Netflix will officially discontinue its 25-year-old DVD rental service in September this year

As streaming services have become the predominant force in the market, Netflix announced earlier that it will officially discontinue its 25-year-old DVD rental service, which was also the company’s initial offering, as of September this year.

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos stated that the transformative DVD rental service, symbolized by red mailer envelopes, laid the foundation for the streaming services the company provides today. However, with streaming now the mainstream and the proportion of users watching content on DVDs significantly diminished, Netflix can no longer sustain this service. The final DVD is expected to be sent out before September 29, marking the end of an era.

In 1998, Netflix co-founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings drew inspiration from Blockbuster’s video rental model and capitalized on the burgeoning internet to create a platform for DVD sales and rentals. This approach reduced the costs associated with brick-and-mortar stores while expediting users’ access to content.

Netflix’s decision proved prescient as Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Subsequently, Netflix pivoted to developing streaming services and aggressively expanded its international presence in 2016, bringing its offerings to 130 countries and regions, making the service available to users worldwide.

According to Netflix’s data, the first DVD dispatched through its mail rental service on March 10, 1998, was the 1988 American horror-comedy fantasy film “Beetlejuice.” To date, over 5.2 billion DVDs have been shipped, with the 2009 American inspirational film “The Blind Side” being the most popular title. The service has covered 20 content categories, spanning 530 subcategories, and amassed over 40 million subscribers in its 25-year history.