diff --git a/packages/core/src/content/transcript/providers/youtube.ts b/packages/core/src/content/transcript/providers/youtube.ts
index fa7e7d4..45c61d4 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/content/transcript/providers/youtube.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/content/transcript/providers/youtube.ts
@@ -77,6 +77,36 @@ export const fetchTranscript = async (
     )
   }
 
+  // Handle explicit apify mode before HTML check — Apify doesn't need HTML.
+  // Fixes: when HTML fetch fails, explicit --youtube apify was skipped entirely.
+  if (mode === 'apify') {
+    if (!options.apifyApiToken) {
+      throw new Error('Missing APIFY_API_TOKEN for --youtube apify')
+    }
+    pushHint('YouTube: fetching transcript (Apify)')
+    attemptedProviders.push('apify')
+    const apifyTranscript = await fetchTranscriptWithApify(
+      options.fetch,
+      options.apifyApiToken,
+      url
+    )
+    if (apifyTranscript) {
+      return {
+        text: normalizeTranscriptText(apifyTranscript),
+        source: 'apify',
+        metadata: { provider: 'apify' },
+        attemptedProviders,
+      }
+    }
+    attemptedProviders.push('unavailable')
+    return {
+      text: null,
+      source: 'unavailable',
+      metadata: { provider: 'youtube', reason: 'no_transcript_available' },
+      attemptedProviders,
+    }
+  }
+
   if (!html) {
     return { text: null, source: null, attemptedProviders }
   }
@@ -249,14 +279,7 @@ export const fetchTranscript = async (
     }
   }
 
-  // Explicit apify mode: allow forcing it, but require a token.
-  if (mode === 'apify') {
-    if (!options.apifyApiToken) {
-      throw new Error('Missing APIFY_API_TOKEN for --youtube apify')
-    }
-    const apifyResult = await tryApify('YouTube: fetching transcript (Apify)')
-    if (apifyResult) return apifyResult
-  }
+  // Note: explicit apify mode is handled before the HTML check (above).
 
   // Auto mode: if yt-dlp cannot run (no binary/credentials), fall back to Apify last-last.
   if (mode === 'auto' && !canRunYtDlp) {
diff --git a/tests/transcript.youtube-provider.test.ts b/tests/transcript.youtube-provider.test.ts
index 6df915f..96f3f07 100644
--- a/tests/transcript.youtube-provider.test.ts
+++ b/tests/transcript.youtube-provider.test.ts
@@ -67,6 +67,68 @@ describe('YouTube transcript provider module', () => {
     ).toEqual({ text: null, source: null, attemptedProviders: [] })
   })
 
+  it('uses apify mode even when HTML is null (fixes #51)', async () => {
+    apify.fetchTranscriptWithApify.mockResolvedValue('Hello from apify')
+
+    const result = await fetchTranscript(
+      {
+        url: 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abcdefghijk',
+        html: null,
+        resourceKey: null,
+      },
+      {
+        ...baseOptions,
+        apifyApiToken: 'TOKEN',
+        youtubeTranscriptMode: 'apify',
+      }
+    )
+
+    expect(result.text).toBe('Hello from apify')
+    expect(result.source).toBe('apify')
+    expect(result.attemptedProviders).toEqual(['apify'])
+    expect(api.extractYoutubeiTranscriptConfig).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(captions.fetchTranscriptFromCaptionTracks).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(ytdlp.fetchTranscriptWithYtDlp).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('returns unavailable when apify mode fails with null HTML', async () => {
+    apify.fetchTranscriptWithApify.mockResolvedValue(null)
+
+    const result = await fetchTranscript(
+      {
+        url: 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abcdefghijk',
+        html: null,
+        resourceKey: null,
+      },
+      {
+        ...baseOptions,
+        apifyApiToken: 'TOKEN',
+        youtubeTranscriptMode: 'apify',
+      }
+    )
+
+    expect(result.text).toBeNull()
+    expect(result.source).toBe('unavailable')
+    expect(result.attemptedProviders).toEqual(['apify', 'unavailable'])
+  })
+
+  it('throws when apify mode used without token and HTML is null', async () => {
+    await expect(
+      fetchTranscript(
+        {
+          url: 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abcdefghijk',
+          html: null,
+          resourceKey: null,
+        },
+        {
+          ...baseOptions,
+          apifyApiToken: null,
+          youtubeTranscriptMode: 'apify',
+        }
+      )
+    ).rejects.toThrow(/Missing APIFY_API_TOKEN/i)
+  })
+
   it('uses apify-only mode and skips web + yt-dlp', async () => {
     apify.fetchTranscriptWithApify.mockResolvedValue('Hello from apify')