ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP by way of Getty Images
Netflix’s long-running DVD rental service is coming to an finish, it was introduced right this moment alongside the Q1 2023 earnings name. Netflix’s US-based DVD rental service was Netflix’s major enterprise for over twenty years earlier than its main transition and reinvention into the streaming big that it’s right this moment.
Per the official Netflix “about us” website, in 1997, “Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph have an idea to rent DVDs by mail. They test the concept by mailing themselves a DVD. The DVD arrives intact, and the idea for Netflix is born.”
The web site Netflix.com was launched in 1998, which was adopted by the “movie recommendation system” launch in 2000. One 12 months later, Netflix formally adopted the pink coloration branding that’s related to Netflix to at the present time. In 2011, signaling the shift into streaming, Netflix rebranded its DVD rental service into DVD.com. In the early days, you might straight lease DVDs from throughout the Netflix streaming web site, though finally, that performance was scrapped.
Picture: Netflix’s About Us Page
The most up-to-date main information to return out of Netflix’s DVD platform was the truth that it celebrated transport its 5 billionth DVD again in September 2019. In 2019, there have been reportedly 2 million members nonetheless receiving DVDs from DVD.com.
It’s been no secret, nonetheless, that Netflix’s DVD service had declined in subscribers and recognition for a few years. The service pulled in $146 million in income in 2022, down from $183 million in income in 2021 and $239 million in 2020.
The DVD rental service continued including new releases month-to-month (see our roundup for the April 2023 releases right here), including the latest theatrical releases from all main distributors like Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, A24, and Sony. It additionally housed an enormous assortment of field units too from all the key TV distributors.
Netflix DVD to Close in September 2023
In an official weblog put up from Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, he acknowledged, “goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as the business continues to shrink that’s going to become increasingly difficult. So we want to go out on a high, and will be shipping our final discs on September 29, 2023.”
Netflix’s varied socials, together with the one for Netflix’s DVD service, confirmed the information:
On September twenty ninth, 2023, we’ll ship out the final pink envelope. It has been a real pleasure and honor to ship film nights to our fantastic members for 25 years. Thank you for being a part of this unimaginable journey, together with this last season of pink envelopes. pic.twitter.com/9lAntaL2ww
— DVD Netflix (@dvdnetflix) April 18, 2023
Alongside the announcement, Netflix introduced a couple of stats too:
- Beetlejuice was the primary DVD shipped on March tenth, 1998
- The Blind Side has been probably the most shipped DVD in its historical past
- 40 million distinctive subscribers since inception.
Your final probability to lease from Netflix’s DVD service will probably be up till the top of September 2023, with the service ceasing sending new mailings on September twenty ninth, 2023.
Reed Hasting, chairman, president and CEO of Netflix Inc., poses in a Netflix distribution plant in Sunnyvale, California – Photo by Kimberly White/Corbis by way of Getty Images
RIP Netflix DVD.