Before it was the world’s No. 1 streaming platform, Netflix was a rental business of DVD. Although that industry seems to have disappeared long ago, the company still continued to make them, but, 25 years after its inception, this is about to officially end.
September 29 of this 2023, Netflix will send its latest DVD physical so as to end up with a back story that helped foster his success in the technology industry.
Netflix and the end of DVDs
Netflix has shipped over 5200 million movies physically to over 40 million customers since its first shipment of ‘Beetlejuice’ in 1998.
According to the company, declining demand for physical rentals makes it “increasingly difficult” to provide the quality of service the company desires.
Netflix sent the DVD to people who subscribed by mail or websites, but, since 2007, it started streaming videos on demand, a property that ended up starring the company’s finances.
The company began using DVD.com since 2017, domino that will close as of September.
“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,” wrote Ted Sarandos, the company’s co-CEO.
The DVD also gave rise to the first foray of Netflix in original programming, with titles from Red Envelope Entertainment including ‘Sherrybaby’ and ‘Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion’.
Declining numbers
Clearly, the revenues of Netflix of the business of DVD by mail have steadily declined over the years.
In 2022, the business of DVD generated $145.7 million for the company, 20% less than 2021 and only 0.5% of its total revenues.
“We feel so privileged to have been able to share movie nights with our members from DVD for so long, so proud of what our employees accomplished and excited to continue to please entertainment fans for many decades to come,” said Sarandos. “To all who have ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: thank you.”
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