3 – The YouTube API Overview

This is article 3 of the YouTube API With PHP series.

The YouTube API consists of 6 modules:

1. The Player APi
2. The Data API
3. The Analytics API
4. The Reporting API
5. Subscribe Buttons
6. Live Streaming

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the above graphic, the boxes to the left are where 80% of the programming happens. The boxes on the right require little programming in comparison.

We will go into a brief overview of each below

1.Player API

The purpose of the Player API is simple – it allows the embedding of a YouTube video player in a web page and then control it via javascript. There are different embedding options for Android and iOS applications, but in this series we will only focus on the iframe player .

 

2.Data API

This API is probably the one which will be used the most. It lets your work with publicly accessible YouTube data like videos, channels, do search operations and upload videos. Some features like search and retrieving channel info do not require specific user authentication because they are public data. Features like uploading videos require user authentication as they affect a YouTube user’s account.

 

3.Analytics API

This API is used to get channel and data reports pertaining to a particular channel or multiple channels of a YouTube Content Owner. All features in this API require specific user-authentication as they access internal data and reports.

 

3.Reporting API

The Reporting API does all the things that the Analytics API does, but there is a difference. Analytics API only supports time-based reports which are precise and can be filtered and sorted. The Reporting API is meant for large scale bulk data retrieval which can be then fed into external tools for further analysis. Apart from this, the Reporting API provides access to the some system-generated YouTube reports, specially pertaining to ad-revenue data.

 

4.Subscribe Buttons

This lets you embed a Subscribe button for a channel within a web page. There is no coding involved in this , so we will not be examining it in this series.

 

5.Live Streaming

This API lets you schedule and manage live-streaming events on YouTube. This section is not covered in this book. It is hoped that this can be included in the near future.