[Python] Efficiently Filter YouTube API Search Results by Subscriber Count

I'm using the YouTube Data API to search for channels that meet a specific subscriber count range (e.g., between 100,000 and 500,000 subscribers). However, the API consumes a lot of quota units because it searches through multiple channels, including many that don't fit my criteria, before returning a few suitable ones.

For example, I make a search request using youtube.search().list to find channels based on a keyword. After retrieving the results, I manually check the subscriber count of each channel using the youtube.channels().list method, which further consumes quota. If I search 10 channels and only 3 fit the subscriber count range, I've used 10 units, 7 of which were wasted on channels outside my target range.

Here’s a minimal reproducible example:

python

import requests

API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY'

def search_youtube(query, max_results=10):
url = 'https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search'
params = {
'part': 'snippet',
'q': query,
'type': 'channel',
'maxResults': max_results,
'key': API_KEY
}
response = requests.get(url, params=params)
return response.json()

def get_channel_details(channel_id):
url = 'https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels'
params = {
'part': 'statistics',
'id': channel_id,
'key': API_KEY
}
response = requests.get(url, params=params)
return response.json()

# Sample query and channel processing
query = 'Minecraft'
search_results = search_youtube(query)

for item in search_results.get('items', []):
channel_id = item['id']['channelId']
channel_details = get_channel_details(channel_id)
subscriber_count = int(channel_details['items'][0]['statistics']['subscriberCount'])

if 100000 <= subscriber_count <= 500000:
print(f"Channel: {item['snippet']['title']}, Subscribers: {subscriber_count}")


Here's the link to my full code on Pastebin.

Question: Is there a more efficient way to filter channels by subscriber count from the start, or to minimize API quota usage? Can I adjust my search parameters or use a different method to reduce the number of unnecessary API calls?

Any suggestions or best practices would be greatly appreciated!

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