Netflix Revenues Stall While Subscribers Soar

By Nick Mokey July 21, 2010

Netflix continues to pile on subscribers – and profits – but higher Wall Street expectations still sent the stock tumbling on Wednesday. Despite announcing that its second-quarter profits were up by 34 percent and that it had added another 1 million subscribers, Netflix shares fell by 9.2 percent the same day, due to revenues that fell below analyst expectations.

The company reported sales up 27 percent to $519.8 million, but still came in shy of the $525.4 million analysts predicted, according to Bloomberg. Part of the reason may be subscriber preference for the company’s cheapest plans. A year ago, each subscriber paid $13.29 per month, on average. Now, that figure has fallen to just $12.29 a month.

But what’s bad news for stockholders may be good news for customers. Earlier this week, Netflix announced that it would open up service to Canada, and Wednesday, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings pledged that Netflix would increase spending to acquire more exclusive streaming content for its subscribers.

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Where to rent DVDs and Blu-rays as Netflix ends disc rentals

Redbox DVD rentals.

After a formidable 25-year run, Netflix has announced that it will shutter its DVD-to-mail rental service, DVD Netflix, aka DVD.com. Citing the shrinking DVD business, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told shareholders on April 18 that the rental service would be shipping its last DVD on September 29, 2023.
And while most of the 230 million Netflix subscribers won’t miss the service -- or perhaps even knew it still existed in the first place -- DVDs and Blu-rays are still a preferred method for watching movies and TV series if you really care about quality or just don't have broadband internet.
But now that DVD Netflix is out of the game, where can people turn to rent DVDs and Blu-rays?
Well, as the news hit Twitter, two of the best alternatives chimed in, reminding their followers that they, too, still existed. GameFly -- which primarily rents video games, but also has a selection of movies for rent -- tweeted at popular kiosk-rental company Redbox with a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid gif and the text “Out here with @redbox like … .” The two services exchanged clever gifs and tweets (Redbox and Blockbuster even exchanged jabs) about being the last ones standing, but it still might be unclear to many DVD Netflix renters where they can go to fill the void.
That’s where we come in with this rundown of where you can rent DVDs and Blu-rays now that Netflix is shutting down its DVD rental service. Oh, and if you need a Blu-ray player, check out our roundup of the best ones to buy.

Redbox

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The Great Netflix Password Crackdown is still happening

How to Get Rich on Netflix.

To say that Netflix has confused pretty much everyone with its promise to end password sharing would be a bit of an understatement. It's started in a handful of countries, but with different rules. And we still don't have details about how it's going to work in the U.S.

But make no mistake: It's still happening. Netflix in its first-quarter 2023 earnings release said: "We’re pleased with the most recent launches of paid sharing, and while we could have launched broadly in [the first quarter], we found opportunities to improve the experience for members." It didn't expand on what those opportunities for improvement were, but it did note that we should still expect a "broad launch" in the second quarter of the year — in other words, any time now, and no later than the end of June.

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Netflix will ship its final DVDs this fall

Netflix final DVD envelope.

Netflix announced today in its first-quarter earnings letter — and in a note to, well, everyone — that it will stop shipping DVDs on September 29, 2023. That's a big deal because Netflix has had its legacy DVD service all this time — and it's what allowed the company to become the global leader in streaming entertainment in the first place.

"After an incredible 25-year run, we’ve decided to wind down DVD.com later this year," Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in its letter to shareholders. "Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the DVD business continues to shrink, that’s going to become increasingly hard. So we want to go out on a high, and will be shipping our final DVDs on September 29, 2023."