Netflix is shutting down its DVD rental business after 25 years

Netflix today announced that it is shutting down its DVD rental business also known ‘DVD-by-Mail’ this year. The company started its DVD-by-mail rental business back in 1997. Now, nearly 25 years later, the company has decided to shut down the service.

Explaining the reason behind the company’s decision, Netflix‘s co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that the market for DVD rentals has been constantly shrinking, which has made it difficult for the company to continue offering the service to its subscribers.

“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,” the Netflix co-CEO wrote in a blog post.

After an incredible 25 year run, we’ve decided to wind down https://t.co/6h2lrcGg2b later this year.

To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: Thank you! https://t.co/McxJUlLlGF pic.twitter.com/nBXzgvvv7p

— Netflix (@netflix) April 18, 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,” Sarandos said in a blog post.

“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,” he added.

Interestingly, Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph also talked about Netflix’s DVD-by-mail business in his autobiography, wherein he described how he and co-founder Reed Hastings had flirted with the idea of challenging Blockbuster Video with mail-order VHS cassettes, but it would have cost too much. They instead landed on a more cost-effective proposition: DVDs sold and rented online, Reuters reported.

“Betting on DVDs was a risk,” Randolph wrote in his book, adding, “That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea…But it might also be our way to finally crack that category.”

Netflix said that it will be shipping its final discs on September 29, 2023.