsHgcaw | 2019-02-19 04:57:51 | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LlillsHgcaw/hqdefault.jpg | Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez taken to task by... |
| 1 | UCXIJgqnII2ZOINSWNOGFThA | Fox News | 2019-02-20 14:49:34.262672 | None | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's new environmental m... | 3EazY4bw6u8 | 2019-02-19 00:34:22 | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3EazY4bw6u8/hqdefault.jpg | Critics mock Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal ro... |
| 2 | UCeY0bbntWzzVIaj2z3QigXg | NBC News | 2019-02-20 14:49:34.262693 | None | Newly-elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D... | 8YH0t3H1Y_Y | 2019-02-16 21:40:10 | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8YH0t3H1Y_Y/hqdefault.jpg | Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Defends Green New Deal In I... |
| 3 | UCnsvJeZO4RigQ898WdDNoBw | EL PAIS | 2019-02-20 14:49:34.262713 | None | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jura en Nueva York su... | wAmEYOcnu_g | 2019-02-17 11:03:09 | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wAmEYOcnu_g/hqdefault.jpg | ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: "Sed valientes con n... |
| 4 | UCJg9wBPyKMNA5sRDnvzmkdg | FOX 10 Phoenix | 2019-02-20 14:49:34.262733 | None | President Donald Trump is expected to urge Ven... | VhEo5sm5Eu4 | 2019-02-18 22:20:22 | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VhEo5sm5Eu4/hqdefault.jpg | NO SOCIALISM: President Trump Takes On Alexand... |
Aside from the default parser, the parse argument allows users to create custom functions to parse and process API resonses. You can also get raw JSON from the API by using the youtube_api.parsers.raw_json() parser, or setting parser to None.
yt.search(q='alexandria ocasio-cortez',
max_results=1,
parser=None)
[{'kind': 'youtube#searchResult',
'etag': '"XpPGQXPnxQJhLgs6enD_n8JR4Qk/aGNxqVTPJsGI6aEI2tVnYhn0vS8"',
'id': {'kind': 'youtube#video', 'videoId': 'LlillsHgcaw'},
'snippet': {'publishedAt': '2019-02-19T04:57:51.000Z',
'channelId': 'UCXIJgqnII2ZOINSWNOGFThA',
'title': 'Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez taken to task by fellow progressives',
'description': 'New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticizes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over her opposition to the Amazon deal.',
'thumbnails': {'default': {'url': 'https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LlillsHgcaw/default.jpg',
'width': 120,
'height': 90},
'medium': {'url': 'https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LlillsHgcaw/mqdefault.jpg',
'width': 320,
'height': 180},
'high': {'url': 'https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LlillsHgcaw/hqdefault.jpg',
'width': 480,
'height': 360}},
'channelTitle': 'Fox News',
'liveBroadcastContent': 'none'}}]
youtube_api.parsers are intended to allow customized data parsing for those who want it, with robust defaults for less advanced users.