Netflix delivers its billionth video on DVD

Online video rental company Netflix Inc. reports that on Saturday it delivered the one billionth DVD since the company`s subscription service launched in September 1999.

Netflix, No. 21 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, says it will give the recipient of the DVD a free lifetime membership to Netflix. The billionth movie was “Babel.”

Netflix launched on Sept. 23, 1999, with 2,000 titles. It now offers 70,000. It serves more than 6.3 million subscribers and ships 1.5 million DVDs per day from 42 distribution centers across the United States.

"A billion of anything is a lot and it`s certainly a nice round number," says Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, who is speaking at Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, June 4-7 in San Jose, delivering the Keynote Address on June 6. "What it really says to us, however, is that we`ve been lucky to have such supportive customers over the last seven years and that we`ve provided them with a distinctive customer experience."

Netflix reports that the five most frequently rented movies since its launch have been, in order, "Crash," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," "Walk the Line," "Hotel Rwanda," and "Million Dollar Baby."