I am building a plugin that retrieves YouTube videos for a given channel and stores them in the database. Once they are safe in the database I create a REST point which I can access than any time to have the list ready.

The issue here is how they are stored and retrieved via REST afterwards.

Retrieving the videos:

    $response = wp_remote_request( ';playlistId='.$playlist_id.'&key='.$api_key.'&order=date&maxResults=25',
    array(
        'method'     => 'GET'
      )
    );

    // get response and JSON decode it
    $json = wp_remote_retrieve_body($response);
    $json_decoded = json_decode($json, true);

    // if we have any items update the db with those results
    if ( isset ( $json_decoded['items'] )) {
      $videos['json'] = $json_decoded['items'];
      update_option( 'wpc_ylp_videos', $videos );
    }

I am using json_decode() and placing them into the db with update options.

Later I am making the REST point available and retrieving them:

// REST END POINT FOR THE VIDEOS
function wpc_ylp_rest_videos( ) {


  $videos = get_option( 'wpc_ylp_videos' );
  if( isset( $videos[ 'json' ] ) ) {
    $json = $videos['json'];
    echo json_encode($json);
  }

}

add_action( 'rest_api_init', function () {
  register_rest_route( 'wpc_ylp/v2', '/videos', array(
    'methods' => 'GET',
    'callback' => 'wpc_ylp_rest_videos',
  ) );
} );

So I am using json_encode(). I am getting a response visiting the REST API, but my issue is the formatting as per this example:

Getting time from the server, no need to check, use the saved JSON list in the db539<br>[{"kind":"youtube#playlistItem","etag":"\"p4V

My questions are the following: 1. Why do I get the Getting time from the server... part at the start of what is otherwise my almost valid reply from the endpoint? 2. Why is the endpoint not incorrect JSON format?