YouTube channel monitor with Video Stats, AI transcription & Summarization

Description

This n8n workflow monitors YouTube channels 24/7, transcribes new videos with AI, and scores them by relevance—all automatically saved to Google Sheets.

About

This n8n workflow automatically monitors YouTube channels, transcribes new videos, and generates AI-powered summaries with relevance scoring. It pulls channel URLs from a Google Sheet, fetches recent videos (last 30 days) using the YouTube Data API v3, grabs each video's views and likes, transcribes them using Google Gemini, and saves detailed summaries back to your spreadsheet with relevance scores based on your custom criteria.

How It Works

Schedule Trigger: Runs weekly (every 7 days at 7:05 AM)
Fetch Channels: Reads channel URLs and filter criteria from Google Sheets
Get Channel ID: Uses the YouTube API to look up each channel's ID from its handle
Fetch Recent Videos: Pulls up to 20 latest videos per channel via the YouTube API
Filter Videos: Only keeps videos from the last 30 days
Get Video Stats: Fetches each video's view count and like count from the YouTube API
Check for Duplicates: Skips videos already saved in your spreadsheet
Transcribe: Uses Google Gemini API to watch and transcribe the video content
Summarize & Score: AI agent analyzes the transcript against your criteria and generates:
Full 500-word summary in markdown
Short bullet-point summary
Topic classification
Relevance score (1–10)
Relevance reasoning
Save Results: Appends or updates all video data (including views, likes, transcript, summary) in Google Sheets

Setup Instructions — Step by Step (Anyone Can Do This!)

What You'll Need Before Starting

An n8n account — cloud or self-hosted (n8n.io)
A Google account (for Google Sheets and API access)
A Gemini API key (free to get — instructions below)
A YouTube Data API key (free to get — instructions below)

Don't worry if you've never done this before — each step is explained simply!

Step 1: Make a Copy of the Google Sheet

This is where all your channels and video results will be stored.

Open the template: Click here to open the Google Sheet
Click File → Make a copy and save it to your own Google Drive
You'll see two tabs at the bottom: channels and videos

The "channels" tab is where you tell the workflow which YouTube channels to watch:
Column A — category: A label for the channel group (e.g. "AI News", "Marketing")
Column B — channels: Paste one or more YouTube channel URLs, separated by commas (e.g. https://youtube.com/@mkbhd, https://youtube.com/@fireship)
Column C — video filter criteria: Describe what kind of videos matter to you (e.g. "videos about AI tools for business owners")

The "videos" tab is filled in automatically by the workflow — you don't need to do anything here.

Step 2: Get Your Gemini API Key (Free)

Gemini is Google's AI — it reads and summarizes the videos for you.

Go to: https://makersuite.google.com/app/apikey
Sign in with your Google account
Click "Create API Key"
Copy the key and save it somewhere safe (like a notes app)

Step 3: Get Your YouTube API Key (Free)

This lets the workflow search YouTube channels and fetch video details like views and likes.

Go to: https://console.cloud.google.com
Sign in with your Google account
Click "Select a project" at the top, then "New Project" — give it any name and click Create
Once inside the project, click the hamburger menu (☰) → APIs & Services → Library
Search for "YouTube Data API v3" and click on it
Click Enable
Now go to APIs & Services → Credentials
Click "+ Create Credentials" → API Key
Copy the key that appears and save it

Step 4: Import the Workflow into n8n

Open your n8n dashboard
Click "New Workflow" → then click the three dots (⋮) menu → "Import from JSON"
Paste the workflow JSON and click Import

Step 5: Connect Your Google Account

The workflow needs permission to read and write to your Google Sheet.

In the workflow, click on any node that says "Google Sheets"
Under Credential, click "Create new credential"
Follow the pop-up to sign in with your Google account and grant access
Once connected, all Google Sheets nodes will use this same account

Step 6: Add Your API Keys

Find the node called "Set channel and API" (it's an orange node near the start of the flow)
Click on it to open it
Replace your_api_key in the gemini_api_key field with your Gemini key from Step 2
Replace your_api_key in the youtube_api field with your YouTube key from Step 3
Click Save

Step 7: Update the Google Sheet ID

The workflow needs to know which spreadsheet to use — this is the long string of letters in your sheet's URL.

Open your copied Google Sheet
Look at the URL — it looks like: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/THIS_IS_YOUR_ID/edit
Copy that ID
In n8n, click on any Google Sheets node and update the Document ID field with your ID
Do this for all Google Sheets nodes (there are a few — look for the yellow spreadsheet icons)

Step 8: Test It!

Add a YouTube channel URL to your channels sheet (Column B)
Add a category in Column A and a description in Column C
In n8n, click "Test Workflow" (the play button)
Watch it run — after a minute or two, check your videos tab in Google Sheets for results!

Step 9: Turn It On (Activate)

Once you're happy it works:

Click the toggle switch at the top of the n8n workflow to Activate it
It will now run automatically every week at 7:05 AM — no action needed from you!

Optional Adjustments

Change how far back it looks: The workflow currently checks videos from the last **30 days. To change this, find the "Last 30 days" filter node and edit the number.
Change the schedule: Click the **"Schedule Trigger" node and set whatever day/time you prefer.
Adjust wait times**: The workflow has built-in pauses between videos to avoid hitting API limits. You can make them shorter if you're processing fewer channels.

Good to Know

Videos already in your sheet won't be processed again — no duplicates
If a video fails to transcribe, the workflow moves on to the next one automatically
Each video's views and likes are saved alongside the summary
The workflow supports multiple channels per row — just separate URLs with commas