Error: “The date range is too wide”

What does this error mean?

The error “The date range is too wide” is returned by the YouTube Analytics API when a query exceeds the limits defined by Google.

This is not a Catchr limitation. Catchr sends your request as-is to YouTube, and YouTube rejects it when the query is too large.

Official YouTube API limitation

According to the YouTube Analytics (Targeted Queries) API documentation:

The API’s method returns an error if the product of the number of queried videos multiplied by the number of days in the date range exceeds 50,000.

Example: a query that retrieves data for 500 video IDs can request data for a maximum of 100 days.

Source: YouTube Analytics API revision history
https://developers.google.com/youtube/analytics/revision_history

When does this error usually occur?

This error typically happens when:

• You request data for many videos.

• You request data for a long period of time.

• The total size of the query exceeds YouTube’s limit:

Number of videos × Number of days > 50,000

How to fix the issue

1. Reduce the date range

Shorten the requested period to keep the total query size under the limit.

Examples:

• 100 videos → max 500 days

• 500 videos → max 100 days

• 1,000 videos → max 50 days

2. Split the request into multiple date ranges (recommended)

If you need all videos and long historical periods, split your data extraction into multiple smaller queries.

For example:

• One query per month

• One query per quarter

• One query per year (for a small number of videos)

This is the safest and most scalable approach.

Looker Studio specific recommendations

When using Catchr with Looker Studio, you have two main options:

Option 1: Multiple charts with different date ranges

• Duplicate the same chart

• Assign a different date range to each chart

• Each chart stays under the API limit

This works well for visual analysis but does not merge data into a single table.

Option 2: Use Google Sheets as an intermediate layer (recommended)

To consolidate all data into a single dataset:

1. Use the Catchr Google Sheets add-on

2. Run the same query multiple times, each with a different date range

3. Choose one of the following options:

   • Append: add new rows for each period

   • Combine and update: merge data and update existing rows

4. The last request should set up a daily refresh within a short period of time.

Once all data is in Google Sheets, you can:

• Connect the sheet to Looker Studio

• Avoid YouTube API limits during dashboard refreshes

Key takeaway

The “The date range is too wide” error is caused by strict limits in the YouTube Analytics API, especially for Traffic Source reports.

To avoid it:

• Keep videos × days ≤ 50,000

• Reduce date ranges or the number of videos

• Fragment long historical extractions

• Use Google Sheets to consolidate data before visualizing it in Looker Studio

If the error persists, contact Catchr support with:

• The report type (especially Traffic Source)

• The number of videos requested

• The date range used

• The destination (Looker Studio, Google Sheets, etc.)