Why do streaming sites have such poor URLs?
Hereās a quick survey of the field:
Site | Example series | URL |
---|---|---|
Amazon Prime | Gen V | https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CBFTRGPZ/ |
Apple TV+ | Ted Lasso | https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy |
Disney+ | Bluey | https://www.disneyplus.com/series/bluey/1xy9TAOQ0M3r |
Hulu | Only Murders in the Building | https://www.hulu.com/series/ef31c7e1-cd0f-4e07-848d-1cbfedb50ddf |
Max | Friends | https://play.max.com/show/52dae4c7-2ab1-4bb9-ab1c-8100fd54e2f9 |
Netflix | One Piece | https://www.netflix.com/title/80217863 |
Paramount+ | Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) | https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/star_trek/ |
Peacock | Killing It | https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/asset/tv/killing-it/5156438808822262112 |
Tubi | Hannibal | https://tubitv.com/series/300000159/hannibal |
Of these, the best one is clearly Paramount+, because itās human-readable and free of any junk. If I were feeling uncharitable, I might ding it for using snake case rather than kebab case, but Iām willing to concede thatās a matter of taste.
In the second tier are Apple TV+, Disney+, Peacock, and Tubi which all contain the series name somewhere in their URL. They donāt make it easy for you to read them, because thereās some amount of junk mixed in there too, but itās possible.
When I see a URL like that, I want to test if they actually validate the human-readable bit. Letās see:
Site | Example series | Fake URL |
---|---|---|
Apple TV+ | Ted Lasso | https://tv.apple.com/us/show/sad-soccer-show/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy |
Disney+ | Bluey | https://www.disneyplus.com/series/sad-dog-show/1xy9TAOQ0M3r |
Peacock | Killing It | https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/asset/tv/silly-snake-scenarios/5156438808822262112 |
And indeed, two out of those three work. Good for Peacock going that extra mile.
In a distant last place, of course, are Hulu, Netflix, Max, and Amazon Prime, which donāt make an effort to be human-readable at all. Boo.