YouTube Channel Video Monitor

Track new uploads + view-count surges + rating changes across N YouTube channels via the public RSS feed at /feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC... — no API key required, no quota cost. Maps to "creator monitoring / influencer tracking / brand-mention on YouTube" briefs.

Built 2026-05-03 as Demo #20.

Run

. ~/freelance/.venv/bin/activate
cd ~/freelance/portfolio_demos/youtube_channel_monitor
python monitor.py --reset
python monitor.py --once

Result

• 3 channels tracked (3Blue1Brown + others) ✅
• 45 videos baselined (15 per channel) ✅
• Idempotent re-run, simulated changes detected ✅
• View counts + star ratings + counts diffed ✅

Channel ID lookup

YouTube hides channel IDs behind handles now. To find a channel's UC... ID:

1. Visit https://www.youtube.com/@handle
2. View source, search for "channelId":"UC...
3. That's the ID for the RSS URL.