Youtube API Playlists not returning the Playlist

Question

I am using the Playlists endpoint of Youtube's API to get the playlists from a specific channel but it doesn't work for the following channels:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX5fyLRcU05DMa2OVu-qFEQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwm2mdiUXApmL5bCxHtgJIA

The query I am using:

https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlists?channelId=UCwm2mdiUXApmL5bCxHtgJIA&part=snippet&order=date&maxResults=50&key=YOUR_API_KEY

https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlists?channelId=UCX5fyLRcU05DMa2OVu-qFEQ&part=snippet&order=date&maxResults=50&key=YOUR_API_KEY

It doesn't return the videos when I try to target the playlists in these channels using the specif Playlist ID as well. I can see that these channels, playlists and videos are public and searchable.

Is there any reason why the API shouldn't return this playlist that I am missing?

Thank you for your help.

Bartu

Answer 1

If you check the playlist page of the channel you provided, you'll see that all playlists posted there are not really from the channel - those were added/generated by YouTube itself.

Example:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nvZSUlZB8qwifPgIVCoEulF4VyErdBX48

A normal playlist (that belongs to the channel) should have its ID as follows:

PL3tRBEVW0hiB5KKP9gs_AkW8J4dOvbdPN

By using YouTube Data API, you can test the results:

URL: https://youtube.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlists?part=id%2Csnippet%2Cstatus&id=OLAK5uy_nvZSUlZB8qwifPgIVCoEulF4VyErdBX48&key=[YOUR_API_KEY]

Results:

{
  "kind": "youtube#channelListResponse",
  "etag": "Yw1yJOOwI7LJ8LeYmvQ8wpyHWbU",
  "pageInfo": {
    "totalResults": 1,
    "resultsPerPage": 5
  },
  "items": [
    {
      "kind": "youtube#channel",
      "etag": "wDhMSGEntArTZuX56hjNjytDUlU",
      "id": "UCFtEEv80fQVKkD4h1PF-Xqw",
      "snippet": {
        "title": "Microsoft",
        "description": "Innovation is a key ingredient in Microsoft’s mission: to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. \n\nSubscribe to Microsoft's official YouTube channel to explore technology’s role in making the world more sustainable, inclusive, and innovative for all.\n\n",
        "customUrl": "microsoft",
        "publishedAt": "2006-02-13T05:21:44Z",
        "thumbnails": {
          "default": {
            "url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/AKedOLRZENZBPyEEG2cd0PZXemKKyG1GMGVJXmzHhrs4=s88-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
            "width": 88,
            "height": 88
          },
          "medium": {
            "url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/AKedOLRZENZBPyEEG2cd0PZXemKKyG1GMGVJXmzHhrs4=s240-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
            "width": 240,
            "height": 240
          },
          "high": {
            "url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/AKedOLRZENZBPyEEG2cd0PZXemKKyG1GMGVJXmzHhrs4=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
            "width": 800,
            "height": 800
          }
        },
        "localized": {
          "title": "Microsoft",
          "description": "Innovation is a key ingredient in Microsoft’s mission: to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. \n\nSubscribe to Microsoft's official YouTube channel to explore technology’s role in making the world more sustainable, inclusive, and innovative for all.\n\n"
        },
        "country": "US"
      },
      "contentDetails": {
        "relatedPlaylists": {
          "likes": "",
          "uploads": "UUFtEEv80fQVKkD4h1PF-Xqw"
        }
      },
      "status": {
        "privacyStatus": "public",
        "isLinked": true,
        "longUploadsStatus": "longUploadsUnspecified"
      }
    }
  ]
}

When you query a normal playlist (that belongs to the channel), you will get these results:

URL: https://youtube.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlists?part=id%2Csnippet%2Cstatus&id=PL3tRBEVW0hiB5KKP9gs_AkW8J4dOvbdPN&key=[YOUR_API_KEY]

Results:

{
  "kind": "youtube#playlistListResponse",
  "etag": "OV6gnfMDH09mU3YBdHPuf5uz1Jg",
  "pageInfo": {
    "totalResults": 1,
    "resultsPerPage": 5
  },
  "items": [
    {
      "kind": "youtube#playlist",
      "etag": "X8YVDKLXZZfHlVTh_ud0LD-IMMQ",
      "id": "PL3tRBEVW0hiB5KKP9gs_AkW8J4dOvbdPN",
      "snippet": {
        "publishedAt": "2016-05-15T15:29:30Z",
        "channelId": "UC7_YxT-KID8kRbqZo7MyscQ",
        "title": "DOOM",
        "description": "",
        "thumbnails": {
          "default": {
            "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pCygvprsgIk/default.jpg",
            "width": 120,
            "height": 90
          },
          "medium": {
            "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pCygvprsgIk/mqdefault.jpg",
            "width": 320,
            "height": 180
          },
          "high": {
            "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pCygvprsgIk/hqdefault.jpg",
            "width": 480,
            "height": 360
          },
          "standard": {
            "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pCygvprsgIk/sddefault.jpg",
            "width": 640,
            "height": 480
          },
          "maxres": {
            "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pCygvprsgIk/maxresdefault.jpg",
            "width": 1280,
            "height": 720
          }
        },
        "channelTitle": "Markiplier",
        "localized": {
          "title": "DOOM",
          "description": ""
        }
      },
      "status": {
        "privacyStatus": "public"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Check this answer for more details.