Snippet for using Google Youtube APIs with Meteor rendering engine (not Meteor UI). Assume the template is called "channel". You only need to implement onPlayerReady of line 44. It uses jQuery.getScript();

meteor_ytapi.js

Meteor.startup(function () {
    Session.set('YTApiReady', false);
    Session.set('channelRendered', false);
});

onYouTubeIframeAPIReady = function() {
    Session.set('YTApiReady', true);
};

Template.channel.created = function () {
    if (typeof player === 'undefined')
        $.getScript('https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api', function () {});
};

Template.channel.rendered = function() {
    Session.set('channelRendered', true);
};

Template.channel.destroyed = function () {
    Session.set('channelRendered', false);
};

Deps.autorun(function (c) {
    if (Session.equals('YTApiReady', false) ||
        Session.equals('channelRendered', false)) {
        return;
    }

    var interval = Meteor.setInterval(function () {
        if(!document.getElementById('player-div')) {
            return;
        }
        var playerDiv = document.createElement('div'),
            channel = Template.channel.getChannel();
            
        playerDiv.id = 'player-div';
        document.getElementById('player-parent').innerHTML = '';
        document.getElementById('player-parent').appendChild(playerDiv);
        
        player = null;
        player = new YT.Player('player-div', {
            videoId: channel.URL,
            events: {
                'onReady': onPlayerReady
            }
        });
        Meteor.clearInterval(interval);
    }, 100);
});

Thank you for posting this. It's been a HUGE help for an app I'm writing. Would you mind sharing the getChannel() function that you're using to set the videoId?

Neil, I would expect that the getChannel() function does a lookup into the mongo collection that contains whatever metadata he's maintaining each video. I am borrowing this code too and I have a collection with the metadata for each video that I want to play. I hope that helps.

Yes, it's a channel on mongodb

You have no idea how much time you just saved me. Thanks!