Netflix vs. Hulu: Why Looking at Web Traffic Isn’t Enough in the Age of the API »

Business Insider recently posted a chart comparing the web site traffic of Netflix.com and Hulu.com over the past few years. The chart shows that in late 2009, Hulu's traffic began to surpass Netflix's. The article's headline suggests that Hulu is "coming up" on Netflix- but these numbers don't tell the whole story.

Much of Netflix's usage comes from the Netflix API, which serves customers using set-top boxes, applications and gaming consoles- allowing users all over to access their content without coming to their website. Google Analytics, Quantcast and Alexa can't tell you about the customer watching videos on their iPad or xBox, or through applications on their mobile phone. In the new world of APIs, multiple devices and multiple channels, website traffic numbers aren't enough- you need to measure API traffic to see what is really going on.

Looking at website traffic alone is like trying to measure Twitter usage by looking at how many people visit Twitter.com via a browser, as opposed to looking at how many people access it through the number of web, mobile and desktop applications that consume the Twitter API. 

The problem with looking at the wrong business metrics- like focusing on website analytics instead of the complex ways customers now consume media- is that it can lead you to the wrong conclusions.... and the wrong business decisions. API analytics are an essential business metric in the post-browser era- and a metric that businesses, analysts and press all need to look at as they try to get the full picture of how companies and content are growing and evolving.