Redesigning the Netflix API

Daniel Jacobson, Netflix:

Growing the API by about 37× in 13 months indicates a few things to us. First, it demonstrates the tremendous success of the API and the fact that it has become a critical system within Netflix. Moreover, it suggests that, because it is so critical, we have to get it right. When reviewing the founding assumptions of the API from 2008, it is now clear to us that the API needs to be redesigned to carry us into the future.

That’s some serious growth. Seems to have spiked in October 2010 — coincident with the release of the new Apple TV. Update: October was also the month when Netflix streaming expanded to Canada, and the PS3 Netflix integration went disc-free.

★ Tuesday, 8 February 2011