diff --git a/src/backend/src/shared/youtube.service.ts b/src/backend/src/shared/youtube.service.ts
index a092b2e..f70c0f7 100644
--- a/src/backend/src/shared/youtube.service.ts
+++ b/src/backend/src/shared/youtube.service.ts
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ export class YoutubeService {
 
   private async searchYoutubeVideos(query: string): Promise<YtDlpSearchVideo[]> {
     const searchTarget = `ytsearch15:${query}`;
+    const cookiesFile = this.prepareWritableCookiesFile(this.getCookiesFile());
     const args = [
       '--dump-single-json',
       '--skip-download',
@@ -168,6 +169,10 @@ export class YoutubeService {
       searchTarget,
     ];
 
+    if (cookiesFile) {
+      args.splice(args.length - 1, 0, '--cookies', cookiesFile);
+    }
+
     const output = await this.runYtDlpForOutput(args);
     let parsed: any;