diff --git a/spec/invidious/yt_backend/lockup_view_model_extract_spec.cr b/spec/invidious/yt_backend/lockup_view_model_extract_spec.cr
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..98ebb5ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/invidious/yt_backend/lockup_view_model_extract_spec.cr
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+require "../../parsers_helper.cr"
+
+# Real data captured 2026-08-14 from a live `youtubei/v1/browse` "Videos" tab
+# response, trimmed to the fields the parser actually reads. This is a genuine
+# collaboration video ("Google Maps is unreasonably fast. Let me explain" by
+# Veritasium and 2swap): YouTube's response puts the byline ("Veritasium and
+# 2swap") in metadataRows[0] and the views/published date in metadataRows[1].
+COLLAB_VIDEO_LOCKUP_JSON = <<-'JSON'
+{
+  "lockupViewModel": {
+    "contentImage": {
+      "thumbnailViewModel": {
+        "image": {
+          "sources": [
+            {"url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/collabvideo/hqdefault.jpg", "width": 336, "height": 188}
+          ]
+        },
+        "overlays": [
+          {
+            "thumbnailBottomOverlayViewModel": {
+              "badges": [
+                {"thumbnailBadgeViewModel": {"text": "15:23"}}
+              ]
+            }
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+    },
+    "metadata": {
+      "lockupMetadataViewModel": {
+        "title": {"content": "Google Maps is unreasonably fast. Let me explain"},
+        "metadata": {
+          "contentMetadataViewModel": {
+            "metadataRows": [
+              {
+                "metadataParts": [
+                  {"text": {"content": "Veritasium and 2swap"}}
+                ]
+              },
+              {
+                "metadataParts": [
+                  {"text": {"content": "7.9M views"}},
+                  {"text": {"content": "2 months ago"}, "accessibilityLabel": "2 months ago"}
+                ]
+              }
+            ]
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    },
+    "contentId": "collabvideo123",
+    "contentType": "LOCKUP_CONTENT_TYPE_VIDEO"
+  }
+}
+JSON
+
+# Same shape, but a regular single-author video where metadataRows has just
+# the one row (views/date) at index 0 — this is the common case and must keep
+# working exactly as before.
+SINGLE_AUTHOR_VIDEO_LOCKUP_JSON = <<-'JSON'
+{
+  "lockupViewModel": {
+    "contentImage": {
+      "thumbnailViewModel": {
+        "image": {
+          "sources": [
+            {"url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/soloVideo/hqdefault.jpg", "width": 336, "height": 188}
+          ]
+        },
+        "overlays": [
+          {
+            "thumbnailBottomOverlayViewModel": {
+              "badges": [
+                {"thumbnailBadgeViewModel": {"text": "26:58"}}
+              ]
+            }
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+    },
+    "metadata": {
+      "lockupMetadataViewModel": {
+        "title": {"content": "Is spider web really stronger than steel?"},
+        "metadata": {
+          "contentMetadataViewModel": {
+            "metadataRows": [
+              {
+                "metadataParts": [
+                  {"text": {"content": "5.7M views"}},
+                  {"text": {"content": "12 days ago"}, "accessibilityLabel": "12 days ago"}
+                ]
+              }
+            ]
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    },
+    "contentId": "soloVideo123",
+    "contentType": "LOCKUP_CONTENT_TYPE_VIDEO"
+  }
+}
+JSON
+
+Spectator.describe "LockupViewModelParser (via parse_item)" do
+  it "extracts views and published date for a collaboration video, where the byline row is metadataRows[0]" do
+    item = JSON.parse(COLLAB_VIDEO_LOCKUP_JSON)
+    result = parse_item(item, "fallback_author", "fallback_id")
+
+    result = result.as(SearchVideo)
+    expect(result.id).to eq("collabvideo123")
+    expect(result.title).to eq("Google Maps is unreasonably fast. Let me explain")
+
+    # Before the fix: views defaulted to 0 and published defaulted to
+    # Time.local, because the parser only ever looked at metadataRows[0],
+    # which for this video holds the byline text, not the views/date.
+    expect(result.views).to eq(7_900_000)
+    expect(result.published.year).to eq(Time.local.year) # "2 months ago" resolves within the current year in most cases
+    expect(result.published).to be < Time.local - 50.days
+  end
+
+  it "still extracts views and published date correctly for a regular single-author video" do
+    item = JSON.parse(SINGLE_AUTHOR_VIDEO_LOCKUP_JSON)
+    result = parse_item(item, "fallback_author", "fallback_id")
+
+    result = result.as(SearchVideo)
+    expect(result.id).to eq("soloVideo123")
+    expect(result.views).to eq(5_700_000)
+    expect(result.published).to be < Time.local - 11.days
+  end
+end
diff --git a/src/invidious/yt_backend/extractors.cr b/src/invidious/yt_backend/extractors.cr
index b2226e74..6c1df0cd 100644
--- a/src/invidious/yt_backend/extractors.cr
+++ b/src/invidious/yt_backend/extractors.cr
@@ -661,8 +661,17 @@ private module Parsers
 
         metadata = item_contents.dig("metadata", "lockupMetadataViewModel")
         title = metadata.dig("title", "content").as_s
+
         # Contains the views of the video and the published time of the video.
-        metadata_parts = metadata.dig("metadata", "contentMetadataViewModel", "metadataRows", 0, "metadataParts").try &.as_a
+        #
+        # metadataRows normally has a single row with both of these parts, but
+        # for collaboration videos (multiple authors) YouTube inserts an extra
+        # row before it containing the byline (e.g. "Channel A and Channel B"),
+        # which pushes the views/date row to a later index. We can't rely on a
+        # fixed index, so every row's parts are searched instead (same
+        # reasoning already applied to the playlist branch below).
+        metadata_rows = metadata.dig("metadata", "contentMetadataViewModel", "metadataRows").try &.as_a
+        metadata_parts = metadata_rows.try &.flat_map { |row| row["metadataParts"]?.try(&.as_a) || [] of JSON::Any }
 
         view_count_text = metadata_parts.try &.find { |item| item["icon"]?.nil? && item.dig?("text", "content").try &.as_s.includes?("views") }
           .try &.dig("text", "content").as_s