This is definitely true, however one of the bigger attractions of the https://api.twitch.tv/extensions/[extension ID]/channels endpoint is the ability to run business analytics for those developers who would like to.
The data provided data is helpful/required to answer questions that are not entirely needed at runtime of the extension such as:
- How many broadcasters have installed my extension? (Today? This Week? Overall?)
- How many broadcasters have activated my extension?
- How many broadcasters have not activated my extension?
There’s a few things that may be helpful in addition to what was previously returned by the /channels endpoint. Note that most of these things are possible by running some offline analysis after pulling the /channels data on a regular interval or by stitching together multiple Twitch API calls, but there may be some common use cases that are worth solving in once place.
- State Change Timestamps
This could also be a filter/parameter that limits the results. E.g. “Give me all [installs/activations/deactivations] since XYZ timestamp” - Last Broadcast Timestamp
As expected, the/live_channelsendpoint is a snapshot in time and if you are trying to run analytics it’s likely that you will miss sections of your install base’s active/live time. Unless you pull the data frequently, which generates unnecessary server load
Overall, I think the /channels and /live_channels endpoints are super helpful and serve distinct purposes. Excited to hear future updates.