It is probably a business decision to 'own the data' and control the storefront/display for margins. However not realizing that the data/api part is what helped them along in the first place and all this means is they lose control of the data.
Cutting off the API does nothing to stop scraping which will happen more now and not funneled into a controlled/throttled/tracked usage of that data.
Worst for Netflix is that other competing services will own more and more data instead of relying on theirs. Another streaming service could come along with that type of developer love again and catch Netflix high centered.
This is a very business over technology/open decision here for a Netflix that has moved away from developer support with things like the Netflix Prize, that time is done and over.
The argument of public vs private api usage that Netflix states how public api is only 0.3% is not valid because most public api usage just pulls data to cache and rarely hits the endpoint where private apis they use constantly track progress/settings/state etc.
It is probably a business decision to 'own the data' and control the storefront/display for margins. However not realizing that the data/api part is what helped them along in the first place and all this means is they lose control of the data.
Cutting off the API does nothing to stop scraping which will happen more now and not funneled into a controlled/throttled/tracked usage of that data.
Worst for Netflix is that other competing services will own more and more data instead of relying on theirs. Another streaming service could come along with that type of developer love again and catch Netflix high centered.
This is a very business over technology/open decision here for a Netflix that has moved away from developer support with things like the Netflix Prize, that time is done and over.
The argument of public vs private api usage that Netflix states how public api is only 0.3% is not valid because most public api usage just pulls data to cache and rarely hits the endpoint where private apis they use constantly track progress/settings/state etc.