Capture Live Video Statistics

Question

I need to capture traffic Information about a live event on the Internet. I need as much details as possible about the traffic. (e.g. number of viewers from a particular region, Devices the viewers are using, type of video stream (e.g. 240p) and so on.

I see that all this information can be captured using the APIs provided on YouTube Live Streaming Event. However, the APIs can only be used by the owner of the channel broadcasting the event. I can set up my own event using YouTube Live Streaming or setting up my own server and gather the required statistics, however it would be better if I have the data from an established source, so the traffic data obtained is good to work upon for major events.

I have already tried speaking to a few of the channel owners with no luck. Is there a way, I could obtain this data? (e.g. Capture traffic on a third party web page like YouTube).

Answer 1

I would say that while it may be theoretically possible to capture live event statistics by scraping the video's webpage, monitoring packets, or reverse-engineering their API, this is against YouTube's Terms of Service:

You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the Service or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on use of the Service or the Content therein.

https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms