Netflix Celebrate 5 Billion Physical DVD Deliveries!

If I was to take you back in time around 10 years ago, the only real way to watch a recent film release in the comfort of your own home was by physical media rental. You generally had two options to do this; you could either pay a subscription to one of the (then many) DVD postal services or you could pop into your local Blockbuster. Since then, however, times have changed and it’s largely been dominated by one name, Netflix.

Despite Netflix being primarily associated with their online subscription service, they do, however, still dabble in the physical media rental service and following a post on Twitter, they have confirmed that their 5 billionth DVD has just been posted. Oh, it was Rocketman just in case you were wondering.

Netflix Delivers its 5 Billionth DVD

Now, I must admit, I was more than a little surprised that Netflix still offered this service. I mean, it’s been a long time since I rented any form of physical media. In fact, my last encounter with Blockbuster was when they were shutting down and offering a lot of ‘fire sale’ bargains.

It seems, however, that despite the growth of its online arm, Netflix still has a substantial number of people who pay for the physical DVD rental service. How many? Around 2.4 million!

What Do We Think

It’s nice to see that Netflix hasn’t entirely abandoned its physical media business and, based on these figures, it’s one that’s still (seemingly) well used. While it may take a very long time before this hits its next milestone, we can at least take a couple of minutes out of our day to remember that DVD rentals did use to be a thing! A really big thing!

What do you think? When did you last rent a physical DVD? Do you remember the film? – Let us know in the comments!