After 25 Years Of Incredible Run, Netflix Breaks Up With DVDs: It's Not You, It's Streaming

After a remarkable 25-year journey, Netflix Inc. NFLX announced its decision to wind down the DVD rental service, marking the end of an era for a generation of movie lovers. 

What Happened: Having paved the way for its trailblazing video streaming service, Netflix is now set to shut down the DVD-by-mail rental service that revolutionized the concept of delivering discs through the mail 25 years ago. 

The final red-and-white envelopes containing films and TV shows are scheduled to be sent out on Sept. 29.

“To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: thank you,” said Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos in a blog post.

See Also: Netflix Co-CEOs Get Candid About Password Sharing Crackdown, ‘Love Is Blind’ Mishap And More

Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph also shared the news via Twitter, saying that it was “just a matter of time” before movies were delivered digitally and that time was nine years ago. 

“And 25 years later, DVDs are done,” he tweeted, adding, “Thank you for your service.”

When we launched Netflix in 1998, we knew that it was "just a matter of time" before movies were delivered digitally. DVDs would have to do until then.

That "matter of time" was 9 years. And 25 years later, DVDs are done.

Thank you for your service. https://t.co/hOx9aG2DNN

— Marc Randolph (@mbrandolph) April 19, 2023

History Of DVD-By-Mail:  In 1997, Randolph visited a post office in Santa Cruz, California, to mail a Patsy Cline CD to his fellow co-founder Reed Hasting, marking the inception of the DVD-by-mail service.

As Netflix’s original CEO, Randolph intended to ascertain whether a disc could be safely delivered through the U.S. Postal Service in hopes of eventually doing the same with DVDs, a still-new format at the time, reported AP News.

Why It’s Important: While Netflix’s video streaming service boasts 232.5 million subscribers globally as of March, the number of DVD-by-mail delivery subscribers, which had been steadily declining, has not been disclosed by the company in years.

Based on the average prices paid by customers, the $145.7 million revenue generated by the DVD service in the previous year would translate to around 1.1 million to 1.3 million subscribers, the report noted. 

Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Netflix’s Price Bet In India Pays Off, Now It Wants To Replicate The Success Globally