Algrow
Shorts Channels
Viral & Thumbnail Search
Find outlier videos and search channels by thumbnail image.
GET
/api/viral-videos/search
Search for viral videos across Shorts and Longform channels, find videos similar to a specific video, or browse by filters alone. Filter by video views, channel size, growth metrics, upload recency, outlier score, and more. q, video_id, and video_url are all optional — omit them to browse by filters (e.g. “biggest outliers from the last 7 days”).
Query Parameters
| Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| q | string | Optional | — | Search query. Matches video titles and channel names with similarity scoring. Also accepts search as an alias. Omit along with video_id / video_url to browse by filters alone. |
| video_id | string | Optional | — | YouTube video ID (e.g. dQw4w9WgXcQ). Finds videos similar to this video using title similarity. |
| content_type | string | Optional | shorts | Content type: shorts or longform |
| sort_by | string | Optional | views | Sort by: views (most viewed), recent (newest fetched), upload_date (newest uploaded), similarity (most similar — requires q/video_id/video_url; auto-selected when one is given), outlier_score (biggest over-performers — video views vs channel average) |
| page | integer | Optional | 1 | Page number (1-indexed, max 20) |
| per_page | integer | Optional | 20 | Results per page (max 50) |
| min_video_views | integer | Optional | — | Minimum video view count |
| max_video_views | integer | Optional | — | Maximum video view count |
| min_subs | integer | Optional | — | Minimum channel subscriber count |
| max_subs | integer | Optional | — | Maximum channel subscriber count |
| min_uploads | integer | Optional | — | Minimum channel video count |
| max_uploads | integer | Optional | — | Maximum channel video count |
| min_channel_age | integer | Optional | — | Minimum channel age in days |
| max_channel_age | integer | Optional | — | Maximum channel age in days |
| min_upload_date | integer | Optional | — | Newest allowed upload (days ago, 0 = today) |
| max_upload_date | integer | Optional | — | Oldest allowed upload (days ago, e.g. 365 = 1 year) |
| min_duration | integer | Optional | — | Minimum video duration in minutes (longform only) |
| max_duration | integer | Optional | — | Maximum video duration in minutes (longform only) |
| min_views_24h | integer | Optional | — | Minimum channel views gained in last 24h (shorts only) |
| max_views_24h | integer | Optional | — | Maximum channel views gained in last 24h (shorts only) |
| min_views_48h | integer | Optional | — | Minimum channel views gained in last 48h (shorts only) |
| max_views_48h | integer | Optional | — | Maximum channel views gained in last 48h (shorts only) |
| min_outlier_score | float | Optional | — | Minimum outlier score. A video's outlier_score = its view count ÷ its channel's average views per video, so 2.5 means “video got 2.5× the channel's typical views.” Use to surface videos over-performing their channel. |
| max_outlier_score | float | Optional | — | Maximum outlier score. Rarely needed — usually pair with min_outlier_score. |
Example Requests
# Find viral gaming Shorts with 1M+ views from small channels
curl "https://api.algrow.online/api/viral-videos/search?q=gaming&content_type=shorts&min_video_views=1000000&max_subs=50000" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
# Longform fitness videos uploaded in last 7 days, sorted by views
curl "https://api.algrow.online/api/viral-videos/search?q=fitness+workout&content_type=longform&max_upload_date=7&sort_by=views" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
# Find videos similar to a specific video by ID
curl "https://api.algrow.online/api/viral-videos/search?video_id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&content_type=longform" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
# Search for cooking videos from channels under 100k subs
curl "https://api.algrow.online/api/viral-videos/search?q=cooking&max_subs=100000" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
Response
{
"success": true,
"content_type": "shorts",
"page": 1,
"per_page": 20,
"count": 20,
"videos": [
{
"video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"title": "This cooking hack changed everything",
"channel_name": "Chef Secrets",
"channel_id": "UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"view_count": 4200000,
"outlier_score": 4.2,
"thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/.../maxresdefault.jpg",
"upload_date": "2026-03-15T00:00:00+00:00",
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"subscriber_count": 32000,
"duration": 58,
"view_increase_24h": 180000,
"view_increase_48h": 320000
}
]
}
Response Fields (per video)
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| video_id | string | YouTube video ID |
| title | string | Video title |
| channel_name | string | Channel name |
| channel_id | string | YouTube channel ID |
| view_count | integer | Total video views |
| outlier_score | float|null | Outlier multiplier — video's view count ÷ its channel's average views per video. 4.2 = video got 4.2× the channel's typical views. null for brand-new uploads before the channel average is computed. |
| thumbnail_url | string | Video thumbnail URL |
| upload_date | string|null | Upload date (ISO 8601) |
| url | string | Full YouTube URL |
| subscriber_count | integer | Channel subscriber count |
| duration | integer|null | Video duration in seconds |
| view_increase_24h | integer|null | Channel views gained in last 24h (shorts with realtime filters only) |
| view_increase_48h | integer|null | Channel views gained in last 48h (shorts with realtime filters only) |
| similarity_score | integer|null | Similarity score (0–100) when using search. Higher = more similar. |
POST
/api/thumbnail-search
Search for longform videos by thumbnail similarity. Provide a YouTube video URL, an image URL, or a text description to find videos with visually similar thumbnails using similarity matching.
Request Body (JSON)
| Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| image_url | string | One of three | — | URL of a thumbnail image to search with. Supports JPEG, PNG, WebP, and GIF formats. |
| video_url | string | One of three | — | YouTube video URL — automatically extracts its thumbnail. Accepts watch, shorts, and youtu.be links. |
| q | string | One of three | — | Text description of the thumbnail style to search for (e.g. “red arrow pointing at shocked face”, “before and after transformation”). |
| limit | integer | Optional | 20 | Maximum number of results to return (1–50) |
| min_similarity | float | Optional | 0.3 | Minimum similarity threshold (0–1). Higher values return fewer but more visually similar results. |
| min_views | integer | Optional | — | Minimum video view count filter |
Example Requests
# Search by image URL — find videos with similar thumbnails
curl -X POST "https://api.algrow.online/api/thumbnail-search" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"image_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/abc123/maxresdefault.jpg", "limit": 10}'
# Search by text — describe the thumbnail style you're looking for
curl -X POST "https://api.algrow.online/api/thumbnail-search" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"q": "red arrow pointing at shocked face", "limit": 20}'
# Text search with filters — only high-view results
curl -X POST "https://api.algrow.online/api/thumbnail-search" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"q": "before and after transformation", "min_views": 100000, "min_similarity": 0.5}'
Response
{
"success": true,
"count": 10,
"videos": [
{
"video_id": "abc123",
"title": "How I Made $10k in 30 Days",
"channel_name": "Finance Tips",
"channel_id": "UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"view_count": 1500000,
"thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/abc123/maxresdefault.jpg",
"upload_date": "2026-03-20",
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123",
"duration": 612,
"subscriber_count": 85000,
"similarity_score": 78
}
]
}
Response Fields (per video)
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| video_id | string | YouTube video ID |
| title | string | Video title |
| channel_name | string | Channel name |
| channel_id | string | YouTube channel ID |
| view_count | integer | Total video views |
| thumbnail_url | string | Video thumbnail URL |
| upload_date | string|null | Upload date (ISO 8601) |
| url | string | Full YouTube URL |
| duration | integer|null | Video duration in seconds |
| subscriber_count | integer | Channel subscriber count |
| similarity_score | integer | Visual similarity score (0–100). Higher = more similar thumbnail. |
POST
/api/terminated-thumbnail-search
Search terminated/deleted channel videos by thumbnail similarity. Same as /api/thumbnail-search but searches the terminated channels archive instead of active longform channels. Provide a YouTube video URL, an image URL, or a text description.
Request Body (JSON)
| Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| image_url | string | One of three | — | URL of a thumbnail image to search with. Supports JPEG, PNG, WebP, and GIF formats. |
| video_url | string | One of three | — | YouTube video URL — automatically extracts its thumbnail. Accepts watch, shorts, and youtu.be links. |
| q | string | One of three | — | Text description of the thumbnail style to search for (e.g. “red arrow pointing at shocked face”, “before and after transformation”). |
| limit | integer | Optional | 20 | Maximum number of results to return (1–50) |
| min_similarity | float | Optional | 0.3 | Minimum similarity threshold (0–1). Higher values return fewer but more visually similar results. |
| min_views | integer | Optional | — | Minimum video view count filter |
| max_views | integer | Optional | — | Maximum video view count filter |
Example Requests
# Search by image URL — find terminated videos with similar thumbnails
curl -X POST "https://api.algrow.online/api/terminated-thumbnail-search" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"image_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/abc123/maxresdefault.jpg", "limit": 10}'
# Search by text — describe the thumbnail style
curl -X POST "https://api.algrow.online/api/terminated-thumbnail-search" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"q": "red arrow pointing at shocked face", "limit": 20}'
# Search by YouTube video URL
curl -X POST "https://api.algrow.online/api/terminated-thumbnail-search" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123", "min_views": 50000}'
Response
{
"success": true,
"count": 10,
"videos": [
{
"video_id": "abc123",
"title": "How I Made $10k in 30 Days",
"channel_name": "Finance Tips",
"channel_id": "UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"view_count": 1500000,
"thumbnail_url": "https://audio.algrow.online/thumbnails/abc123.jpg",
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123",
"subscriber_count": 85000,
"similarity_score": 78
}
]
}
Response Fields (per video)
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| video_id | string | YouTube video ID |
| title | string | Video title |
| channel_name | string | Channel name |
| channel_id | string | YouTube channel ID |
| view_count | integer | Total video views |
| thumbnail_url | string | Video thumbnail URL |
| url | string | Full YouTube URL |
| subscriber_count | integer | Channel subscriber count |
| similarity_score | integer | Visual similarity score (0–100). Higher = more similar thumbnail. |