Qualify YouTube Creators by Audience Size and Recent Activity

A long creator list is not a qualified shortlist. Campaigns and research projects usually need an audience band, a minimum body of work, geographic context, and evidence that the channel is still publishing. The YouTube Creator Finder applies those conditions before a channel is saved.

Translate the brief into explicit filters

Suppose a campaign wants established but accessible creators: 10,000 to 250,000 subscribers, at least 30 videos, and a public upload in roughly the last six months.

{
  "searchTerms": ["home coffee roasting", "espresso education"],
  "maxCreatorsPerSearch": 50,
  "maxTotalCreators": 100,
  "minSubscribers": 10000,
  "maxSubscribers": 250000,
  "minVideos": 30,
  "uploadedWithinDays": 180
}

Do not set a country unless the brief genuinely requires the creator's public channel-country label. Location can be missing, stale, or different from audience geography.

Understand what each metric can prove

• subscriberCount estimates channel audience size but not average reach.
• videoCount distinguishes a sustained publishing record from a new or nearly empty channel.
• latestVideoAgeDaysEstimate is a coarse activity signal, not an exact timestamp.
• latestVideo.viewCount describes one recent upload and should be interpreted with the title and age.
• totalViewCount is cumulative and favors older channels.

Use the output to prioritize manual review, not automate a sponsorship decision. A channel can pass every numeric filter and still be irrelevant, unsafe, or unsuitable for the campaign.

Score a transparent shortlist

Keep scoring rules simple enough to explain.

def score_creator(row):
    score = 0
    subscribers = row.get("subscriberCount") or 0
    age = row.get("latestVideoAgeDaysEstimate")
    if 25_000 <= subscribers <= 150_000:
        score += 2
    if age is not None and age <= 30:
        score += 2
    elif age is not None and age <= 90:
        score += 1
    if row.get("websiteUrls"):
        score += 1
    if row.get("socialProfiles"):
        score += 1
    return score

Store the component rules with the score and review channels from every score band. Otherwise, a ranking can silently exclude niche experts who publish less frequently or disclose fewer profile fields.

Validate against the content

Read the public description and newest video title. Sample recent uploads to confirm topic consistency, language, production format, disclosure behavior, and audience fit. For brand safety, use a documented review process rather than inferring safety from subscriber count or country.

YouTube fields and search rankings can change. Save channel IDs, input terms, scrape time, and the evidence used for each decision so the shortlist can be refreshed and audited later.