YouTube Outlier Video Finder

YouTube

Operated by Sourcelane✓ verified

A tool for discovering YouTube breakout videos by measuring per-video performance relative to each channel's typical views: it computes an outlier ratio as video views divided by the channel's median views, ranks videos by that outlier ratio, and returns ranked breakout candidates for given niche keyword searches or a list of channels. The connector builds per-channel baselines from recent uploads (using a median to reduce the impact of prior viral hits), excludes very recent uploads and live streams from the baseline, and maintains separate baselines for Shorts versus long-form content; it supports configurable time-window filtering, thresholding for minimum outlier ratios, limits on channels/results and sample size for baseline calculation. Outputs include per-video metrics (views, relative outlier ratio, publish timestamp and relative publish text, duration and short indicator, thumbnail/identifier/link, matched search term) and per-channel metadata (channel name/identifier/link, subscriber count, a views-per-subscriber metric, and the baseline sample size), with results sorted by highest outlier ratio.

Verified Sep 28, 3:56 AM

$0.004

per outlier video

Up to 100 per call. Only pay for results returned; failed calls are refunded.

What people use it for

Video idea research — find niche topics that repeatedly break out before producing content
Title and thumbnail inspiration — analyze how high-performing videos differ from a channel’s typical uploads
Competitor analysis — identify competitor videos that overperformed relative to their channels
Trend spotting — surface recent breakout ideas by restricting to recent publication windows
Small-channel opportunities — surface ideas that succeed on smaller channels by performance relative to baseline
Agency and creator reporting — produce ranked lists of breakout videos for clients in specific niches

Trust & reliability

7d uptime trend

Window	Uptime	Success rate	p50	p95
24h	—	—	—	—
7d	—	—	—	—
30d	—	—	—	—

Calling contract

Call it through Sourcelane's gateway or MCP server. We run the connector, apply your agent's spend guardrails, and bill only the results returned.

Call it via Sourcelane

curl -X POST https://api.usesourcelane.com/v1/call \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"listing":"youtube-outlier-video-finder","params":{"keywords":["home espresso"],"maxItems":5},"maxResults":10}'

Request params

Field	Type	Required	Description
`keywords`	array	optional	Search terms for your niche, one per line. The channels that rank for each term are scanned for outlier videos.
`channels`	array	optional	Optional. Specific channels to scan - @handles, channel URLs or UC... channel IDs. Can be combined with keywords.
`minOutlierScore`	number	optional	Only return videos with at least this many times the channel's median views. 3 = three times the channel's typical video.
`publishedWithin`	string	optional	Only return outliers uploaded within this period. Recent windows surface what is breaking out right now.
`includeShorts`	boolean	optional	Also scan each channel's Shorts. Shorts are scored against the channel's Shorts median, never against long-form videos.
`maxChannelsPerKeyword`	integer	optional	How many distinct channels to take from the search results of each keyword.
`recentVideosPerChannel`	integer	optional	How many of each channel's most recent uploads form its baseline. The median views of these videos (ignoring uploads under 3 days old) is the channel's normal performance.
`maxItems`	integer	optional	Maximum outlier videos to return, highest outlier score first. 0 = return every outlier found. Capped at 100 per call.
`country`	string	optional	Two-letter country code used for keyword searches, e.g. US, GB, AU, DE.
`language`	string	optional	Language code used for keyword searches, e.g. en, de, pt-BR.

Each result contains

Field	Type	Description
`videoId`	string	—
`url`	string	Video URL
`title`	string	Title
`thumbnailUrl`	string	Thumbnail
`views`	integer	Views
`channelMedianViews`	integer	Channel median views
`outlierScore`	number	Outlier score
`channelId`	string	—
`channelName`	string	Channel
`channelUrl`	string	—
`subscriberCount`	integer	Subscribers
`viewsPerSubscriber`	number	Views per subscriber
`publishedText`	string	—
`publishedAt`	string	Published
`publishedAtIsExact`	boolean	—
`durationSeconds`	integer	—
`duration`	string	Duration
`isShort`	boolean	Short
`baselineVideoCount`	integer	—
`matchedKeyword`	string	Keyword

Use YouTube Outlier Video Finder from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor

Pick your tool and connect in under a minute. Then just ask — for example: “Get the transcript of this video and turn it into a blog outline: <url>”

Connect Claude

Web, desktop and mobile. Paste one URL.

1Copy your personal connector URL
2In Claude open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
3Paste the URL and click Add — done

Manual setup (config files, REST, Python) +

Claude Code

Adds the Sourcelane MCP server with your key as a header.

terminal

claude mcp add --transport http sourcelane https://api.usesourcelane.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key"

Claude Desktop (config file)

Alternative to the connector URL: add to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude.

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sourcelane": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://api.usesourcelane.com/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor & Windsurf

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or Windsurf's mcp_config.json).

mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sourcelane": {
      "url": "https://api.usesourcelane.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Save as .vscode/mcp.json. VS Code prompts for your key once.

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "sourcelane": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.usesourcelane.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:sourcelane-key}"
      }
    }
  },
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "sourcelane-key",
      "description": "Sourcelane agent key",
      "password": true
    }
  ]
}

ChatGPT Custom GPT (Actions)

Create a GPT → Actions → Import from URL, then Authentication: API Key, Bearer.

OpenAPI schema URL

https://usesourcelane.com/openapi.json

REST

One POST. Pass maxResults to cap cost.

curl

curl -X POST https://api.usesourcelane.com/v1/call \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"listing":"youtube-outlier-video-finder","params":{"keywords":["home espresso"],"maxItems":5},"maxResults":10}'

Python, LangChain, CrewAI, OpenAI Agents SDK…

Wrap the REST call as a tool, or point an MCP client at the endpoint.

python

import requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.usesourcelane.com/v1/call",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key"},
    json={
        "listing": "youtube-outlier-video-finder",
        "params": {"keywords":["home espresso"],"maxItems":5},
        "maxResults": 10,
    },
    timeout=300,
)
body = res.json()
print(body["receipt"]["chargedMicros"], "micro-USD for", body["receipt"]["results"], "results")
print(body["data"])

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