Open data

The ViewCastLK dataset

Sri Lankan YouTube videos with their channel's figures at the moment of publishing and their views, likes and comments at days 7, 14, 21 and 30. Every column is described below, with where it came from.

Videos: 142,651
Sri Lankan channels: 2,590
Columns: 42
Published: 2 July 2026 to 1 October 2026

Parquetviewcastlk_dataset_20261001.parquet32.4 MBsha256 820ef676cd057315…CSV (gzip)viewcastlk_dataset_20261001.csv.gz27.6 MBsha256 32e90119ed01334a…

Collection

Where the data comes from

Every video published by a tracked Sri Lankan channel was picked up within hours of going live, then polled four times a day through the YouTube Data API until day 30. Channels count as Sri Lankan when their YouTube profile declares Sri Lanka as their country.

The channel figures in each row are the ones from just before the video was published, so the table can be used to predict a video's views from what was known at the time without the result leaking in.

Labels

Reading the day-7 to day-30 columns

Day N is the poll nearest to exactly N × 24 hours after the video was published. Polls drift and collection sometimes paused, so each day carries dN_hours_off: how far that poll was from the mark. Use a day's figures only when it is within ±12 hours and dN_views is present.

Videos with a usable figure at each day
Day	Videos with a usable figure
Day 7	99,230
Day 14	94,531
Day 21	93,949
Day 30	94,213

Data dictionary

Every column

YouTube API returned by the YouTube Data API, stored as it came.
Our collection observed by our own polling, four times a day.
Computed by us derived by us from other fields, by the rule shown.

Identifiers
Column	Type	Meaning	Source and derivation	Empty
`video_id`	string	YouTube video ID. The video is at youtube.com/watch?v=<video_id>.	YouTube API videos.list id.	0%
`channel_id`	string	YouTube channel ID of the uploader.	YouTube API videos.list snippet.channelId.	0%
`channel_title`	string	The channel's display name.	YouTube API channels.list snippet.title, as first collected.	0%

Video
Column	Type	Meaning	Source and derivation	Empty
`published_at`	timestamp (UTC)	When the video was published.	YouTube API videos.list snippet.publishedAt.	0%
`title`	string	Video title.	YouTube API videos.list snippet.title, as first collected. See title_changed.	0%
`tags`	string	Uploader's tags, separated by \|. Empty when the video has none.	YouTube API videos.list snippet.tags, joined with \|.	0%
`category_id`	string	YouTube category number.	YouTube API videos.list snippet.categoryId.	0%
`category_name`	string	YouTube category name.	Computed by us Looked up from YouTube's category list for Sri Lanka. That list leaves out category 29, which we fill in as Nonprofits & Activism.	0%
`duration_seconds`	number	Length in seconds. Empty when YouTube reports no usable duration.	YouTube API videos.list contentDetails.duration, converted from ISO 8601.	3.6%
`is_short`	boolean	Whether the video is a YouTube Short.	Computed by us The API has no Shorts flag. True when the player is vertical or square and the video is at most 180 seconds. Where the player shape is unknown (is_vertical empty), true when the video is at most 60 seconds.	0%
`is_vertical`	boolean	Whether the video player is taller than or as tall as it is wide. Empty when the shape could not be read.	Our collection Embed width and height from YouTube's oEmbed endpoint.	2.8%
`is_live_broadcast`	boolean	Whether the video is a live broadcast (YouTube reports its duration as zero).	Computed by us contentDetails.duration equals P0D.	0%
`definition`	string	hd or sd.	YouTube API videos.list contentDetails.definition.	0%
`caption`	boolean	Whether the uploader added captions.	YouTube API videos.list contentDetails.caption.	0%
`made_for_kids`	boolean	Whether the video is marked as made for kids.	YouTube API videos.list status.madeForKids.	0%
`default_audio_language`	string	Spoken language the uploader set, as a language code. Often empty.	YouTube API videos.list snippet.defaultAudioLanguage.	6.7%
`default_language`	string	Language of the title and description the uploader set, as a language code.	YouTube API videos.list snippet.defaultLanguage.	0%
`description_length`	integer	Number of characters in the description. 0 when there is none.	Computed by us Length of videos.list snippet.description. The description itself is not included.	0%
`topic_categories`	string	The channel's topics, as Wikipedia URLs separated by \|.	YouTube API channels.list topicDetails.topicCategories.	0.6%

Channel when the video was published
Column	Type	Meaning	Source and derivation	Empty
`ch_subs_at_publish`	integer	Channel subscribers.	Our collection From our channel snapshot taken at or most recently before published_at.	0%
`ch_views_at_publish`	integer	Channel total views.	Our collection Same snapshot as ch_subs_at_publish.	0%
`ch_videos_at_publish`	integer	Number of videos on the channel.	Our collection Same snapshot as ch_subs_at_publish.	0%
`channel_age_days_at_publish`	number	Days between the channel's creation and the video's publication.	Computed by us published_at minus channels.list snippet.publishedAt.	0%
`ch_stats_as_of`	timestamp (UTC)	When the channel snapshot above was taken.	Our collection If it is after published_at, no snapshot predated the video and the earliest one was used instead, so the channel figures include some growth after publication.	0%

Day 7
Column	Type	Meaning	Source and derivation	Empty
`d7_views`	integer	Total views at day 7.	Our collection From our poll nearest to 168 hours after published_at.	30.4%
`d7_likes`	integer	Total likes at day 7. Empty when likes are hidden.	Our collection Same poll as d7_views.	31.7%
`d7_comments`	integer	Total comments at day 7. Empty when comments are off.	Our collection Same poll as d7_views.	31.2%
`d7_hours_off`	number	How far that poll was from the exact day-7 mark, in hours. Positive means after the mark.	Computed by us Poll time minus (published_at + 168 hours). Use the day-7 figures only when this is within ±12 and d7_views is present.	30.4%

Day 14
Column	Type	Meaning	Source and derivation	Empty
`d14_views`	integer	Total views at day 14.	Our collection From our poll nearest to 336 hours after published_at.	33.7%
`d14_likes`	integer	Total likes at day 14. Empty when likes are hidden.	Our collection Same poll as d14_views.	34.9%
`d14_comments`	integer	Total comments at day 14. Empty when comments are off.	Our collection Same poll as d14_views.	34.5%
`d14_hours_off`	number	How far that poll was from the exact day-14 mark, in hours. Positive means after the mark.	Computed by us Poll time minus (published_at + 336 hours). Use the day-14 figures only when this is within ±12 and d14_views is present.	33.7%

Day 21
Column	Type	Meaning	Source and derivation	Empty
`d21_views`	integer	Total views at day 21.	Our collection From our poll nearest to 504 hours after published_at.	34.1%
`d21_likes`	integer	Total likes at day 21. Empty when likes are hidden.	Our collection Same poll as d21_views.	35.2%
`d21_comments`	integer	Total comments at day 21. Empty when comments are off.	Our collection Same poll as d21_views.	35%
`d21_hours_off`	number	How far that poll was from the exact day-21 mark, in hours. Positive means after the mark.	Computed by us Poll time minus (published_at + 504 hours). Use the day-21 figures only when this is within ±12 and d21_views is present.	34.1%

Day 30
Column	Type	Meaning	Source and derivation	Empty
`d30_views`	integer	Total views at day 30.	Our collection From our poll nearest to 720 hours after published_at.	34%
`d30_likes`	integer	Total likes at day 30. Empty when likes are hidden.	Our collection Same poll as d30_views.	35%
`d30_comments`	integer	Total comments at day 30. Empty when comments are off.	Our collection Same poll as d30_views.	34.9%
`d30_hours_off`	number	How far that poll was from the exact day-30 mark, in hours. Positive means after the mark.	Computed by us Poll time minus (published_at + 720 hours). Use the day-30 figures only when this is within ±12 and d30_views is present.	34%

Edits after publishing
Column	Type	Meaning	Source and derivation	Empty
`title_changed`	boolean	Whether a later poll saw a different title from the one in this file.	Our collection Compared on every poll.	0%
`description_changed`	boolean	Whether a later poll saw a different description.	Our collection Compared by fingerprint on every poll.	0%

Left out

Columns you can rebuild

Anything that can be recomputed exactly from the columns above was left out. To get it back:

Usable label: abs(dN_hours_off) ≤ 12 and dN_views present.
Channel figures recorded after publishing: ch_stats_as_of > published_at. No snapshot predated these videos, so the earliest one was used.
Sri Lanka time: published_at plus 5 hours 30 minutes.
Tag count: the number of |-separated entries in tags.
Thumbnail: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<video_id>/hqdefault.jpg.
Rows we modelled: not a live broadcast, and duration_seconds present.

Caveats

Before you use it

View counts are worldwide. YouTube does not say how many came from Sri Lanka.
A Shorts view is counted every time a Short starts or replays, a looser count than for regular videos, so the two are not directly comparable.
It covers three months, so festivals and other seasonal effects are not represented.
Titles and channel names are as first collected. title_changed marks videos whose title was later edited.
Likes are empty when the uploader hides them, and comments when they are turned off.

Citation

Using the dataset

Our columns and labels are released under CC BY 4.0. Titles, tags and other uploaded text belong to their creators. Please cite it as:

Ahamed M.J.S., Ahamed M.U.A. and Ahmedh M.R.R. ViewCastLK: Sri Lankan YouTube viewership dataset, release dataset-2026-10-01. University of Moratuwa, 2026.

Release built 2 October 2026.