The .NEW new gTLD is here

Introducing a ✨ .new ✨ time-saving trick for users. Type any of these .new domains to instantly create Docs, Sheets, Slides, Sites or Forms ↓ pic.twitter.com/erMTHOsdyH

— Google Docs (@googledocs) October 25, 2018

Trademark Clearinghouse: Stats

Check the figures on the TMCH website.

The .BEST price drop

Not so many people are using domain names ending in “.best” yet. The reason for this is its price at the registrar: up to €112 per year at some registrars when a “.com” often costs below €10. The Registry recently changed hands and is adapting, offering a serious price drop.

Registration Price will be divided by 10
This promotion, effective 1st November for 3 months, is a good news: many users have been requesting the registrars to lower its price and this is just about to happen. The .Best registry, in its wish to go to the market, has decided to offer a promotion for “.best” domain names. The price will be:

1. Divided by 10 (wholesale registration price)
2. Lower than a “.com”
3. Available for multi year registrations: it means that it will be possible to register the domain name at this special price for up to 10 years at some registrars.

.BEST in SEO and SEM

At the moment, my Registrar wants to charge me €88 for a single year of registration but such price, even if already low compared to other registrars, is still too high for me and I want to register a “.best” domain name for the simple reason that “best” is a very strong keyword when it comes to promoting a business, and also because it benefits the SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Moreover, according to a study from GlobeRunner, .Best domains beats .com domains in SEM (Search Engine Marketing) having a Better CTR (Click-Through Rate) and a Lower CPC (Cost Per Click).

All .BEST Names are “still” available
What is great with this promotion is that .BEST has actually a low volume of domain names on the market (around 3,000 domains in total). This makes “.best” domain names a fantastic opportunity for Registrars, Trademarks and domain name investors. For example, many industries are covered with generic keywords available for registration: consulting.best, umbrella.best, perfumes.best, teeshirt.best, skirt.best, cards.best, sunglasses.best, expo.best, desk.best, equity.best, cryptocurrencies.best, homeloans.best … As a wine fan and producer, I will probably be looking for short names in that direction.

Note that such price will only be available during the promotion period starting 1st November of 2018 and ending in 31st January of 2019 (right after the Namescon 2019).

Schedule of Working Group and new gTLD Work Track 5 Meetings

ICANN63: Schedule of New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP Working Group and Related Meetings.

Working Group and Work Track 5 Meetings:

1. GNSO - New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Work Track 5 (Geographic Names)
   9:00 - 13:15, Sat, Oct 20, 2018 -- 117 GAC)
   Remote Participation: https://63.schedule.icann.org/meetings/901599
   Agenda wiki page: https://community.icann.org/x/shVpBQ
2. GNSO - New gTLD Subsequent Procedures (1 of 3)
   13:30 - 15:00, Sat, Oct 20, 2018 – 114 (ccNSO)
   Remote Participation: https://63.schedule.icann.org/meetings/901662
   Agenda wiki page: https://community.icann.org/x/IBZpBQ
3. GNSO - New gTLD Subsequent Procedures (2 of 3)
   15:15 - 16:45, Sat, Oct 20, 2018 – 114 (ccNSO)
   Remote Participation: https://63.schedule.icann.org/meetings/901663
   Agenda wiki page: https://community.icann.org/x/IBZpBQ
4. GNSO - New gTLD Subsequent Procedures (3 of 3)
   17:00 - 18:30, Sat, Oct 20, 2018 – 114 (ccNSO)
   Remote Participation: https://63.schedule.icann.org/meetings/901664
   Agenda wiki page: https://community.icann.org/x/IBZpBQ

Related Meetings:

1. GAC: New gTLDs Work Tracks 1 - 4
   9:30 - 10:15, Sun, Oct 21, 2018 -- 117 (GAC)
   Remote Participation: https://63.schedule.icann.org/meetings/901602
2. GAC: Geographic Names WG/WT5 Discussion Meeting
   17:00 - 17:45, Sun, Oct 21, 2018 -- 117 (GAC)
   Remote Participation: https://63.schedule.icann.org/meetings/901610
3. Middle East Space - Applicant Support Program for the new gTLD Subsequent Procedure
   10:30 - 11:45, Mon, Oct 22, 2018 -- 116 (ALAC)
   Remote Participation: https://63.schedule.icann.org/meetings/901573

Meet with the Trademark Clearinghouse

Join us this Sunday in Barcelona to meet the full #TMCH team, discover the new #TREx service and enjoy the Spanish hospitality. Register via: https://t.co/Dwp0MYcfuV #ICANN63 pic.twitter.com/G8u0wVvwgM

— TMCH (@tmchinfo) October 16, 2018

Car Manufacturers use .BRAND new gTLDs

I first wanted to entitle this post "Cars and new gTLDs: volumes" but generally speaking, domain name registration volumes from this group are not very exciting BUT for a few car Trademarks. This publication is based on figures from the September/October CARS new gTLD report from Jovenet Consulting.

One .BRAND created 1,300 domains

This is the list of Trademarks (specification 13 new gTLD applications) to have created between 100 to 1,300 domain names for their own use. The .BRAND new gTLDs concerned are:

1. .AUDI created 1,300 domain names;
2. .SEAT created 628 domains;
3. .MINI created 326 domains;
4. .LAMBORGHINI created 197 domains;
5. .BMW created 117 domains (I really like that one).

If all of these domain names are truly paid by these Trademarks, but not sold to the public, they are used for SEO strategies and to improve the company's brand value.

Singular VS Plural Car new gTLDs

Some new gTLDs allowing domain names to be sold to the public exist in two versions: the singular and the plural one. The extensions concerned are:

1. The .AUTO and .AUTOS new gTLDs
2. The .CAR and .CARS new gTLDs

It just DOES NOT WORK in terms of number of creations and the main reason for this is their ultra high price, also, one of them still has restrictions. Try at your Registrar and see. Note that a Registry with a low volume of domain names can be profitable if you add to this the number of Premium domain names registered. My personal thought is that you create a niche Registry because you want an entire industry to use your domain name, not just a portion of it. Three out of four of these TLDs lost registrations since January 2018.

.TIRES and .LIMO

This is one figure that I don't understand: there si a market for domain names ending in ".tires". Domain name registrations have increased up to 1,130 creations for this TLD since January 2018 when they've kept decreasing for .LIMO for the past 6 months.

Read the report here.

Sports and new gTLDs: volumes

I count 29 new domain name extensions dedicated to sport. On that list, I added Esport service providers likes the .XBOX and .PLAYSTATION new gTLDs: they are game console Trademarks. 8 Trademarks are listed in this monthly report and the rest are generic new gTLDs, which domain names are dedicated to be sold to the general public.

Famous Four Media and GRS
Two extensions, previously operated by multiple registry Famous Four Media, the .RACING and .CRICKET new gTLDs, are now in the hand of GRS (Global Registry Services Limited): a disagreement on the strategy resulted in a court battle and it's quite possible that volumes of domain names registered for these two extensions keep dropping. When looking at the volumes of the .RACING Top-Level Domain and its 82,000 registrations, compared to .FOOTBALL which has 5,300 only, one might be tempted to wonder why would the market of Racing work so much better than the market of Football. The marketing technique maybe.

Endurance
On some other new gTLD reports, I sometimes notice that some extensions have the exact same increase of domain name registrations each month. Of course, I would certainly not think that a registry would inflate his numbers but when it is so obvious, I would be tempted to think that something is wrong in the method. Of course, this is not the case with the .FITNESS and .DANCE new gTLDs (with .RUN and .YOGA?): these two extensions have been growing slowly since January 2018 and never lost registrations. I call this "meeting with adoption". Note that I unlisted the .FIT new gTLD from this report since I find it unclear about what it means exactly: Google offers 24 more translations for the word "fit" but its registration volumes were doing very good in 2017 (see in the report).

The Ryder Cup and .GOLF
Domain name registration volumes of the .GOLF new gTLD are decreasing but the Ryder Cup might change this. the problem is that the official website is still using a ".com" and the similar ".golf" domain name does not even redirect to it, when I believe that it should be the opposite: redirect the ".com" to the ".golf" and make that one the official website. Such initiatives can make a difference in terms of promotion. The FIBA (Basketball) recently made the change to a .BASKETBALL domain name and I believe that the FIFA (Football) might be tempted too with a .FOOTBALL (I was also told that the FIFA won't move until it has its hands on the .FOOTBALL new gTLD.

Slow start for the .RUGBY new gTLD
The World Rugby (formerly the International Rugby Board) changed to a .RUGBY domain name. The Top-Level Domain launched with a Sunrise Period in November 2017, went through 3 "limited registration periods", then through a "qualified launch program" which ended in January 2018. Nine months after, the number of domain names created has increased to 211. For a reason that I misunderstand, the registry website offers an "Invitation Only phase" which runs until 26 April 2019 and General Availability (when anyone can buy) starts in July 2019, the first. With such a low volume of domain names on the market, why make it so difficult to register a domain name?

The technique about restrictive TLDs
Restricting a TLD is a way to give the advantage of domain name registrations to a specific group or community: they can be "community applications" or a wording in the registration policy that has to be validated during the registration process and which makes the registrant (the buyer) think that he is a true member of this community and accepted by it. In reality, it a risk for the buyer since very few people read registration policies before buying a domain name. The risk is even increased since the registry, for whatever reason, can decide that the registrant does not comply with its registration policy and take down a domain name. Let's be frank about restricting a TLD...isn't it a technique used by "new gTLD experts" people like me to make a client think that he will have a better control over his TLD? On the paper it is. In reality, restricted TLD registration volumes show that it is the best technique to fail the launching of an extension. It is already difficult to sell domain names without restrictions like it is the case for .FOOTBALL, so adding restrictions certainly will not help give a TLD the chance to exist and deploy. Figures talk.

Confident about the future
Sport TLDs are the future of sport websites, no matter how long it takes and no matter how much they cost: generally speaking all volumes of sport domain names have increased since January 2018 so this can only be a positive sign for the future. Another reason for this is just "common sense", it is the same for existing niche TLDs: they offer more precision and trust. Wait for the Winbledon® website to use a .TENNIS domain name and for organizations like the World Surf League to use a .SURF: Rip Curl®, O'Neil® and Quiksilver® will follow.

Read the report here.

Looking for (new gTLD) Sponsors

I publish about new gTLDs "only" and I don't do write much, but I can ensure that what is said about your company will be read by your next potential clients and the entire new gTLD community.

I am the product
I publish a lot about new gTLDs and .BRANDs "only" and I do that because, when working as a consultant, I just have to. I once read that when doing that for free, I was the product, and this is actually why I look for sponsors. I am fine with being a product :-)

It's over here
Following up with all that is said about new gTLDs is rather easy, I'd suggest to select a communication channel at www.gtld.today, hit the subscribe button and you're set.

My future sponsors
On the list of sponsors that I look forward to have are:

1. One Backend Registry;
2. One Escrow service provider;
3. ICANN;
4. One Registrar (Retail or Corporate);
5. Registries;
6. One law firm offering services "related" to new gTLDs;
7. Trademarks are welcome too.

My offers
My promotion offers are available at Jovenet Consulting, in English and in French, but I am happy to work on something different, according to specific needs.

Real Estate and new gTLDs: volumes

I just updated the monthly report dedicated to domain name registration volumes from the Real Estate industry. In more simple words, the report refers to extensions such as ".forsale", ".apartments", ".loft", etc...

A snapshot
This report is a monthly snapshot which allows to see if Real Estate businesses use these new domain names and which extension catches the attention of buyers. The report is updated at the end of each month and two kind of new gTLDs can be found in this report:

1. DotBrand domain name registration volumes dedicated to Real Estate Trademarks (also called ".BRANDs"). Note that these domain names cannot be sold through the network of accredited registrars: the .FRESENIUS new gTLD for example;
2. Real Estate domain name volumes dedicated to be sold to the general public: the .HOUSE new gTLD for example.

September - October 2018

This month, 31 new gTLDs are listed and 6 of them are Trademarks. The most successful new gTLD, in volume of domain name registered, is the .REALTOR new gTLD with a total of 45,479 creations (this Top-Level Domain is exclusively for REALTORS®). The interesting thing about this number is that it has gained 4,000 registrations in one month: that's a lot.

Another interesting progression is the .REALESTATE new gTLD which seems to be gaining a lot of registrations with an increase of 12,300 domain names creations.

Note that these two extensions belong to the same owner.

Good to know, the .HOMES new gTLD just announced that it is dropping its restrictions and lowering its price as early as January 2019. The extension was delegated in May 2014 and in November 2017, the Registry submitted a Registry Service Evaluation Process request to remove eligibility verification of registrants for the .HOMES Top-Level Domain. With an actual total of 416 domain names registered since its launch, we are confident that this change of position regarding restrictions will significantly change the number of domain names created.

Read the report here.

The .PAGE and .FAN Sunrise Periods

1. The .PAGE Sunrise Period ends today: Monday, 1 October, 2018 - 16:00.
2. The .FAN Sunrise Period starts tomorrow: Tuesday, 2 October, 2018 - 16:00.

Check the Trademark Clearinghouse calendar for more.

Note about the .PAGE "EAP"

The Early Access Program is a 7 day period in advance of General Availability (GA) during which domains can be registered immediately with five different price tiers, starting with the highest tier and decreasing each day. The "real" General Availability period with no more additional one-time fee starts October the 9th (16:00 UTC).
Learn more here.