# Need help finding viral Shorts channels in my niche to analyze **URL:** \ **Category:** Discussion & Solutions\ **Tags:** solved\ **Created:** [May 6, 2026, 6:34pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/need-help-finding-viral-shorts-channels-in-my-niche-to-analyze/321831 "2026-05-06T18:34:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mucifer00](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/mucifer00/32/172235_2.png) [@Mucifer00](https://onehack.st/u/Mucifer00)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 6:34pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/need-help-finding-viral-shorts-channels-in-my-niche-to-analyze/321831/1 "2026-05-06T18:34:03Z")
Is there a free tool or a specific way to search YouTube to find these trending creators quickly? Looking for a list of channel URLs to feed into my research. Any tips? ---
**Author:** ![Bika\_Moh](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/bika_moh/32/173698_2.png) [@Bika\_Moh](https://onehack.st/u/Bika_Moh)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2026, 9:00am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/need-help-finding-viral-shorts-channels-in-my-niche-to-analyze/321831/2 "2026-05-07T09:00:01Z")
Yes — there are a few good free methods that work surprisingly well for finding viral Shorts channels in a niche. Here’s a simple workflow: 1. Search on YouTube using: 2. Filter by: 3. Open the videos getting: 4. Then check: Free tools that help: - VidIQ - TubeBuddy - Playboard - SocialBlade - Viewstats A very underrated trick: Search: `"site:youtube.com/shorts your niche"` on Google. You’ll often discover smaller viral creators faster than using YouTube search directly. Also don’t only study huge channels. Sometimes channels with: - 5k–50k subscribers - but millions of Shorts views are the best creators to reverse-engineer because their formats are still fresh and easier to replicate. ---
**Author:** ![BlueHacker](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/bluehacker/32/174721_2.png) [@BlueHacker](https://onehack.st/u/BlueHacker)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/need-help-finding-viral-shorts-channels-in-my-niche-to-analyze/321831/3 "2026-05-11T15:23:07Z")
> **The loot you actually want:** a stack of channel URLs in your niche that are viral _right now_, free, with no hour-long YouTube scroll. That’s the ask — that’s what gets answered. * * * **🔥 The thing nobody’s written about yet:** YouTube’s own search filters quietly got the upgrade you needed in early 2026. Two filters got renamed, a Shorts-only type filter appeared, and most posts on this topic are still describing the old UI — including the ones recommending $39/mo tools to do _exactly_ what those filters now do for free. Tiny bridge: You know how you’d usually “sort by view count”? They renamed it to **`Popularity`** — which now factors in watch time and engagement, not just raw views. Combine that with the new Shorts-only filter and a date range, and you’re done in 90 seconds. * * * ### 🎯 The 90-second free workflow | Step | Action | | --- | --- | | 1️⃣ | Open YouTube, search your niche keyword | | 2️⃣ | Click **Filters** (top-right of results) | | 3️⃣ | **Type** → `Shorts` | | 4️⃣ | **Upload Date** → `This week` | | 5️⃣ | **Prioritize** → `Popularity` | | 6️⃣ | Scroll, paste channel URLs into a sheet. ✅ | > 💡 **I run this every Monday morning** on three keyword variants for the niche I’m tracking — about 6 minutes, lands me 15–20 fresh channel URLs each time. Replaced the discovery half of what I used to pay vidIQ Boost for. > ⚠ **If `Popularity` doesn’t show in your filter dropdown:** you’re on an older client. Refresh the page or try desktop — the rollout’s been uneven through Q1 2026. * * * If that’s enough for what you’re doing, **you’re done**. If you want the rest of the stack, four boxes below — pick your friction level. > **🥇 Free Path #2 — when the YouTube filter pool feels too small** > > **[FindAChannel.net](https://www.findachannel.net/Home/NicheIdeasFinder/)** — someone already pre-indexed **220K channels into 10,610 niches**. No signup, no extension, no install. Pick your niche from their library → get a complete channel breakdown with subscriber counts, monthly upload rates, and estimated monthly earnings already compiled. If your niche is in there, you can skip the YouTube-filter step entirely. > > **[vidIQ free tier — Outliers tool](https://vidiq.com/features/outliers/)** — install the extension, free plan gives **6 results per search**. Since their Summer 2025 update, Outliers now supports Shorts specifically with subscriber-range filters (so you can hide the MrBeast-tier channels and only see breakout small accounts). > > > 💡 **Trick:** 6 isn’t a lot per search — run it on 4–5 niche sub-keywords. That’s 20+ fresh channels per session, still zero dollars. > **🐍 Programmatic — if you can paste three lines of Python** > > **[scrapetube](https://github.com/dermasmid/scrapetube)** — 490 GitHub stars, MIT licensed, last release Sep 2025. No API key, no rate limits, no Selenium nonsense. > > The whole thing: > > ```python > import scrapetube > videos = scrapetube.get_search("your niche keyword") > for video in videos: > print(video['videoId'], video.get('channelName')) > > ``` > > Pipe through a `set()` to dedupe channels, dump to CSV. Cron it weekly. > > > ⚠ **If it stops returning results:** YouTube probably tweaked their Innertube (the private API their own frontend uses). `pip install --upgrade scrapetube` — the maintainer usually has it patched within a week. > **💸 Cheap tier — what's actually worth paying for in 2026** > > | Tool | Price | What you get | > | --- | --- | --- | > | **[OutlierKit](https://outlierkit.com/blog/best-youtube-outlier-finder-tools)** | $9–19/mo · 7-day free trial, no card | Niche Explorer + dedicated **Shorts Outliers** — fastest path if you run this weekly across multiple niches | > | **[vidIQ Pro](https://vidiq.com/plans/)** | $7.50/mo (annual) | Same Outliers tool, uncapped from the free tier’s 6 results | > > **Skip in 2026:** > > - ~~Spotter Studio / 1of10 at $29/mo~~ > - ~~Viewstats Pro at $49/mo~~ > > The $9–19 layer eats both lunches now — unless you specifically want MrBeast-branded data or premium AI thumbnail tools. > **🎬 Bonus play — if you also touch TikTok** > > **[Virlo](https://virlo.ai/resources/best-youtube-niche-finder-tools)** tracks TikTok and YouTube Shorts in one dashboard. The thing nobody mentions: **trends transit TikTok → Shorts with a 2–4 week lag.** Watching TikTok in Virlo’s free tier gives you that head start on what’s about to land in your YouTube niche. > > > 💡 You become the person _posting_ the trend, not the person noticing it after everyone else already did. * * * ### 📋 Quick Hits | Want… | Do this | | --- | --- | | 🎯 Channel URLs _right now_ | The filter combo at the top — 90 seconds | | 📚 Pre-compiled niche lists | [FindAChannel.net](https://www.findachannel.net/Home/NicheIdeasFinder/) | | 🐍 Weekly auto-run | [scrapetube](https://github.com/dermasmid/scrapetube) + cron | | 💸 Time \> money | [OutlierKit free trial](https://outlierkit.com/blog/best-youtube-outlier-finder-tools) | | 🎬 Trend head-start | [Virlo](https://virlo.ai/resources/best-youtube-niche-finder-tools) free tier | * * * > **The thing nobody admits on these threads:** a chunk of the guides recommending $39/mo tools are affiliate-linked. YouTube doesn’t pay anyone to send traffic to its own search bar — so the native filter combo gets buried first. **Three filters and a sheet. That’s all the wall ever was.**