[HarHarVeryFunny]

I have a hard time believing that Redbox had much of an impact on Blockbuster, and they certainly weren't changing the video rental paradigm.

Netflix's original DVD-rental by mail business no doubt ate into Blockbuster's business to some degree, and with their huge inventory was more of a head-on competitor than Redbox which could only offer a vending-machine full of options - the most popular ones.

What really killed Blockbuster was streaming video, not just a way of "automating" the DVD rental business - it was the paradigm shift, similar to the mobile banking vs ATM shift that TFA describes.

[mattmaroon]

That sounds logical but the timeline doesn’t match up. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010. This came after years of decline.

Netflix streaming launched in 2007 and ended 2010 with only 20 million users. (They currently have over 15x that). I was using it from the start, they had barely any content back then, Hulu was pretty new, and that was the entirety of the streaming universe. Netflix’s first major original content, House of Cards, came out in 2013.

Blockbuster peaked in 2004. Redbox was just getting started.

Blockbuster’s fall loves to get shoved into 100 different narratives, none of which match the facts. It was death by 1,000 papercuts. Netflix. Redbox. Cable system technology improving drastically. Cable TV improving drastically (this happened right around the time Blockbuster peaked, great book on how/why called Difficult Men). TV show quality in general improving drastically. The rise of HBO. Poor management. Etc.

[HarHarVeryFunny]

Yes, that sounds about right. I was too glib in saying that it was video streaming was the cause - one of the final nails in the coffin, perhaps.

As I recall Blockbuster was really in it's heyday in the VHS era, and the largest selection was always VHS even when DVD and then Blu-ray came on the scene.

Digital of one form or another - DVDs and streaming - was the future, and Blockbuster never really fully embraced it, instead just becoming increasingly irrelevant as various alternatives emerged.

It was fun while it lasted though - there was something about the experience of going to Blockbuster, or any of the smaller local video rental stores, and choosing something for movie night. I never really saw the appeal of the Netflix approach of having a want list and not really having control over what they mailed you, as well as the delay of mail.