Datadory notebook
TV Metadata API Comparison: TVmaze, TMDB and TheTVDB
1,744 datasets. Pick your catch. Every guide here is built on what the catalog can actually prove.
1,744 datasets. Pick your catch.
How do you pick between them in practice?
Work through four questions in order:
Quality scores track that logic: 10, 8 and 7 out of 10 respectively on Datadory's rubric of field documentation, access reliability and freshness, against a 7.81 average across all 1,744 cataloged datasets. Only 145 of those 1,744 datasets score 10, and TVmaze is this slice's sole member of that group.
Where to go next
The broadcasting data guide is the pillar post for this whole stack: all 20 pooled Broadcasting datasets scored and grouped by workflow, from audience measurement through regulatory registries to the content-metadata tier compared here.
Pick up where this leaves off
Every one of these ships with sample rows before you commit to anything.
TVmaze API - TV Show and Episode Database
name · type · language …+10 more
The Movie Database (TMDB) API - TV Section
name · original_name · first_air_date …+18 more
TheTVDB - TV and Film Metadata Database
FCC TV Query System (LMS / CDBS TV Station Database)
13 verified core fields · ATSC 3.0 flags · ASRN numbers …+10 more
RabbitEars.info - US TV Station and Market Database
8 verified core fields · TSID · ATSC 3.0 …+5 more
Want rows instead of a pitch? Name the datasets.
API, files, or your warehouse. Daily, weekly, or hourly.
Get a sampleQuestions worth asking
Is TVmaze better than TMDB?
For scheduling and friction, yes - Datadory scores TVmaze 10/10 against TMDB's 8/10, and only TVmaze serves per-country daily grids plus /schedule/full future listings without a key. For bulk catalogue pulls, TMDB wins: its daily gzip newline-delimited ID exports stream without authentication, which TVmaze does not offer.