New gTLDs for City Names in November 2019

I quite like city names kind of new gTLDs, I mean by this, the name of a city as a domain name extension. There are 45 of them: one which was supposed to be withdrawn but which is still delegated: the .DOHA new gTLD, two that are not "official" city new gTLD names but which still are name of famous cities: the .TOURS and .SPA domain name extensions, and two more that I added to the list which are: .CITY and .TOWN Top-Level Domains.

What do you see: blue or red?
I hear everywhere that "geographic" new gTLDs are a success, well...even if I am certain that they are a great tool, it is not what the numbers say. The global table (the report) containing all monthly figures from 2016 to 2019 become more and more red. It means that most registration figures tend to decrease month after month in general, and this starting 2016, except for a few cities.

Some cities are in the blue
On the total list of extensions, some remain stable  and their registration figures tend to increase slowly month after month. In the order, these TLDs are:

1. The .NYC new gTLD for the city of New-York (USA);
2. The city of Paris and its .PARIS (France);
3. The .TOURS but this one is not a city name only but an English word with a total other meaning (France);
4. The .MIAMI extension (USA);
5. The .BRUSSELS extension (Belgium);
6. The .GENT (Belgium);
7. The .KYOTO (Japan). Note that starting from here, domain name registrations are below the thousand;
8. The .OSAKA (Japan);
9. The .MADRID (Spain);
10. The .STOCKHOLM (Where it is always cold).

All other cities are neither stable nor seeing increase of domain name registrations on the long run. Note that the ICANN new gTLD program, even if "launched" in 2012, is almost unknown to many users and I would say that the reason of these poor numbers is here. Now, would there be a massive communication campaign about new gTLDs, I doubt this would make a big difference: companies don't change their domain name and a local business - even if local - does not want to limit its business to the city where it is based. There are interesting usage models to imagine here ;-)

The .WANG new gTLD = WTF

Once a month, I edit the "Multiple Registries" new gTLD report: it is dedicated to registries operating five and more domain name extensions. Most operators are famous and we can easily see which is on the right curve and which is not.

This month I noticed that ZODIAC, changed position on my board and gained many places up to the top. The move was noticeable: it went from position eleventh (below 150,000 registrations in total) to position five in my "Top Multiple Registry" report.

Digging a little further, I noticed that one of its registries, the .WANG one, had exactly 146,260 domain names registered in the end of October 2019 and... 920,020 for the end of November, just one month after. It means that 773,760 new domain names were created in one single month.

I requested an explanation to the primary contact of the TLD but my little finger tells me that I won't receive an answer.

New gTLDs and Politics: November 2019

I just issued the November 2019 new gTLD report dedicated to Politics and there is an interesting figure (when it usually is a rather boring report):

• From the 12 domain name extensions listed, the .BEST new gTLD hits the top of the listing and passes the volume of domain name registrations from the .GURU new gTLD; the registration curves from the two TLDs are the opposite one from the other: the .BEST keeps increasing when .GURU keeps decreasing. Reminder: the .GURU new gTLD was the first to launch when the ICANN new gTLD program started to delegate extensions.

• The .VOTE dances with a small increase of registrations but .VOTING clearly dives from a poor 706 registrations to a 337 regs.
• The .EXPOSED new gTLD is clearly exposed and dives too sticking to the red ("red" means that the volume of registrations decreases from a month to the other).
• .DEMOCRAT and .REPUBLICAN both stagnate with a small number of registrations: the .REPUBLICAN Top-Level Domain does not even have 1,000 domain names on the market. The .DEMOCRAT does...
• From this list of 12 new gTLDs, two have more than 50,000 registrations and the rest has less than 4,000 domain names registered. 3 TLDs have less than 1,000.

For those interested in "Multiple Registries" operating more than 5 new gTLDs, I also issued the report. The rest of the reports will come little by little.

From 4,700 to 71,000 : the .BEST new gTLD

BlackFriday helps for sure but the curve remains impressive: the .BEST new gTLD started the year with 4,745 domain names in the root. The Tweet below from CEO Cyril Fremont announces the milestone of 71,000 registrations.

.Best is on Fire during the Black Friday week 🔥🔥🔥
+71K ⬆️ Get your .Best domain now : https://t.co/etJXjHIdOo#Best #domains #domain #business #strategy #seo #Digital #DigitalMarketing #marketing #Digital #brand #brands #website #branding #Growth #MarketingStrategy #scale pic.twitter.com/qiSoM9x6ZR

— Cyril.Best (@FremontCyril) December 1, 2019

Reminder: THE.BEST social network has not even launched yet so my understanding of these numbers is that they will probably continue to increase. I personally registered jean.best for the future and will certainly use it for the upcoming application.

3 new gTLDs were terminated

The official ICANN page for terminated strings was just updated with " new extensions:

1. .xn--estv75g (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited) - 07 November 2019;
2. .NADEX (Nadex Domains, Inc.) - 16 October 2019;
3. .VISTAPRINT (Vistaprint Limited) - 14 October 2019.

I find it sad that the .VISTAPRINT was terminated : the company is BtoC (first), has lots of competitors and the use of its own Top-Level Domain could have made a difference in terms of online positioning. With the so many products it offers, nit now makes it difficult to go straight to the right content and frankly, a www.visitcards.vistaprint would have offered more precision.

New gTLDs : Looking For a Position

My dear new gTLD Network,

With the next round of the ICANN new gTLD program coming, I look for a position at an existing Registry, a Backend Registry, a future new gTLD applicant, a Multiple Registry, a Registrar (Corporate or Retail), a Law Firm or a Web/Communication Agency.

What I will do for you:

• I will create your .BRAND (also called "dotBrand") new gTLD project, considering potential objections;
• I will find the perfect price and deal for your mandatory Backend Registry provider;
• I will submit your new gTLD application to the ICANN until it is delegated;
• For a project dedicated to selling domain names through the network of accredited Registrars; I will operate and promote your TLD with the appropriate team;
• For new gTLD innovation on a $50 Million ROI project, I will need an hour of your time to explain how your application can change how consumers search on Internet.
• I will also be able to operate and monitor large domain name portfolios on both the Registrar or the Registrant's side (as a Registrar's client).

I have the experience from the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program and also worked for major Registrars (retail and Corporate) and Registries. I am based in Paris, France.

My details are available here.

The .CONTACT new gTLD is around but...

I heard background noise about the .CONTACT new gTLD and it appears that there could be innovation coming with this string: not just domain names to buy and renew. If I am confident that Donuts - the new owner of the .CONTACT new gTLD - has the capacity to create innovation, I sincerely hope that it is going to bring something definitely new to the new gTLD world and not a copy of the .TEL Top-Level Domain.

Remember .TEL ?
The .CONTACT new gTLD reminds me of the .TEL : do you remember the .TEL with this platform dedicated to offering your communication details? It offered links to you phone, your email, the possibility to add sub-domains to differentiate your professional identity from your personal one, you could even add your Adsense in the end to try to generate an income from it.

I liked it quite a lot in the beginning and registered guillon.tel as a great domain name that I would use on my personal business card to point to "what I do", and the option to contact me in several ways (and show off my websites too). The problem is that the platform was a nightmare and required many clicks to do something. It required a different password from the domain name registration (2 passwords then). The platform was then abandoned several years after. Unless I am wrong, I think that it can till be used.

Funny, I just checked guillon.tel and noticed that someone uses it for porn in some strange language :-)

Please "renew"
"Meet with adoption" is a sentence that I quite like when it comes to talking about the launching of a new gTLD: it is also the hardest challenge for a registry. Having registrants to renew a domain name does not necessarily mean that a new gTLD has met with adoption and I hate to write it but it is precisely what happened to .TEL and myself:

1. I found the project quite innovative: it was the only one to offer something different;
2. .TEL was cool : it meant "Telephone" and was a great string to tel users your phone number: "hey, this is where you can find my phone number...and much more";
3. The .TEL new gTLD was the only one to launch, there was not even competition around: no other strings were launching at the same time!
4. I really liked the idea of offering access to a platform that made sense to me: the opportunity to offer all possibilities to contact me in a single place: it required no HTML development, no coding whatsoever...and no hosting!

I kept and used the name several years BUT at some point...I dropped it because it was just another domain name to renew for a use that I did not really have since I already had other websites for my activities. The .TEL Top-Level Domain now has 75,000 domains on the market: it had...many more in the past.

This is the ultra high challenge that the .CONTACT new gTLD is facing: users not to drop their domain name at some point. It the innovation to come with this new string is not completely different from what we've seen in the past...let's hope that Premiums will do the rest.

Come on Donuts, show us what you've got ;-)

New gTLD Reports are up-to-date!

October is here an our new gTLD Reports were just updated for this month. On Twitter, I will point to interesting new gTLD stats from the month:

1. New gTLDs related to POLITICS (.democrat - etc...);
2. New gTLDs related to LUXURY (.luxe - etc...);
3. New gTLDs related to the MUSIC community (.band - etc...);
4. New gTLDs related to CATERING and CULINARY (.kitchen - etc...);
5. New gTLDs related to PHOTOGRAPHY (.gallery - etc...);
6. New gTLDs related to CITIES : these are city names only (.berlin - etc...);
7. New gTLDs related to COMPANIES : new domain name extensions that we believe a company should keep an eye on;
8. New gTLDs related to the LAW and LEGAL matters (.lawyer - etc...);
9. New gTLDs related to FINANCE (.financial - etc...);
10. New gTLDs related to a COLOR (.black - etc...);
11. New gTLDs related to SPORTS (.football - etc...);
12. New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL (.vin - etc...);
13. New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE (.maison - etc...);
14. New gTLDs related to RELIGION (.faith - etc...);
15. New gTLDs related to CARS (.tires - etc...);
16. New gTLDs related to HEALTH (.surgery - etc...);
17. New gTLDs related to ADULTS (.sex - etc...);
18. FRENCH new gTLD applications from French applicants;
19. Multiple Registries : group of Registries operating five (5) and more TLDs;
20. Singular VS Plural versions of a new gTLD : these are domain name extensions which exist in their singular and plural version (ie: .gift and .gifts).