Retrieve Youtube Channel info for “Vanity” channel

Question

Given a "vanity url" for a channel (e.g. youtube.com/wheelockcollege, which points to youtube.com/wheelockmarketing1), is there a way to retrieve the channel details?

I'm using the new version 3 of the API, with the latest Python package.

Answer 1

May be using search first:

GET https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=wheelockcollege&type=channel&key={YOUR_API_KEY}

and then with the channel id you can get the channel details:

GET https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=snippet%2CcontentDetails%2Cstatistics&id=UC6ltI41W4P14NShIBHU8z1Q&key={YOUR_API_KEY}

In this case the result is:

{
 "kind": "youtube#channelListResponse",
 "etag": "\"PsChdkLfsD-u3yuH7KChIH1CRFg/fl8vHBnZ66nKyI7QvfTRQchTAAA\"",
 "pageInfo": {
  "totalResults": 1,
  "resultsPerPage": 1
 },
 "items": [
  {
   "id": "UC6ltI41W4P14NShIBHU8z1Q",
   "kind": "youtube#channel",
   "etag": "\"PsChdkLfsD-u3yuH7KChIH1CRFg/zyApGa6dWMliWq5iBE5SL4ewNaQ\"",
   "snippet": {
    "channelId": "UC6ltI41W4P14NShIBHU8z1Q",
    "title": "wheelockmarketing1",
    "description": "Since 1888, Wheelock College has been providing a transformational education to students passionate about making the world a better place—especially for children and families.\n\nWhile most of our students elect to work in the helping professions of education, social work, child life, and juvenile justice and youth advocacy, many pursue—and make exceptional contributions to—a wide variety of professions.\n\nAs a highly respected advocate for social policy, Wheelock also helps to shape and strengthen the social systems that positively impact children and families around the globe.",
    "thumbnails": {
     "default": {
      "url": "https://i3.ytimg.com/i/6ltI41W4P14NShIBHU8z1Q/1.jpg?v=4fdf2807"
     }
    }
   },
   "contentDetails": {
    "relatedPlaylists": {
     "likes": "LL6ltI41W4P14NShIBHU8z1Q",
     "favorites": "FL6ltI41W4P14NShIBHU8z1Q",
     "uploads": "UU6ltI41W4P14NShIBHU8z1Q"
    }
   },
   "statistics": {
    "viewCount": "10354",
    "commentCount": "1",
    "subscriberCount": "43",
    "videoCount": "91"
   }
  }
 ]
}

We have a problem if the initial search returns more than one result, but I believe that it is a good strategy :)