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How the hell was it good business for Netflix to get rid of DVDs?

posted a year ago by RustyShacklefurd (2039)
21 replies | jump to latest

I had a Netflix subscription for DVDs for many years. I had always assumed that all the movies Netflix had on DVD were also available for streaming. But then a few months after Netflix announced it was ending DVDs it showed me which movies in my DVD queue were available for streaming and it was a tiny selection. I had over 80 movies in my DVD queue and only 6 of them were available for streaming. Which means Netflix’s movie DVD library was over 10 times bigger than its movie streaming library.

How could it possibly be good business for Netflix to close off access to over 90% of the movies it had available? How does that not drive away tons of customers who no longer have any access to the vast majority of movies that were available before? And why aren’t all the movies they had on DVD available for streaming?

[–] AustraliBoy98 (223) a year ago

It's bad news. Without physical copies they can just erase Netflix originals from existence whenever they want (not that that is a big loss with many of them).

[–] mikethemartian (6992) a year ago

I’ve never had Netflix but I was under the impression that on the streaming service they mostly had TV shows and their own original movies, not theatrical releases from other studios.

[–] Kowalski (78914) a year ago

💯

[–] ClementinaSpur (1328) a year ago

The early days of Netflix were pretty much exclusively studio releases and network and cable TV shows. It also had a huge selection of foreign films. There were so many French films I watched one nearly every day without repeating over the summer of 2015. Those were the good old Netflix days.

Then they started making their own stuff, and they even would put their big red stamp on movies and TV shows made elsewhere that I suppose they paid to have partial rights. For instance, the BBC series River is listed as a Netflix Original, but there's no way Netflix had anything to do with that series because it's too good.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21709) a year ago

“Those were the good old Netflix days”

The first Netflix original film I saw was Beast of No Nation (2015) and I was super impressed. I had high hopes, but fast forward to today. What the hell happened?

[–] ClementinaSpur (1328) a year ago

When something that is called a Netflix original is really good, it usually turns out that Netflix only bought the worldwide distribution rights. It had zero to do with the actual reasons why the movie is so good because the movie was produced outside of Netflix's house. Beasts of No Nation is one of those. River was made by BBC. Netflix just threw some money at it and gets to claim it like they made it.

[–] ClementinaSpur (1328) a year ago

I had a DVD plan too and noticed the same thing about the very low number of DVD titles available also for streaming. Many of the DVDs were obscure and hard-to-find movies.

Netflix got rid of DVDs because they don't really care about movies and providing movie lovers with those movies. It's probably about eliminating the overhead that the DVD plan created, pushing the ease of streaming while piling up the cash, and now making "original" crap with all of their cash. When I see something is a Netflix Original, that usually is a NO for me. There are the rare unicorns, however. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[–] SamNoyoun (6012) a year ago

Long before they completely stopped it was obvious that they were in the process of phasing them out! My local (Vermont) distribution center went from White River Junction to Portland ME, then Boston, and finally Brooklyn (as they slowly closed them) before I quit the service...All the while the available movies were dwindling significantly: I noticed there were dozens of movies I had rented in the early days(I joined in 2006) that were no longer available. I NEVER considered the streaming just because the selection was so poor! Sad days, so I started my own collection...

[–] Padeen (6459) a year ago

It probably wasn't profitable enough to continue the service. Quickly looking it up, DVDs amounted to only 0.6% of its revenue.

[–] RustyShacklefurd (2039) a year ago

0.6%?! How could DVDs be only 0.6% of Netflix revenue when they had more than 10 timas as many movies on DVD as they did for streaming? That math doesn't make any sense.

[–] quartz (482) a year ago

it could be (and this applies to all social media, and literally anything) that you don't notice what you don't see. if you're a casual film watcher, and they have the major films, you'll be alright with it. an advert for netflix here says there's over 1,000 films available for streaming. that always seemed to be a really low number to me. but if you have the choice of 1,000 films, you never know about the other 100/500/2,000

[–] Padeen (6459) a year ago

I just quickly Googled it and that's what I read.

"Shutting down its DVD business could help Netflix better focus resources as it expands into new markets such as gaming as well as live and interactive content. Its DVD business has also declined significantly in recent years. In 2021, Netflix’s non-streaming revenue – mostly attributable to DVDs – amounted to 0.6% of its revenue, or just over $182 million."
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/28/tech/netflix-dvd-rental-movies-ending/index.html

Also keep in mind their revenue last year was over 30 billion, so renting DVDs probably wasn't worth it for them anymore.

[–] Ticketsplease (4024) a year ago

People weren't bothered waiting for movies, having to get them from the mailman, having to be responsible for returning them and if they get lost, liable for replacing them. The whole thing was a hassle for many people.

Whereas streaming is instantaneous and doesn't have any of those issues.

[–] RustyShacklefurd (2039) a year ago

"People weren't bothered"? Do you mean people didn't want to bother? That would make sense for the small percentage of movies available for streaming but what about the overwhelming majority of movies that were only available on DVD? Wouldn't people be willing to bother with that hassle for movies only available from Netflix on DVD?

[–] Ticketsplease (4024) a year ago

I guess people just hoped that one day the movie they wanted would be on streaming.

[–] SamNoyoun (6012) a year ago

"movies only available from Netflix on DVD"

The problem is the number of those movies started dwindling seriously starting somewhere around ten years ago, when the writing was clearly on the wall regarding the imminent end of DVD service...By the time I ended my own service four years ago, I had noticed many dozens of movies that I had rented over the years that were simply no longer available!

[–] [deleted] a year ago

They had the best selection. And Blu Ray destroys streaming when it comes to picture quality.

RIP Netflix streaming.

[–] jriley555 (8541) a year ago

Personally, I have no great regard for physical media. Havent popped in a dvd in years.

Nor am I that preoccupied w/ the technical aspects of picture quality - HD is generally quite good enough for my big screen.

Some of us are medium to low brow on the technical aspects, more picky about the writing, acting, narrative, development.

[–] RustyShacklefurd (2039) a year ago

What I liked about getting DVDs from Netflix is that they often had special features. I loved to look at the special features. You can't get those special features through streaming.

[–] jriley555 (8541) a year ago

Good point.