Netflix, the streaming and production company that got its start sending DVDs through the mail in red envelopes, announced its last DVD will be sent at the end of September.
“On September 29th, 2023, we will send out the last red envelope,” Netflix said in a tweet on Twitter. “It has been a true pleasure and honor to deliver movie nights to our wonderful members for 25 years. Thank you for being part of this incredible journey, including this final season of red envelopes.”
Reed Hastings, who recently stepped down as co-CEO of the subscription streaming company, founded Netflix in 1997 as a rental-by-mail DVD service.
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Hastings oversaw the transition from mail rentals to one of the leading subscription streaming platforms, with blockbuster television shows and movies and its own original content.
When Hastings stepped down as co-CEO in January to step into the role of executive chairman, he announced Ted Sarandos and newly promoted Greg Peters would continue to run the company as co-CEOs.
On Thursday, Sarandos announced they decided to wind down DVD.com – the company’s DVD rental service – later this year.
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“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,” he said, adding that the last DVD would be shipping out on Sept. 29. “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 members loved the choice and control direct-to-consumer DVD rentals provided from the start.
The first DVD ever shipped by Netflix was Beetlejuice on March 10, 1998.
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Since then, the company shipped over 5.2 billion DVDs from 20 main genres and 530 subgenres to over 40 million unique subscribers over the years.
The most popular title shipped to homes in DVD form was “The Blind Side.”
The DVD service eventually propelled the company into creating its own original content with Red Envelope Entertainment titles like Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion and Sherrybaby.
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“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.”