Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service, once a revolutionary development but eventually displaced by the streaming era, will end operations following scheduled shipments on Friday from the last five distribution centers located in California , Texas, Georgia and New Jersey.
This closure marks the end of an era for Netflix’s DVD-by-mail servicewhich debuted a quarter of a century ago thanks to the vision of two entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
Its concept not only changed the way people consume audiovisual content, but also marked the decline of traditional video storesserving as a springboard into the streaming era, which has profoundly transformed the entertainment industry.
Despite being gradually displaced by the convenience and accessibility of streaming, the DVD service still maintained less than a million loyal subscribers in its user base. These subscribers will have the opportunity to keep the latest DVDs that they receive in their mailboxes as a goodbye to this service.
Netflix will send a farewell package to its most loyal subscribers
Some of the Most loyal subscribers could receive up to 10 DVDs as a farewell gesture of a service that at its peak had 16 million subscribers. However, in 2011, Netflix made a momentous decision by separating its DVD business from the streaming service.
Currently, the streaming service has 238 million subscribers worldwide, including 42.5 million in the Latin American region, and generated revenues totaling $31.5 billion in the last year.
On the other hand, the DVD-by-mail service barely managed to gross $146 million last year. Given the growing competition in the streaming sector, Netflix was forced to take measures to reduce costs and increase its profits, which it did inevitable closure of its DVD service.
Marc Randolph, who served as CEO of Netflix when the company shipped its first DVD, “Beetlejuice,” in April 1998, shared his reflections on this moment. “It’s very bittersweet,” he noted. “We knew this day would come, but the miracle is that it didn’t come 15 years ago.”
Although Marc Randolph has no longer been part of Netflix’s daily operations for two decades, it was he who, in 1997, along with his friend and colleague Reed Hastings, conceived the idea of the DVD-by-mail service, although Hastings then took over as CEO and served in that role until his resignation. Some months ago. This closure marks the end of an era in the history of Netflix, which now focuses entirely on its streaming platform in a constantly evolving world.
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