It started with a humble DVD copy of Beetlejuice and it’s ending with… well, who knows but hopefully something equally iconic.
Yes, Netflix is stopping its DVD-by-mail service on September 29, after 25 years of diligently slotting those trademark red envelopes through its mail box.
The streamer’s CEO Ted Sarandos announced the news via a letter to investors and it will come as another blow to devotees of physical media in the US.
‘After an incredible 25-year run, we’ve made the difficult decision to wind down at the end of September,’ said Sarandos, who noted that mailing DVDs were a ‘booster rocket’ that ‘paved the way for the shift to streaming’. Netflix now has 232 million subscribers worldwide.
‘Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home,’ added Sarandos.
Netflix, of course, built its business as a convenient alternative to Blockbuster, allowing DVD users to order and return films by mail. But DVDs represented only $126m of Netflix’s $31.6bn total revenues last year.
While it’s not a core part of its business model, it’s been beloved by its users – especially in parts of the country with patchy download speeds, where streaming is a data-guzzling business.
So, is it a fond farewell to the mighty DVD or is now the time for physical media nuts to (politely) rise up and demand a return to mail-order movies?
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