To capitalize on its movie reviews and vast database, Rotten Tomatoes wanted to integrate with other entertainment companies and created a private API to help grow its strategic partnerships. "As the most trusted brand for reviews, we knew an API would allow us to better serve the space," says Lily Liang, product manager. "We wanted to be available to consumers to help them select and discover what to watch." But, after two years, the private API program became too successful for the company to manage on its own.

The ROI that at first came with each new partner began to diminish. The company could only handle one new partnership at a time, and it would be months before discussing the implementation process. Starting the legal process from scratch with each new partner was grueling and resource intensive. "We were at a place where we were almost afraid to scale because we didn't have the resources to manage it," says Ms. Liang.

The company also knew it was missing a key set of partners—developers—and that to maximize the value of its API and continue to satisfy people's desire for movie information, it needed to look for tools and best practices to make its API program successful and scalable.

Looking at API management vendors, Rotten Tomatoes only considered one company. "API management is what TIBCO Cloud™ Mashery® does, and Mashery has proven that it does it well," says Liang. Rotten Tomatoes signed on with Mashery and began offering five public APIs to both partners and developers, scaling the program so it would be available to anyone.

Problems Solved, Triple-Digit Growth

"Mashery immediately solved all the problems that were holding us back," says Ms. Liang. Now the company’s branded partner portal provides standardized terms of service, eliminating the bulk of legal setbacks that made the previous partner onboarding process so slow. The portal also provides necessary information about its APIs, quick key procurement, and branding guidelines. Within the first year after Mashery adoption, the number of API keys distributed to developers and partners increased 370 percent, and quarter-over-quarter traffic volume grew by more than 378 percent. In addition, the enhanced portal heightened brand awareness and increased SEO.

Speed, Agility, Expanded Presence

The company went from onboarding one partner at a time over an average of two months for each, to managing four to five partners at once and integrating them within days. The improved speed and agility allowed the company to expand its presence in the entertainment space by integrating with key players like Apple, Comcast, Dish, Google/YouTube, and others.

The streamlined approach allows the tech team to be involved much earlier in the process. The feedback from partners has been overwhelmingly positive. Partner business development teams remark on the speed of the transaction, and technical teams appreciate experimenting with the API and asking questions as they arise.

Reduced Need for Customer Inquiries

The partner portal is also useful for developers. The developer forum and Mashery I/O Docs allow them to learn about the API and get their technical questions answered without needing help from Rotten Tomatoes. The company has seen a dramatic decrease in customer service inquiries, allowing it to redeploy resources to managing partners and improving products. For instance, with easy access to reporting and analytics, Mashery allows tracking how people use the API. "It's a lot of fun to see the exciting and creative ways developers are using our API,” says Liang. “We love to see that innovation."

"We now have someone dedicated to managing the developer forum, and we look forward to hearing from developers on how we can improve the program," says Liang.