Netflix to end DVD-mailing subscriptions after 25 years as ‘business continues to shrink’
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Netflix has announced it is ending its original DVD-mailing option after a 25-year run. When Netflix first launched in 1997, film lovers were able to have movies sent to their doorstep via post in a new innovative way for the film industry.
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Hide AdHowever, on Tuesday (April 18) Netflix announced this original format is to be scrapped as the business ‘continues to shrink.’ Netflix’s CEO Ted Sarandos posted a statement on the Netflix website.
It reads: “After an incredible 25-year run, we’ve decided to wind down DVD.com later this year. Our 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.
“Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home — and they paved the way for the shift to streaming. From the beginning, our members loved the choice and control that direct-to-consumer entertainment offered: the wide variety of titles and the ability to binge-watch entire series.
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Hide Ad“DVDs also led to our first foray into original programming — with Red Envelope Entertainment titles including Sherrybaby and Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion.
“We feel so privileged to have been able to share movie nights with our DVD members for so long, so proud of what our employees achieved and excited to continue pleasing entertainment fans for many more decades to come.”
Netflix shared some of the DVD-mailing formats milestones, including its first-ever DVD to be shipped was Beetlejuice in 1998, and its most popular to ever be ordered was The Blind Side. Since it first launched, Netflix has sent out more than 5.2million DVDs to subscribers.
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