A look at New gTLDs numbers: we're doing good

Like it or not, new gTLDs are here and they're here to stay. If it is still common to read that the ICANN new gTLD program was a failure and few users are using new domain names, numbers show the opposite.

I recently read very rude critics addressed to new gTLD applicants but surprisingly, critics often come from ".com" investors and my understanding of this is that new domain names lower their margins ...since the domain name offer is now larger. This being said, the good point about new gTLDs is that they offer something that ".com" has never been able to offer: precision.

Something more which is not questionable anymore about new gTLDs is the availability of these domain names.

I checked the numbers and listed new domain name registration figures according to 17 categories.

Read my complete article on CircleId.

What about IDN new gTLDs for Companies?

I do not focus on IDNs because I don't understand them but I recently read this post from Coreile, on the Chinese domain name market: the place to be for any Registry.
If we are already familiar with the .商标 new gTLD, which stands for "trademark" in Chinese*, we are not yet familiar with other IDN new gTLDs related to COMPANIES.
The post mentions three IDN new gTLDs which could have an impact on companies who would forget to secure their domain names in these IDN extensions. The IDNs are:

1. .公司 (company);
2. .世界 (world);
3. .集团 (corporate group).

The 3 extensions were added to out COMPANY new gTLD report, which is sent each Tuesday in our Newsletter.

New domain name registration volumes:

• New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE;
• New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL;
• New gTLDs related to SPORT;
• New gTLDs related to the LAW (yesterday's report);
• New gTLDs related to FINANCE (yesterday's report);
• New gTLDs related to COLORS (yesterday's report).

Tonight's Newsletter:
To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

In our two previous Newsletters:

1. .Shop gets to 51,755 domains just hours after GA;
2. HOT - New TLD Market Brief – September 2016;
3. .LTD domain names may be limited in use but growth is steady;
4. .Sucks Domain Name in Ad Age Magazine;
5. HOT - Active Brand TLDs;
6. “UDRP-proof” .feedback gTLD loses first UDRP;
7. Sunrise Period for .网站 (web) starts on Monday, 26 September;
8. Overcharged .UK customers help pay for .VODKA;
9. Your trusted source for .NEWS;
10. 5 reasons to Try a New Domain for Your Brand;
11. Bird & Bird wins landmark first UDRP decision against a ".feedback" gTLD;
12. Is there anything good about the release of hundreds of new extensions?
13. The domain Home.nyc was registered for $30 because of a glitch;
14. Silicon NYC kickoff features .NYC domain names;
15. 50+ businesses dumped their .com for a new domain - or did they?
16. Reminder (.BRANDs): Specification 13 granted;
17. How Companies like Amazon, eBay, Porsche and GoDadddy are using some of their new gTLDs;
18. .CLOUD has a TV commercial on CNN, too.

* I wonder if someone will consider applying for the ".TRADEMARK" new gTLD in the second round of the ICANN new gTLD program.

Previous Campaigns can be viewed here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

".com" domainers hate new gTLDs ;-)

I read a lot of "bla, bla" about new gTLDs and found this post on Facebook from @stahura (founder of Donuts). I admit that I don't read long posts but I see good examples of new domain names in this one. I went down the post to read some comments.

Something made me smile reading the comments. You've probably read - at least once - a domainer criticizing new gTLDs "because they will never work", "because .com domains are better", "because they are confusing"... I noticed that these comments often come from domainers and the only reason I see in these critics is that new gTLDs decrease the value of .com domain names (but this is just a personal opinion). The reason why I smile reading the comment from one of these domainers is the examples given why new gTLDs will fail:

"how many of these are scams? how many will be in business in a few years? how many are too confusing for customers? how many actually are adding value to the corresponding .com domain? what percentage of the live domains registered does this represent?"

All of the examples used concern more ".com" domain names rather than new domains:

1. "how many of these are scams?": due to the important volume of ".com" domain names registered, there are certainly much but much more ".com" scams than with new domain names.
2. "how many will be in business in a few years?": how many businesses using a ".com" fail everyday? Less than with new gTLDs? I seriously doubt it.
3. "how many are too confusing for customers?" : confusing because they are more descriptive? That cannot be true: new domain names offer something that ".com" will never be able to offer: precision.
4. "how many actually are adding value to the corresponding .com domain?". Here we are. Why would a new domain name have to add value to a ".com"? Because this would increase its price value? I bought a new domain name and now redirect the ".com" to it. New gTLDs are not just about domaining (selling domain names), some very serious companies use them for business.
5. "what percentage of the live domains registered does this represent?" (I didn't catch that one).

New domain name registration volumes:

• New gTLDs with a French sounding;
  (a certain number of TLDs were just removed from this list)
• New gTLDs related to CITIES;
  (does not often happen: see the .LONDON new gTLD)
• New gTLDs related to CATERING;
• New gTLDs related to PHOTOGRAPHY.
  (domains ending in ".cam" are launching)

Tonight's Newsletter:
To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

In last Thursday's Newsletter:

1. Majority of new gTLDs still aren’t generating enough revenue;
2. HOT - Could ICANN reject Verisign’s $135m .web bid?
3. The micro story about .手机 (mobile phone) in China;
4. FRENCH - Le .CLUB : les chiffres sont là;
5. HOT - .BRANDs and SEO;
6. Rightside® Opens .GAMES Domain for Gamers;
7. New TLD? Make Sure It's Secure;
8. COOL - Serious new gTLD communication;
9. The .cancerresearch TLD: Search for Cure Drives Digital Innovation;
10. .Kiwi turns to new CIRA platform for registry services;
11. People are forgetting .com exists — ICANN survey;
12. New consultancy firm focusing on gTLD registry needs;
13. .Games and .Shopping hit registrars this week;
14. Minds + Machines Group Earns corporate Rating from N+1 Singer (MMX);
15. .NYC to auction top domains on NameJet;
16. How to get into the Trademark Clearinghouse club;
17. Just delegated: the .FIDO & .ROGERS new gTLDs;
18. What’s Propelling Minds + Machines Group Ltd to Increase So Much?
19. SURPRISE COMING - Blizzard Doing Away With Battle.net Name.

Previous Campaigns can be viewed here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

Hot today: .VOTE & .GAMES new gTLDs

.GAMES
Gamers seem to have noticed the launching of the .GAMES new gTLD. I checked domain name registration figures today and noticed that the Registry has already more than twice the number registrations than the singular version of the extension: the .GAME new gTLD. The price difference probably explains this.

.VOTE
There is an advertising campaign that has just launched to encourage American voters "to do their duty". The Iron Man is on front page and I am confident that such initiatives will help new gTLDs grow faster. I believe it is important to add that "vote" is a French word too and I would appreciate if someone could pass the word to @axellelemaire. The campaign: http://savetheday.vote/

New domain name registration volumes:

• New gTLDs related to SPORT (updated yesterday);
• New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL (updated yesterday);
• New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE (updated yesterday);
• SINGULAR vs PLURAL new gTLDs;
• FRENCH new gTLD applications;
• New gTLDs related to RELIGION.

Tonight's LONG Newsletter:
To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

In Tuesday's Newsletter:

1. HOT - MMX reports earnings, big investment from China;
2. Just announced: .网站 (web) Sunrise Period;
3. Stats - New gTLDs growing faster than .com;
4. Fund has acquired 700,000 shares of RightSide;
5. DOMAINfest Kicks Off in Hong Kong!
6. Uniregistry to release 10 million domains;
7. Chinese investor pumps $7 million into M+M as .vip pushes firm into profit;
8. French: Et ton .ALSACE il marche comment dans Google?
9. A gaming community dedicated to equality and opportunity (www.jeu.video);
10. Minds + Machines upbeat as it plans £13mln offer to shareholders

Previous Campaigns can be viewed here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

Seeking partners for a US based next round new gTLD project!

Dear colleagues,

As most of you know I co-founded .BERLIN in 2005 (delegated by now) and the SFO-based community priority applicant for .gay in 2009 (still fighting with ICANN).

Since a few month I am initiating the creation of a D.C. based, non-profit, public benefit new gTLD application with positive social and monetary impact aimed at keeping and bringing back business into the United States.

With both .BERLIN and .GAY we went public from the inception of the project - partly because we had to garner substantial support. The same will be true for this new project - but it is a few month too early to go entirely public.

The suggested new gTLD will positively impact the United States – especially the U.S. economy, the Internet User, the American business community, the Intellectual Property community and U.S. law enforcement. It is also a complete new take on the distribution of domains and has built into it and is based on a wholly new marketing approach.

If the project description sounds interesting: Please get back to me via private message - or find my contact details at schubert.berlin! I am not excluding non-U.S. entities – but American entities would make the most sense. I am looking for ICANN veterans for the board, ICANN Sherpas for facilitating the actual work (and it is a LOT of work as it will have the biggest support base of all applications to date) and last not least "investors" who are not only looking for "ROI" but believe in the U.S. and want to contribute something positive to their country helping Americans to better and safer navigate the Internet.

Thank you,

Alexander Schubert

Just announced: the .网站 Sunrise Period

The .网站 (.web) new generic Top-Level Domain was announced today by the Trademark Clearinghouse and will launch next week. The Sunrise Period will start on Monday, 26 September, 2016. For those who will be registering their .WEB new domain name in its ASCII version, it can make sense to secure the IDN version of this TLD.
To participate in the next .网站 WEBINAR participants are welcome to register here.

New domain name registration volumes:

• New gTLDs related to COMPANIES;
  (newsletter only)
• New gTLDs related to the LAW;
• New gTLDs related to FINANCE;
• New gTLDs related to COLORS.

Tonight's Newsletter:
To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

In our previous Newsletter:

1. Usage statistics of CITY new TLDs: comparison of the usage of .TOKYO (City of Tokyo, Japan) vs. .LONDON (City of London, UK) vs. .NYC (City of New York, USA) vs. .MOSCOW (City of Moscow, Russia) vs. .PARIS (City of Paris, France) for websites;
2. Podacast - How GMO plans to make its big investment in .SHOP pay off;
3. This is the Domain Name Industry Brief by Verisign;
4. .BLOG gets 600 applications halfway through sunrise;
5. Video - Demystifying the Value of .VIP in China;
6. Deleting Its 230,000 Uniregistry Domains;
7. Top 5 New Extensions in 10 Years: yesterday evening on Twitter, .CLUB CEO and co-founder Colin Campbell made a prediction about the “top” 5 new domain extensions in ten years. Here’s what he posted and what his predictions are;
8. Latest stats on the new extensions;
9. UPDATED - Sport Federations: Paid to Promote Their Clubs (selling new domains)?
10. A September To Remember (And It’s Not Over Yet!)
11. Are New gTLDs Dead? Frank Schilling Says “Far From It";
12. Most of the growth is due to new gTLDs;
13. JOB - Domain Portfolio and Risk Control Program Manager.

Previous Campaigns can be viewed here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

Feed-back on recent new gTLD events

Premium .CLUB auctions are always an event in the new gTLD world: the specialized online press often reacts to auction results. One of the reasons for this is that the Registry in charge does a lot of buzz before these happenings. Another reason is that a lot of investors participate and "buy". I just found two interesting covers of these events and I suggest to read them. The first one is from OnlineDomains and is entitled "Top 10 .Club Domain Name Sales". The other one is from DoomainNameWire and is entitled: "With one day to go, there are some good deals in this .Club auction".

New domain name registration volumes:

1. HOT - GENERIC new gTLDs;
2. New gTLDs related to CARS;
3. New gTLDs related to HEALTH.

HOT - Tonight's cool Newsletter:
To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

Wine cans? Come on...
It's week-end and I will probably drink wine: not because I am French, but because I like wine and...and...really...I can help it but I saw this publication on Facebook (using a great ".wine" domain name by the way): http://www.backpack.wine/. Website is nice and I believe the product is drinkable too but...IT IS OFFERED IN CANS. I will complain immediately to the European Commission for a law to be created to prohibit offering wine in cans. I am joking of course but I'd rather drink wine coming from a glass bottle.

Previous Campaigns can be viewed here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

Another new gTLD was delegated

One more new gTLD was delegated today, it is the .MONSTER Top-Level Domain and here is what the application says.

The proposed .monster gTLD is a restricted, single-registrant TLD that would help Monster continue as the global leader in online recruitment by enhancing and expanding Monster Worldwide’s ability to:

• simplify Internet user navigation to Monster Worldwide products and services; 
• deliver new and innovative products and services;
• enable marketing campaign activation; 
• facilitate secure interaction and communication with employers and job seekers; 
• improve business operations; 
• demonstrate market leadership in adopting innovative technologies; and
• meet future client expectations and competitive market demands.

New domain name registration volumes:

• New gTLDs related to RELIGION;
• Interesting - Singular VS Plural new gTLDs;
• French new gTLDs related.

Tonight's Newsletter:
To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

In our previous Newsletter:

1. Universal Acceptance (new gTLDs): Yandex.Mail provides receipt and delivery for Cyrillic, Turkish alphabets and now for any other languages;
2. New gTLD competitors of .Com is opposed to the extension of ICANN's agreement with Verisign;
3. .CLUB is elected Registry of the Year;
4. .GAMES Premium Domains: A Comparison;
5. Descriptiveness - The .CLUB Registry changed the blog section of its website to a ".blog" domain name: http://club.blog;
6. M+M Extension Losing 30% Of Registrations Over 13 new gTLDs.

Previous Campaigns can be viewed here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

New gTLDs: my latest article in French

La période estivale n’est pas celle où l’on achète un nom de domaine. La baisse des volumes d’enregistrements impacte la profitabilité des Registres lors de cette période impropre aux affaires. Pourtant, certains s’en sortent mieux que d’autres.

• Un Registre?
• Vous avez dit monopole?
• Pour bien comprendre;
• Le .CLUB: un Registre qui “vend”;
• Le Marathon de la rentrée;
• Quelques exemples de sites.

Read the complete article on the French Journal Du Net.

UPDATE: Sport Federations & new gTLDs

This is an update of the an article I  published last week on Digital Doughnut.

Paid to Promote Their Clubs?

New domain name extensions are a fantastic tool for the industry, the sport, the group or business they represent. When checking domain name registration volumes for some new sport domain name extensions, it is noticeable that some of them are on the decrease when the opposite should happen. Would this change if sport federations were paid to do the promotion of their sport by offering new descriptive domain names?

Read my complete article on Digitaldoughnut

Why affiliation matters (new gTLDs)

I just wrote an article related to affiliation and why I believe this could push sport organizations to do the promotion of their sport.

The problem is that I am not sure they care about promoting their sport because most are too local, but also....they probably have no idea that it is possible to offer domain names related to their sport and receive money from this.

To give an example, there are lots of Karate Clubs in France and there is one French federation which could offer these clubs to register their ".club" domain name and receive money from this. This is typically the kind of sport organization with the capacity to set up an affiliation program and send an email to all of its Karate Clubs.

New domain name registration volumes:

• HOT - New gTLDs related to CITIES;
• New gTLDs related to CATERING;
• New gTLDs related to PHOTOGRAPHY;
• New gTLDs with a FRENCH connotation;
• GOOD TO KNOW - New gTLDs related to COMPANIES;
• New gTLDs related to the LAW;
• New gTLDs related to FINANCE;
• New gTLDs related to COLORS.

Tonight's Newsletter:
To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

In our previous Newsletter:

1. What’s in a Domain Name? Perhaps, the Future of News;
2. New gTLD/dotBrands and what this means for search;
3. URS requires clear cybersquatting;
4. Announcing the Disrupt SF Hackathon;
5. URS on arcelormittal.lol
6. Two-character domains from Rightside will be available as of Sept. 14;
7. NIC.AT Sister Company Takes Over Operation Of .VERSICHERUNG;
8. Celebrating One Year of .online.

Previous Campaigns can be viewed here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

4 Sunrise Periods begin today

Donuts Inc, is launching four Sunrise periods today. The Top-Level Domains concerned are IDNs.

WHICH:

1. .企业 (enterprise)
2. .商店 (store)
3. .游戏 (game)
4. .娱乐 (entertainment)

WHEN:

• START: Tuesday, 13 September, 2016;
• END: Saturday, 12 November, 2016.

WHERE:

Unless I am wrong, this is the list of accredited Registrars to the Donuts Inc new gTLDs. Note that a few of them offer to participate in sunrise Periods.

Starting this week-end: The Domain Conference

New contracting statistics have been released by the ICANN but I 'd be tempted to focus on the coming The Domain Conference which is to start this week-end. Many new gTLD applicants will be present and it will be interesting to listen to the General Manager for Amazon Registry Services, author of "Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat!" (find him here), Jeff Sass "also named "The Vegan", Dan Schindler from Donuts, Jennifer Gore - Director of Registrar Services at ICANN, Rolf Larsen - CEO of the .GLOBAL Registry and many other domain name experts such as lawyers, brokers and other specialists.

Starting tomorrow: the Sedo .CLUB Premium domains' auction.

New domain name registration volumes:

• HOT - New gTLDs related to SPORT;
• New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL;
• New gTLDs related to RELIGION;
• New gTLDs related to FRENCH new gTLD applicants;
• HOT - SINGULAR vs PLURAL new gTLDs;
• New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE.

Tonight's Newsletter:
To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

In our previous Newsletter:

1. CentralNic Registry Revenue up 100% & Gross Profit Up 19% in 1st Six Months of 2016;
2. CentralNic swings to loss, billings soar on .XYZ deal;
3. Chinese gTLD registry slashes prices to .com levels;
4. Best Benefit Ever: MAKE DESIGN YOUR DOMAIN;
5. Video: Why is .VIP Popular in China;
6. French - Comment Pictet a sécurisé ses sites web;
7. Want a free .GDN domain name?
8. First dot-brand gTLD to go generic after TLS deal;
9. PodCast (Early days, new uses for DNS, and security by the inventor of the domain name system; Frank Schilling (new gTLD applicant with multiple applications) sparking a busy day for Rightside; .SHOP’s launch; and more....)
10. Looks Like At Least 4 Brands Paid Tens of Thousands Each To Register 6 .Shop Domain;
11. DotBrand .observer wordt open domeinnaamextentie;
12. Want to become a ".club" re-seller?
13. Hackathon in September (win a free ".club" domain name).

Previous Campaigns can be viewed here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

Sunrise Period starts for .MAKEUP

The Sunrise Period for the .MAKEUP new gTLD has begun but it remains unclear when it launches exactly. The ICANN website gives the date of September the 22nd and the Trademark Clearinghouse gives the date of today: Thursday, 8 September, 2016 - 16:00.

SUNRISE PERIOD:

• START: Thursday, 8 September, 2016 - 16:00
• END: Tuesday, 18 October, 2016 - 16:00

See details here.

WHY:
"Because I'm worth it?"

WHERE:
The Registry does not (yet) publish a list of Accredited Registrars.

This coming new gTLD in which I believe A LOT

Some Top-Level Domains are a success and this is noticeable by the number of domain name registered, no matter if some registries cheat a little. When the volume of domain name registered is not constant but keeps increasing, it is a sign that Registrants pay interest.

Companies
Companies are concerned by new generic Top-Level Domains and it is a subject that should be followed, not only because of the existing risk of infringement(s), but because it makes sense to use a descriptive domain name extension: when buying wine, you search for a sign that says "wine", not "buy"nor "shop" "commercial".

In the COMPANIES new gTLD report, I publish the list of new domain name extensions companies should consider registering their domain name with. For the obvious reason of budget limitation, all cannot be purchased but this is a short list extracted from the complete list of 1,179 delegated new gTLDs.

The .CONTACT new gTLD
The CONTACT new gTLD will hopefully launch before 2017. At the moment, the TLD is delegated and one domain name has been created. I am not sure it makes sense explaining why registering the domain name of a company in ".contact" is important so let's focus on what the Registry says about his extension: "A platform for hosting contact sites". If this sentence looks like the .TEL concept (you can check http://registries.tel/ as an example): a similar platform for all new domain name registered; another sentence says: "Conversations have never been so easy". One could be a place to store contacts and the other could be a chat platform.

Shall I have all my contacts stored at a third party application or provider with the risk of losing my address book if I forget to renew my domain name: definitely not or at least, I will be very careful with the security and backup aspect of such service. Will I want to pay for this? Not sure.

Whether this new gTLD will be a place to store contacts, chat or just "do other stuff", I am really excited about its launching. I also hope to find innovation: some sort of form service so people can write then the message is sent to an email? The potential is so high behind this multilingual TLD that, no matter what it offers, It is definitely domain names that I will recommend registering.

New domain name registration volumes:

• HOT - New gTLDs related to COMPANIES;
• New gTLDs related to the LAW;
• New gTLDs related to the COLORS;
• New gTLDs related to FINANCE.

Tonight's Newsletter:

To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

Start of the school .YEAR

Companies are back to business and the reason why this is noticeable is because there are more new gTLD NEWS published, some new gTLDs which were in the red, are getting back to normal in terms of domain name registrations and...I receive more emails and much, but much more robot calls.

Registration volumes:

• New gTLDs related to HEALTH;
• New gTLDs related to "Vive la France";
• New gTLDs related to RELIGION;
• SINGULAR & PLURAL versions of a similiar new gTLD;
• New gTLDs related to CARS;
• GENERIC new gTLDs (to possibly replace ".com").

Meet the .CLUB Team:

1. The Domain conference: 10th-14th September;
2. Dmexco: 14-15th September;
3. DomainFest Asia: 19th-22nd September.

Tonight's Newsletter:

To subscribe and receive the latest NEWS in your email, click here.

In our previous Newsletters:

1. Acquisition of the Internet domain names "YellowPages.green" and "WhitePages.green";
2. We launched .SKI one year ago, now what?
3. The Battle Over .GAY;
4. .GDN domain names: the next .COM?
5. How are Chinese .IDN extensions doing?
6. 15 reasons why we’re excited for the .GAMES TLD;
7. dot brand, adwords & SEO – a matter of keyword;
8. .TRUST gTLD might be for sale as NCC closes domain business;
9. URS on SANOFI domain name;
10. Premium domains can boost sales and revenue;
11. The Seattle Times Embraces .NEWS TLD for Branded Short Domain Links;
12. Apple.news or News.apple?
13. Korean .닷컴 and .닷넷 Domains Are Now Available for General Registration;
14. Lowering prices for .BUSINESS and .COMPANY domains
15. Donuts: Down to business;
16. Second IRP Winner Dot Registry files amicus curiae brief in support of Appellee .AFRICA Applicant DCA Trust against ICANN;
17. Bold has launched.

Previous Campaigns can be viewed here.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements