YouTube Public Data lets you follow the public performance of any YouTube channel, including your competitors' channels, without signing in to Google. With the Power My Analytics YouTube Public Data connector, you choose the public channels you want to track by link, handle, or channel ID, and Power My Analytics brings their public channel and video statistics into your Hub. This guide explains how YouTube Public Data differs from our YouTube Analytics connector, what you need before you connect, how to add YouTube Public Data as a data source, and what to expect while the connector is in Alpha.

YouTube Public Data is an Alpha connector. It is newly released and available for early access, so fields, configuration options, and behavior may change as we build it out. We will expand this guide as the connector develops, and your feedback helps shape what comes next.

YouTube Public Data vs. YouTube Analytics

Prerequisites

• The YouTube channels you want to track, as a channel link (for example, youtube.com/@handle), a handle (@handle), or a channel ID for each one. Any public channel works.
• Nothing else to set up. YouTube Public Data reads public data with Power My Analytics' own YouTube access, so there is no Google sign-in and no API key to create.

Adding YouTube Public Data as a Data Source

1. In your Power My Analytics Hub, select Sources from the menu.
2. Click + Add new source and choose YouTube Public Data from the gallery.
3. In YouTube channels, enter up to 25 channel links, handles, or channel IDs, separated by commas. Optionally, enter an Account name to help you identify these channels (leave it blank to use the channel titles), then click Connect.

Key Reports and Fields

Limitations and Important Considerations

• Alpha connector: While YouTube Public Data is in Alpha, fields, configuration options, and behavior may change. If a field is renamed or removed, you may need to update the reports that use it.
• Reporting data: YouTube Public Data reports and fields are not available yet. You can connect your channels now; we will add the available fields and the steps for building a Data Studio report to this guide as they are released.
• Public data only: YouTube Public Data includes only the statistics YouTube shows publicly. Watch time, audience demographics, traffic sources, and revenue are available only to a channel's owners and managers, through our YouTube Analytics connector.
• No history from before you connect: YouTube does not provide historical statistics for public channels. YouTube Public Data records daily snapshots starting when you connect, so there is no backfill of earlier data. Connect the channels you want to track as early as you can.
• 30-day storage limit: YouTube's developer policies limit how long public statistics can be stored to 30 days, so YouTube Public Data reports will cover up to the most recent 30 days of snapshots.
• Up to 25 channels per connection: Each YouTube Public Data data source tracks up to 25 channels. To track more, add another YouTube Public Data data source.
• Changing the channels you track: The channel list is set when you connect. To add or remove channels, connect YouTube Public Data again with the new list, then remove the old data source. Connecting the exact same list again updates your existing data source instead of creating a new one.
• View counts changed on August 27, 2026: YouTube now counts a public view as soon as a video starts to play, so view counts from before and after that date are not directly comparable.
• Channels that become unavailable: If YouTube stops returning a channel you track (for example, it is deleted or hidden), it is removed from your data source's channel list.

Unavailable Data

• Watch time and average view duration
• Audience demographics, geography, and traffic sources
• Revenue and monetization data
• Statistics from before you connected the channel

Troubleshooting

• "Not a channel link, handle or ID": The entry uses a format YouTube Public Data cannot look up, such as a youtube.com/c/ custom URL, a video link, or a channel name without @. Open the channel on YouTube, copy its link from your browser's address bar, and connect again.
• "YouTube has no channel for": Check the spelling of the entries listed, or copy the channel link from the channel's YouTube page, and connect again.
• "Enter up to 25 channels per connection": Split your channels across two or more YouTube Public Data data sources.
• "YouTube could not be reached right now": YouTube did not respond. Wait a few minutes and try again.
• Your data source asks you to reconnect: Power My Analytics refreshes your channels' details from YouTube regularly, as YouTube's policies require. If they cannot be refreshed for 30 days, the stored channel list is removed and the data source asks you to reconnect. Reconnect with the same channels to restore it.
• YouTube Public Data does not appear in the source gallery: During Alpha, YouTube Public Data is available only to accounts with early access. To ask about early access, submit a ticket.