How do I create YouTube data sources?

Visualize, discover, and act on your data with Klips and Klip dashboards.

Ready to get the most from your YouTube video data? Get started by setting up a connection between Klipfolio and your YouTube data and adding some data sources.

When you're finished adding YouTube data sources, you'll use them to power your custom Klips.

Note: When connecting your YouTube data to Klipfolio, you'll be prompted to connect your YouTube account by entering your username and password. Make sure you enter the username and password for the Google account that's connected to your YouTube channel.

This article includes:

• Connecting Klipfolio to your YouTube data
• Adding a YouTube pre-built data source
• Adding a YouTube custom data source
  • Custom building: About APIs and queries
• Creating YouTube custom Klips

Connecting Klipfolio to your YouTube data

The first step in creating a YouTube data source is to connect Klipfolio to your data.

Here are a couple things to note:

Your data is safe with us. The first time you connect your YouTube data to Klipfolio, you'll be prompted to sign in to YouTube and give permission to allow Klipfolio to securely access data within your YouTube account. We are serious about protecting your data privacy.

Managing your connections. By default, your connection name looks like this: yourname@Google<date and time created>. You can modify the default connection name when you create a new connection or from your list of connections, accessed by clicking your Account Name (located at the bottom of the left navigation sidebar) and selecting Account > Connected Accounts or by clicking the button in the left navigation sidebar and selecting Connections.

You can use the same account connection every time you connect to YouTube. If you have trouble accessing an existing connection, your OAuth token may have expired. If that happens to you, check out these troubleshooting tips.

Adding a YouTube pre-built data source

Our pre-built data sources focus on the most sought-after YouTube data. Either use them as complete solutions or as starting points for custom building.

To add a YouTube pre-built data source:

1. In the left navigation sidebar, click the 3-dot menu beside Data Sources and select +New data source.
   If you don’t see this option, go to the bottom of the left navigation sidebar and click your Account Name > Data Sources > +New data source.
2. On the Where is your data? page, select YouTube.
3. Select a pre-built data source from the left section of the Choose a pre-built or custom connection page.
4. If this is your first time connecting to YouTube:
   • Click Connect an account. Enter your Google login credentials and click Next. If prompted, click Allow Access to enable Klipfolio to securely access your YouTube data. Click Continue.
5. If you've connected with YouTube before:
   • Select an existing connection (token) from the drop-down list and click Continue.
6. On the Configure your data source page, select your YouTube Channel from the drop-down list.
7. Click Get data or, if you want to modify the pre-built data request, click Switch to Custom settings.
   Note: If you switch back to the Basic settings page after making changes in the Custom settings page, your changes will not be saved.
8. Ensure this is the data you’re looking for and, optionally, select the checkbox to Model your data.  Learn more about modelling your data source. Note: YouTube returns JSON formatted data. Learn how to model JSON data.
9. Click Continue.
10. Name, choose refresh settings, and, optionally, share your data source.
11. Click Save.

If you clicked Switch to Custom settings, in the Configure your data source page:

1. On the Configure your data source page, modify the Query URL to get the data you want. You can use the existing information in the Query URL text box as a base. It was auto-filled based on the pre-built data source you selected on the Choose a pre-built or custom connection page.
2. Click Get data.
3. Ensure this is the data you’re looking for and, optionally, select the checkbox to Model your data. Learn more about modelling your data source. Note: YouTube returns JSON formatted data. Learn how to model JSON data.
4. Click Continue.
5. Name, choose refresh settings, and, optionally, share your data source.
6. Click Save.

The data source is added to your account and is ready to use for custom Klips. You can see all your data sources in your Data Source Library, accessed by clicking Data Sources in the left navigation sidebar.

Adding a YouTube custom data source

Need a unique set of data? When our pre-built data sources don't include exactly what you're looking for, create your own custom data source. You can either use a pre-built data source query as a base or write your own queries from scratch.

When you add a custom YouTube data source, you need to enter your YouTube Channel ID into a specific spot in the query.

There are a couple of ways to find your Channel ID:

1. In your advanced account settings in YouTube.
2. By going to the channel homepage and navigating up to the URL.

To add a YouTube custom data source:

1. In the left navigation sidebar, click the 3-dot menu beside Data Sources and select +New data source.
   If you don’t see this option, go to the bottom of the left navigation sidebar and click your Account Name > Data Sources > +New data source.
2. On the Where is your data? page, select YouTube.
3. On the Choose a pre-built or custom connection page, click Create a custom YouTube data source.
4. If this is your first time connecting to YouTube:
   • Click Connect an account. Enter your Google login credentials and click Next. If prompted, click Allow Access to enable Klipfolio to securely access your YouTube data. Click Continue.
5. If you've connected with YouTube before:
   • Select an existing connection (token) from the drop-down list and click Continue.
6. On the Configure your data source page, adjust the Query URL information to replace any generic placeholder query information with your own. For example, replace <channelID> with your own channel ID.
7. Edit the Query URL to return the data you need. Refer to the YouTube API documentation for details.
8. Click Get data.
9. Ensure this is the data you’re looking for and, optionally, select the checkbox to Model your data. Learn more about modelling your data source. Note: YouTube returns JSON formatted data. Learn how to model JSON data.
10. Click Continue.
11. Name, choose refresh settings, and, optionally, share your data source.
12. Click Save.

The data source is added to your account and is ready to use for custom Klips. You can see all your data sources in your Data Source Library, accessed by clicking Data Sources in the left navigation sidebar.

Custom building: About APIs and queries

Klipfolio connects to hundreds of services in the cloud that have a REST API. If you take the time to learn your service’s API to create queries for the data you want, your possibilities are endless. Here’s a quick overview video on APIs and Klipfolio:

Klipfolio API's 101

If you need help using APIs, ask a data analyst or developer.

You can build a query using the Google API Explorer and bring that query into Klipfolio.

Refer to the YouTube API documentation to discover more data requests.

See the reference table below for API related information and sample queries.

Creating YouTube custom Klips

Now that you've created a YouTube data source, you can return to it and use it to make custom Klips. A single data source can be used to create a single or multiple custom Klips.

To create a YouTube custom Klip:

1. In the left navigation sidebar, click Data Sources to open your Data Source Library.
2. Select the YouTube data source you want to use for your custom Klip.
3. On its details page, click Create a Klip.
4. In the Klip Editor, configure your custom Klip.
   If you need help, go to this article. (You can skip the “Choose the data source” step in the linked article. You’ve already chosen it.) You'll also find lots of articles on working with Klips in this section of our Knowledge Base.
5. Click Save.
   Your new Klip is ready to add to a dashboard. Learn about dashboards.

Note: You can also add YouTube pre-built Klips. You'll find them in the Klip Gallery or, if you're a White-Label customer, in the Integration Gallery. Go to this article for detailed instructions on adding pre-built YouTube Klips to your dashboards.

Want to learn more?

Check out these related articles:

• Klips: Introduction to data sources
• Klips: About JSON and XML data sources
• Klips: Guide to REST API data sources