Netflix officially announced the end of its DVD rental service, marking the conclusion of its 25-year journey as a DVD lending company. On Friday, September 29, the multibillion-dollar streaming service shipped its final DVD. Earlier this year, Netflix had informed the public and its customers that it would cease disc shipments by the end of 2023.
In 1998, Netflix started as a DVD rental company, delivering movies and series to customers’ homes. This convenience appealed to individuals who no longer wanted to visit brick-and-mortar video rental stores. Reflecting on their legacy, Netflix stated, “For 25 years, we redefined the way people enjoyed films and series at home, creating anticipation as they eagerly opened our iconic red envelopes.” While acknowledging the end of an era, the company emphasized that their DVD business laid the foundation for the future by providing members with unparalleled choice, control, and the freedom to indulge in unlimited viewing.
Unfortunately, customers who relied on Netflix’s rental service, DVD.com, will no longer have the option to place orders on the platform. In light of this final DVD shipment, Netflix published a collection of facts and statistics to commemorate the DVD rental service’s impact. Among them, the streaming giant revealed that their first-ever DVD shipment, on March 10, 1998, consisted of the film “Beetlejuice.” Throughout its operation, Netflix reached 239,000 mailboxes with its red envelopes. The company achieved one million DVD rental subscribers in 2003 and grew that number to 20 million by 2011. Additionally, Netflix disclosed that it celebrated a significant milestone in 2019 when it shipped its five billionth DVD.
Over the course of its remarkable journey, Netflix’s DVD rental service offered customers access to a vast selection with “20 main genres” and an impressive “530 subgenres” to choose from. The news of this closure comes nearly a decade after Blockbuster, a previous video rental competitor, closed its corporate-owned stores. Netflix entered the streaming business in 2007 and has since become a prominent player in the industry, boasting approximately 238.4 million paid subscribers worldwide, as reported in the company’s second-quarter earnings for 2023.
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