Youku Scraper

🎬 Youku Scraper

Scrape Youku (优酷), one of China's biggest long-form video platforms. Search by keyword and get shows (dramas, films, variety, anime, documentaries) and videos, or pass video, show and creator links to get full details: publish dates, duration, likes, comments, VIP flags, episode lists, uploaders and follower counts. No login, no cookies and no Youku account needed.

✨ Why use Youku Scraper?

• 🔎 Search and details in one actor — keyword search, video details, show details with the full episode list, and creator profiles, in a single run and a single dataset.
• 📺 Long-form data — episode lists (number, title, duration, link), total and latest episode, completion status, release year, region, director and cast.
• 👤 Uploader data on every video — uploader name, UID, verification and follower count come with each video detail, and creator rows add total likes, following and their latest videos.
• 🧭 Filters that work on Youku's side — sort by relevance, newest or most played, filter by video length, and keep shows, videos or both.
• ⚡ Fast and light — plain HTTP against Youku's own mobile pages and search API, no browser.
• 💸 Pay only for what you get — no start fee; nothing is charged for links that do not exist.

🎯 Use cases

• 🎞️ Content scouting and licensing — map which Chinese dramas, films and variety shows exist on Youku, with year, category, region, episodes and VIP status.
• 📈 Trend monitoring — schedule a search for a title or genre sorted by newest to see what is being uploaded every day.
• 🧑‍🎤 Creator research — find Youku uploaders around a topic, then pull their follower counts, total likes and latest videos.
• 🌏 Localization research — shortlist Chinese long-form content for subtitling and distribution, with descriptions and episode counts.
• 🎓 Media and academic research — build datasets of Chinese streaming content with dates, durations and engagement.

🚀 How to use

1. Enter one or more search keywords (Chinese works best, for example 庆余年, 纪录片, 综艺, 动漫), and/or paste video, show or creator links.
2. Set Max results per keyword (20 by default; 0 takes everything Youku shows, about 150 to 200 per search).
3. Optionally pick a sort order, a video length and a result type, and switch on Add full details to search results.
4. Click Start. When the run finishes, export the results as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read them through the API.

📥 Input

{
  "searchKeywords": ["庆余年", "纪录片"],
  "maxResults": 20,
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "includeDetails": true,
  "startUrls": [
    "https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjM4OTY1ODIyNA==.html",
    "https://m.youku.com/profile?uid=UNDc4MDk2MzMyMA=="
  ]
}

📤 Output

One row per show, video or creator. The type field tells them apart, and the dataset has ready-made views for videos, shows, episodes and creators.

Example video detail (trimmed):

{
  "type": "video",
  "videoId": "XNjM4OTY1ODIyNA==",
  "title": "探究叶轻眉隐藏机构的秘密",
  "url": "https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjM4OTY1ODIyNA==.html",
  "category": "文化",
  "videoType": "正片",
  "publishedAt": "2024-05-11T16:06:23+08:00",
  "durationSeconds": 440.9,
  "likeCount": 1,
  "commentCount": 1,
  "isPaid": true,
  "vipTag": "SVIP",
  "showId": "fbbfcb303fcc4e2c8e18",
  "showName": "《庆余年2》 疑点揭秘",
  "episodeNumber": 9,
  "episodeTotal": 10,
  "uploaderName": "光年小课堂",
  "uploaderUid": "UNTI4NzA3MzU0MA==",
  "uploaderVerification": "机构认证",
  "uploaderFollowers": 3244,
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://m.ykimg.com/05410101665819F3676548FEA1351AA1"
}

Example show from a search (trimmed):

{
  "type": "show",
  "showId": "bfcbd537df3e4a6e8df9",
  "title": "《繁花》原著揭秘",
  "url": "https://m.youku.com/alipay_video/id_bfcbd537df3e4a6e8df9.html",
  "category": "电视剧",
  "year": 2023,
  "region": "中国",
  "episodeTotal": 5,
  "episodeInfo": "更新至5/5集",
  "sourceName": "优酷",
  "tag": "VIP",
  "episodes": [
    {"episode": "第1集", "videoId": "XNjI1NjEzNjQ3Mg==", "title": "拍了六年，“折磨”胡歌？《繁花》讲了什么样的故事", "url": "https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjI1NjEzNjQ3Mg==.html"}
  ],
  "searchKeyword": "繁花",
  "position": 2
}

💰 Pricing

You pay per result saved, with no start fee:

With Add full details to search results switched on, each search result costs both events ($0.057). Platform usage (compute and proxy traffic) is billed on top, and it is tiny: in our tests about $0.001 per 1,000 search results and about $0.02 per 1,000 results with details.

Examples: 1,000 search results ≈ $12.00, 100 videos with full details ≈ $4.50, one creator profile ≈ $0.045. Links that do not exist on Youku are not charged, and the run stops cleanly when it reaches your spending limit.

❓ FAQ

Is it legal to scrape Youku? The actor only reads public pages and search results that anyone can open without logging in. You are responsible for how you use the data: respect Youku's terms, copyright and privacy rules.

Do I need a Youku account, login or cookies? No. Leave the proxy setting as it is; datacenter proxies work, and residential addresses are used automatically only if datacenter requests keep being refused.

How many results can I get? Youku shows about 150 to 200 results per search. Use several keywords, another sort order or a length filter to reach more. Links (videos, shows, creators) have no limit.

Why are some fields empty? Search rows carry what Youku's search shows (title, duration, relative date, uploader name). Turn on Add full details to search results for exact dates, likes, comments and uploader data. Shows streamed by another platform (for example sourceName: 腾讯) have no episode list on Youku. Empty fields are null.

Can I use the ids from one run in the next? Yes. showId, videoId and uploaderUid from any row can be pasted into Video, show or creator links.

Can I schedule it or use the API? Yes. Schedule a run to watch a keyword sorted by newest, and start runs or download results through the API in JSON, CSV or Excel.

⚠️ Limits

• Play counts are not shown on Youku's public pages, so they are not in the output.
• Comment texts, danmaku and video files are not scraped.
• Search depth is Youku's own: about 150 to 200 results per keyword and sort order.
• Shows streamed by other platforms (Tencent, iQIYI and others) appear in search, but Youku has no episode list or uploader for them.
• Creator rows include only the latest videos shown on the profile page (about 12).