For those who enjoy physical media and dislike licensing from retailers, it appears that Target is no longer the place to get DVDs; continuing a trend that gained momentum a year ago, the retailer has announced that it is phasing out physical media.

According to IGN, Target announced that it will only carry DVDs in its stores during certain times of the year, such as Black Friday sales and new big movie releases. The website will continue to sell DVDs.

"Going forward, we will offer select DVDs in our stores at key times of the year when DVDs are more popular, such as when they have just been released or for holiday gift giving," a Target spokesperson told IGN.

Target's response appears to have been prompted by a post on the X/Twitter account The President of Physical Media that Target will stop selling physical media altogether by 2025.

Target has been phasing out physical media for several years; DVD and Blu-ray shelves tend to divide small aisles with CDs and vinyl records. Therefore, it is no surprise that retailers are discontinuing DVDs and Blu-rays altogether. Even the end caps at the checkout counters are no longer stocked with DVDs and Blu-rays, focusing instead on BookTok's latest hot releases and the growing romantic market. [Last year, Best Buy announced it would stop selling DVDs and Blu-rays. Netflix also ended its DVD rental service in September 2023. Disney has completely stopped shipping DVDs and Blu-rays to certain parts of the world, including Australia.

Currently, the only major retailers that seem to be selling physical media are Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble, but who knows how long that will last.

Physical media ownership has been a hot topic lately as streaming services become more expensive, or in the case of Disney considering a live channel on Disney Plus, a return to cable.

Consumers know that much of the media they purchase through services like Amazon and Funimation is merely a license that can go away at the whim of the company. Anime fans were outraged when the Funimation app was shut down earlier this year and they learned that their purchases could not be transferred to Crunchyroll, a merger of the two companies. For years, Amazon has faced controversy over purchased books and movies being removed from customers' digital libraries due to licensing issues.

For those who love physical media or collectors looking to downsize, we recommend a media server that runs a service like Plex.