Netflix ending DVD mail service after 25 years

By Charles Snee

Netflix, a media and online streaming services company based in California, announced April 18 that it is ending its DVD subscription mail service after a run of 25 years.

“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,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in the company’s April 18 earnings report.

Sept. 29 is the last day Netflix will ship DVDs to subscribers. Current subscription rates are $9.99 per month for one disc and up to $19.99 per month for an order of three DVDs.

Over the years, Netflix’s streaming service has continued to grow. A modest number of Netflix subscribers continue to prefer DVDs. Nonetheless, Netflix’s revenue from DVD rentals has been declining, from $182.3 million in 2021 to $145.7 million last year.

Netflix shipped its first DVD (for the 1988 movie Beetlejuice) on March 10, 1998. Since then, more than 5.2 billion DVDs have been sent to subscribers.

The DVD mail service attracted 40 million unique subscribers over the years. The most popular title has been the 2009 film The Blind Side.

“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,” Sarandos said.

“To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: thank you.”

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