specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: TheTVDB
providerId: tvdb
created: '2026-05-30'
modified: '2026-05-30'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - FinOps
  - FOCUS
  - Television
  - Movies
  - Metadata
description: >-
  FOCUS-aligned FinOps view of TheTVDB API: a hybrid subscriber-supported and
  revenue-tiered commercial license model. Spend is fixed-annual (commercial
  tier) or fixed-per-end-user (subscriber-supported model), not metered by
  request volume, so observability sits at the license-tier level rather than
  the meter level.
sources:
  - https://thetvdb.com/api-information
  - https://thetvdb.com/subscribe
  - https://github.com/thetvdb/v4-api
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
publisherName: TheTVDB
serviceCategory: Media Metadata
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Tiered Subscription
  billingFrequency: Annual
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
    - Purchase
    - Adjustment
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: TheTVDB v4 API
  ServiceCategory: Media Metadata
  ServiceSubcategory: Television and Movie Catalog
  ProviderName: TheTVDB
  PublisherName: TheTVDB
  InvoiceIssuerName: TheTVDB
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Purchase
meters:
  - name: commercial_license_year
    unit: year
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - revenue_tier
    notes: Fixed annual fee determined by company annual revenue tier (free / $1,000 / $10,000 / custom).
  - name: subscriber_user_year
    unit: seat
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - end_user
    notes: $12/year TheTVDB subscription that each end user maintains; aggregated per active subscriber on the developer's product.
  - name: api_key_active
    unit: key
    aggregation: count
    notes: Count of API keys minted from the developer dashboard. Not metered, but useful for license-compliance tracking.
  - name: api_requests
    unit: request
    aggregation: count
    notes: TheTVDB does not bill by request volume. Track requests internally for capacity planning and to inform caching strategy.
principles:
  - name: Visibility
    description: >-
      TheTVDB does not expose a usage or billing API. Track license cost at the
      vendor record level and instrument the client SDK (or caching proxy) with
      counters for /login token issuance, /updates polls, and per-endpoint
      request counts. Surface those counters in the company's observability
      stack to detect cache-hit-ratio regressions that would prompt a vendor
      conversation.
  - name: Allocation
    description: >-
      Allocate the commercial license fee to the product(s) that consume the
      API. For multi-product orgs, split by request volume captured from the
      caching proxy. Subscriber-supported subscription fees allocate to the
      individual end user.
  - name: Optimization
    description: >-
      Optimization is architectural, not metric-driven. Maintain a local copy
      of TheTVDB data and synchronize via /updates. Cache reference endpoints
      (genres, languages, content ratings, statuses, types) for at least one
      week. Reuse JWT bearer tokens for their full one-month lifetime. These
      patterns minimize request volume and keep the company in the lower
      revenue/usage tier.
  - name: Accountability
    description: >-
      Assign a named owner (typically the engineering lead for the consuming
      product) responsible for the annual license renewal, the attribution
      requirement compliance, and the relationship with TheTVDB. Review the
      revenue-tier threshold at each fiscal year close to avoid surprise
      reclassification.