Application information

Orgo Obscura Analytics

A private, owner-operated analytics and research application that helps evaluate and improve The Obscura Files. It reads YouTube data. It cannot publish or change anything.

At a glance
ApplicationOrgo Obscura Analytics
Operated forThe Obscura Files YouTube channel, by the channel's owner, Noah Gandley
PurposeInternal performance analysis and research to evaluate and improve the channel's documentaries
AvailabilityPrivate. It is not offered as a public service and does not accept sign-ups.
Google / YouTube accessRead-only, through YouTube API Services (two read-only OAuth scopes, listed below)
Current statusInactive. Collection is switched off until the owner explicitly activates it, and Google authorization must be renewed before any collection resumes.
Services usedGoogle and YouTube APIs (data source), Orgo.ai (cloud infrastructure), OpenAI-based AI processing (analysis), Telegram (delivery of summaries to the owner)
Privacy policyOrgo Obscura Analytics privacy policy
Contactcnoahgandley@gmail.com

What the application does

Orgo Obscura Analytics retrieves The Obscura Files' channel identification details and selected aggregate performance metrics from the channel's own YouTube Analytics reports. The channel owner uses the results to review how the channel's documentaries perform, and draws on them when planning and improving future work.

The analysis is internal. Some of it is done with an OpenAI-based AI model, and summaries can be delivered to the owner through Telegram. The application runs on cloud infrastructure from Orgo.ai. The privacy policy explains what each service receives, how data is stored and deleted, and the limits of that deletion.

It is a tool for looking back at results, not for acting on the channel. Everything it does with YouTube is reading.

Why it accesses YouTube data

The performance of a YouTube channel is recorded by YouTube. To analyze it outside YouTube Studio, an application has to request the data through Google's official APIs, the YouTube Data API and the YouTube Analytics API, and the channel owner has to authorize that access through Google's standard sign-in and consent screen.

That authorization is given by the owner of The Obscura Files for The Obscura Files. The application exists to analyze this channel only.

Read-only access

Google access is granted through OAuth scopes, which define exactly what an application may do. Orgo Obscura Analytics currently requests two, and both are read-only:

Requested OAuth scopes
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.readonly View the authorizing account's YouTube information. This is a broad read-only scope. The application's design limits what it actually retrieves to channel identification details.
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/yt-analytics.readonly View YouTube Analytics reports for the authorizing account's YouTube content.
What these scopes do not allow

Neither scope authorizes publishing or modifying channel content. With the access it requests, the application cannot:

  • upload, edit or delete videos;
  • change titles, descriptions, thumbnails, playlists or channel settings;
  • post, edit, moderate or delete comments;
  • subscribe, like, or take any other action on YouTube on the owner's behalf.

It also does not request YouTube's separate monetary-reporting scope.

How performance data supports internal analysis

Analytics reports turn a channel's history into evidence. Comparing documentaries side by side, and watching how each one performs over time, helps answer practical questions about the work, for example which subjects and storytelling choices hold viewers' attention.

YouTube Analytics reports describe audiences in aggregate. The analysis is about how videos perform, not about identifying individual viewers.

Private and owner-operated

Orgo Obscura Analytics is used by the owner of The Obscura Files for The Obscura Files. It is not a product, it is not available to other channels or the public, and it does not offer accounts. Details of how the data it retrieves is handled are set out in the privacy policy. Questions can be sent to cnoahgandley@gmail.com.

Relationship to Google and YouTube

Orgo Obscura Analytics uses YouTube API Services. Use of the application is subject to the YouTube Terms of Service, and Google's handling of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

Orgo Obscura Analytics is operated for The Obscura Files. It is not a Google or YouTube product, and its use of Google APIs does not imply endorsement by Google or YouTube.