diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/niconico.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/niconico.py
index e4d986f73..fce5755de 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/niconico.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/niconico.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals
 import json
 import datetime
 import re
-import datetime
 
 from .common import InfoExtractor, SearchInfoExtractor
 from ..compat import (
@@ -471,50 +470,52 @@ class NiconicoPlaylistIE(InfoExtractor):
             'entries': entries,
         }
 
-    #USAGE: youtube-dl "nicosearch<NUMBER OF ENTRIES>:<SEARCH STRING>"
+
+# USAGE: youtube-dl "nicosearch<NUMBER OF ENTRIES>:<SEARCH STRING>"
 class NicovideoIE(SearchInfoExtractor):
     IE_DESC = 'Nico video search'
     _MAX_RESULTS = 100000
     _SEARCH_KEY = 'nicosearch'
+
     def _get_n_results(self, query, n):
         """Get a specified number of results for a query"""
         entries = []
         currDate = datetime.datetime.now().date()
-        
-	while True:
+
+        while True:
             search_url = "http://www.nicovideo.jp/search/%s?sort=f&order=d" % (query)
             print(search_url)
             r = self._get_entries_for_date(search_url, query, currDate)
 
-            #did we gather more entries in the last few pages than were asked for? If so, only add as many as are needed to reach the desired number.
+            # did we gather more entries in the last few pages than were asked for? If so, only add as many as are needed to reach the desired number.
             m = n - len(entries)
             entries += r[0:min(m, len(r))]
-                    
-            #for a given search, nicovideo will show a maximum of 50 pages. My way around this is specifying a date for the search, down to the date, which for the most part
-            #is a guarantee that the number of pages in the search results will not exceed 50. For any given search for a day, we extract everything available, and move on, until
-            #finding as many entries as were requested.
+
+            # for a given search, nicovideo will show a maximum of 50 pages. My way around this is specifying a date for the search, down to the date, which for the most part
+            # is a guarantee that the number of pages in the search results will not exceed 50. For any given search for a day, we extract everything available, and move on, until
+            # finding as many entries as were requested.
             currDate -= datetime.timedelta(days=1)
             if(len(entries) >= n):
                 break
-    
+
         return {
             '_type': 'playlist',
             'id': query,
             'entries': entries
-            }
+        }
 
-    def _get_entries_for_date(self, url, query, date, pageNumber = 1):
+    def _get_entries_for_date(self, url, query, date, pageNumber=1):
         link = url + "&page=" + str(pageNumber) + "&start=" + str(date) + "&end=" + str(date)
         results = self._download_webpage(link, query, note='Downloading results page %s for date %s' % (pageNumber, date))
         entries = []
-        r = re.findall(r'<a href="/watch/(..[0-9]{1,8})\?', results)
-        
+        r = re.findall(r'''<li.*(?!</li>) data-video-id=['|"](..[0-9]{1,8})''', results)
+
         for item in r:
             e = self.url_result("http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/" + str(item), 'Niconico')
             entries.append(e)
 
-        #each page holds a maximum of 32 entries. If we've seen 32 entries on the current page,
-        #it's possible there may be another, so we can check. It's a little awkward, but it works.
+        # each page holds a maximum of 32 entries. If we've seen 32 entries on the current page,
+        # it's possible there may be another, so we can check. It's a little awkward, but it works.
         if(len(r) >= 32):
             entries += self._get_entries_for_date(url, query, date, pageNumber + 1)
         return entries