YouTube Trending API

The YouTube Trending API on Trends MCP returns a live ranked board of trending video titles without a YouTube Data API key or quota budget. From the August 7, 2026 scan (as_of 2026-08-07T04:01:37 UTC), the feed returned 25 videos, led by Pooh Shiesty - Last Man Breathin [Official Audio], Primetime | Official Trailer HD | A24, and Animal (Live from Hinterland 2026) | KATSEYE. Pair shortened title keywords with get_growth on youtube or google search to separate one-day board spikes from multi-month demand. Free tier access starts at 100 requests per month.

What YouTube Trending data shows right now

From the Trends MCP scan of August 7, 2026, the YouTube Trending board held 25 ranked videos. Music, game trailers, esports, and film promos filled most of the list.

Growth follow-ups on shortened keywords (Trends MCP API, recent index date August 1, 2026 unless noted):

• KATSEYE on youtube: index 96, +62.71% over 30 days, +52.38% over 3 months, +140.0% over 6 months.
• KATSEYE on google search: index 82, +49.09% over 30 days, +20.59% over 3 months, +70.83% over 6 months.
• GTA 6 on youtube: index 3, -70.0% over 30 days, flat at 0.0% over 3 months, +50.0% over 6 months and 12 months.
• GTA 6 on google search: index 11, -73.81% over 30 days, +22.22% over 3 months, +57.14% over 6 months, +83.33% over 12 months.
• Overwatch on youtube: index 6, -14.29% over 30 days, flat over 3 months, +20.0% over 6 months.
• Quake on steam (July 1, 2026 recent point): peak volume 173, +7.45% volume growth over 30 days, +33.08% over 3 months.

The exact API calls

Two call shapes cover most YouTube Trending research. get_top_trends with type YouTube Trending returns the current ranked board. get_growth with source youtube and a shortened keyword returns percentage moves across chosen windows. Google Search is the usual second source when a title also drives web demand.

{
  "type": "YouTube Trending",
  "limit": 25
}

{
  "keyword": "KATSEYE",
  "source": "youtube",
  "percent_growth": ["30D", "3M", "6M"]
}

The type string is case-sensitive. Limit defaults to 25 and maxes at 200. Offset paginates deeper into the same scan.

How this differs from YouTube search volume

The YouTube Trending board answers what videos are climbing the public trending list right now. The youtube keyword source answers how hard people search for a phrase on YouTube over weeks and years. Rank 5 on August 7, 2026 was Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look Coming August 27, while the GTA 6 youtube index sat at 3 on August 1, 2026 after a -70.0% 30-day drop. Board presence and search interest can diverge after a trailer wave cools.

That split matters for content planning. A music video can hold a top board slot while keyword search stays quiet. A franchise teaser can sit mid-board while 6-month and 12-month search growth stay positive, as GTA 6 did at +50.0% on youtube and +83.33% on google search over 12 months.

Who pulls this board and why

Editors use the board as a morning scan for titles that already cleared YouTube's trending filter. Game marketers watch trailer rows such as Overwatch, Quake, PEAK, and Grand Theft Auto VI, then run growth on brand keywords to see whether attention is still building. Music teams treat official video ranks as a distribution check next to google search growth on the artist name.

A practical loop uses 4 calls. Pull YouTube Trending once. Shorten 3 titles to brand or franchise keywords. Call get_growth on youtube for each. Keep only keywords with 30-day growth above 20% or a recent index above 50. On August 7, 2026, KATSEYE cleared that bar with youtube index 96 and +62.71% over 30 days.

Limits and honest caveats

The board returns ranks and titles, not view counts, watch time, or channel IDs. Region and personalization on youtube.com can differ from the Trends MCP scan, so treat the list as one structured snapshot, not a personal homepage. Growth percentages on short or noisy phrases can swing hard when baselines sit near zero; Primetime A24 returned low-quality warnings with over 90% zero values, so quote the recent index (google search 6, youtube 2 on August 1, 2026) instead of the inflated percent.

Steam follow-ups help for game trailers only when the display name resolves cleanly. Quake returned peak volume 173 on July 1, 2026 with +29.46% index growth over 30 days, which is useful context but not a YouTube view metric. TikTok growth was unavailable for KATSEYE in this run, so that source was skipped rather than invented.

Pricing and getting started

The free tier covers 100 requests per month across all sources, including YouTube Trending. Starter is $19 per month for 1,000 requests, Pro is $49 for 5,000, and Business is $199 for 25,000. Annual billing saves 20%. See pricing for current plan details, the Google Trends page for the sibling search-interest feed this page amplifies, and YouTube trends for keyword search volume on the youtube source.