YouTube API - No channel branding settings returned for queries by username

Question

When using the YouTube API v3 to query a channel's branding settings, why are they returned for queries by channel ID, but not for queries by username? The API doesn't return branding settings for channel list queries by username.

If you query for a channel's branding settings by channel ID (e.g., id=UC8-Th83bH_thdKZDJCrn88g), you are returned a complete set of branding settings:

Google API Explorer: https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/channels/list

Request

GET https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=brandingSettings&id=UC8-Th83bH_thdKZDJCrn88g&key={YOUR_API_KEY}

Response

{
    // ... snip ...
    "items": [
    {
        "kind": "youtube#channel",
        "etag": "\"...\"",
        "id": "UC8-Th83bH_thdKZDJCrn88g",
        "brandingSettings": {
            "channel": {
                "title": "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon",
                "description": "Watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Weeknights 11:35/10:35c\n\nThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon features hilarious highlights from the show including: comedy sketches, music parodies, celebrity interviews, ridiculous games, and, of course, Jimmy's Thank You Notes and hashtags! You'll also find behind the scenes videos and other great web exclusives.",
                // all the branding settings are here
            }
        }
    }]
}

If, on the other hand, you send a channel list query for a username (e.g., forUsername=latenight), you get no branding settings at all. The branding settings aren't returned or populated.

Request

GET https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=brandingSettings&forUsername=latenight&key={YOUR_API_KEY}

Response

{
    // ... snip ...
    "items": [
    {
        "kind": "youtube#channel",
        "etag": "\"...\"",
        "id": "UC8-Th83bH_thdKZDJCrn88g"
    }]
}

jlmcdonald jlmcdonald · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-05T07:27:16

I may be wrong, but I believe that, in v3 of the APIs, Channel IDs are the only way to get a full response, as the concept of a "username" doesn't really exist in the same way anymore. That is, newly created YouTube channels are linked to a G+ profile and can have a display name, but there isn't really any YouTube username anymore associated with such a channel.

Because usernames used to exist, though, and many channels are still known by them, the "forUsername" parameter is there to provide you the associated channelID and then issue the request for the branding settings with that.

Now, having said that, it's clear that the language on the API explorer page doesn't reflect that, and perhaps therein lies the problem; I'm taking my inferences from this documentation:

https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/guides/working_with_channel_ids#v3

and from this bug report:

https://code.google.com/p/gdata-issues/issues/detail?id=4821&q=forUsername&colspec=API%20ID%20Type%20Status%20Priority%20Stars%20Summary

But it's always possible, too, that I'm reading incorrectly and you're actually seeing a new bug. The only way to know for sure would be to file it (or perhaps someone on the team could comment here)?

YouTube API - No channel branding settings returned for queries by username

1 Answers