Happy New Year! Latest new gTLD reports are dated 30 December 2018!

We are happy to announce the last new gTLD reports from the year 2018. A happy New Year to all! We'll return with the next update of these reports on January the 30th, 2019.

1. NEW - New gTLDs related to POLITICS (.gop - .vote - .republican - .democrat - etc...);
2. New gTLDs related to LUXURY (.rich - .yachts - .chanel - etc...);
3. New gTLDs related to the MUSIC community (.music - .band - .hiphop - etc...);
4. Multiple Registries : Registries operating five and more domain name extensions;
5. 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);
6. New gTLDs related to CATERING (.restaurant - .kitchen - .bar - etc...);
7. New gTLDs related to PHOTOGRAPHY (.photo - .film - .gallery - etc...);
8. New gTLDs related to CITIES : these are city names only (.london - .tokyo - etc...);
9. New gTLDs related to COMPANIES : new domain name extensions that we believe a company should keep its eyes on;
10. New gTLDs related to the LAW and LEGAL matters (.legal - .attorney - .lawyer - etc...);
11. New gTLDs related to FINANCE (.credit - .capital - .finance - etc...);
12. New gTLDs related to a COLOR (.orange - .pink - .green - etc...);
13. New gTLDs related to SPORTS (.hockey - .basketball - .ski - etc...);
14. New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL (.beer - .wine - .vodka - etc...);
15. New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE (.realestate - .realtor - .villas - etc...);
16. FRENCH new gTLD applications : applications submitted by French companies only;
17. New gTLDs related to RELIGION (.catholic - .bible - .church - etc...);
18. New gTLDs related to CARS (.taxi - .auto - .car - etc...);
19. New gTLDs related to HEALTH (.health - .doctor - .hospital - etc...);
20. New gTLDs related to ADULTS (no comment).

Merry Christmas !

2 new Sunrise Periods: .DEV and .INC

The Trademark Clearinghouse just announced two new Sunrise Periods:

1. The .DEV new gTLD, a secure domain (by Google) for developers and technology:
1. Sunrise Period START: Wednesday, 16 January, 2019 - 16:00
2. Sunrise Period END: Tuesday, 19 February, 2019 - 16:00
2. The .INC new gTLD, for businesses:
1. Sunrise Period START: Wednesday, 16 January, 2019 - 16:00
2. Sunrise Period END: Tuesday, 20 February, 2019 - 16:00

Check the Trademark Clearinghouse calendar for more.

NB: the .FAN new gTLD opens to all today.

New gTLDs: the Newsletter

New gTLDs "only": the "new gTLDs Newsletter" informs on Important ICANN announcements related to new generic Top-Level Domains; reports on registries' domain name registration volumes; collects and points to articles of interest about new gTLDs, lists new gTLD conferences and other meetings; alerts about Sunrise Periods and other Trademark Clearinghouse announcements and events; explains major players' moves; points to upcoming new gTLD projects and updates on Round 2 of the ICANN new gTLD program; updates on domain name registration volumes in which companies should secure their names (newsletter only), and more.

Follow www.newsletter.domains (a redirection to the new gTLD Club) and subscribe.

How city name new gTLDs are growing

There are 38 cities worldwide to have applied for their own domain name extension, some submitted more than one application to shorten their string and one city submitted two applications for the same name but in two different languages. This is an analysis of the November/December 2018 report with volumes of domain names registered for each city extensions. I strongly suggest to check the full report to have access to all volumes of domain names registered in the end of this publication:

• There are 44 new gTLDs dedicated to cities in total;
• Four cities submitted two applications:
• One for the exact city name and the other for a shortened name:
• The city of Barcelona went for .BARCELONA and .BCN
• The city of Istanbul went for .ISTANBUL and .IST
• One for the ASCII version of its name and the other for its IDN version:
• The city of Moscow went for .MOSCOW and .МОСКВА (IDN)
• One for its name in french and the other in the language of its country:
• The city of Koeln went for .COLOGNE and .KOELN
• There are:
• Four applications for USA city names only;
• Six applications for Japanese cities;
• and Seventeen European applications.
• The .ABUDHABI started to create domain names in July and is one an interesting (and positive) learning curve. It now has 512 domains registered.
• Two city new gTLDs with more than 1,000 registrations kept growing month after month since January 2018: .TOKYO and .BOSTON (it means that volumes of domain names registered from a month to the other kept increasing);
• The .LONDON new gTLD lost more than 10,000 registrations in one month;
• Since January 2018;
• The .TOKYO new gTLD gained 30,000 new domain name registrations;
• The .NYC gained a little more than 200, the same as .BRUSSELS;
• The .TAIPEI lost half of its initial volume of domains registered.
• On the list of 44 extensions, 15 city names in total have more domain names registered in November the 30th than what they had in January: that's not even half.
• The .TOURS Top-Level domain was not created by the French city of Tours but it remains the name of a city. It is possible that there are many more in the full list of new gTLDs;
• Three extensions kept loosing registrations (almost) all year long: .MELBOURNE - .SYDNEY and .TAIPEI
• The .CITY and .TOWN Top-Level Domains have lost registrations since January 2018.
• Three cities have registered one single domain name since they were delegated: .BCN (for Barcelona) - .HELSINKY and .BUDAPEST
• The first geographic TLD to have terminated its application is recent, it is the .DOHA Top-Level Domain for the city of the same name (November 2018).

Read the full report (also available in French).

New gTLD registrations: a 7.5 % increase

According to the Verisign report, total new gTLD (ngTLD) domain name registrations were approximately 23.4 million at the end of the third quarter of 2018, an increase of approximately 1.6 million domain name registrations, or 7.5 percent, compared to the second quarter of 2018. ngTLDs increased by approximately 2.3 million
domain name registrations, or 10.9 percent, year over year.

I strongly recommend to read the 2 sections after in the report:

1. NEW gTLDs AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL TLDs;
2. GEOGRAPHICAL NEW gTLDs AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL CORRESPONDING GEOGRAPHICAL TLDs.

Thank you so much Verisign for demonstrating that the use of new domain names is increasing ;-)

Download the Verisign report (PDF download).

New gTLD registration volumes on the rise?

New gTLD reports are monthly captures of domain name registration volumes according to specific groups, businesses or industries. On the last day of each month, we capture these registration numbers so our readers can see if these increase or decrease. This method is a good way to see if these domain names meet adoption by consumers or not.these are the figures from November the 30th:

1. New gTLDs related to POLITICS (.gop - .vote - .republican - .democrat - etc...);
2. Multiple Registries : registries operating five and more domain name extensions;
3. New gTLDs related to the MUSIC community (.music - .band - .hiphop - etc...);
4. New gTLDs related to LUXURY (.rich - .yachts - .chanel - etc...);
5. New gTLDs related to CATERING (.restaurant - .kitchen - .bar - etc...);
6. New gTLDs related to PHOTOGRAPHY (.photo - .film - .gallery - etc...);
7. New gTLDs related to CITIES : these are city names only (.paris - .tokyo - etc...);
8. New gTLDs related to COMPANIES : new domain name extensions that we believe a company should keep its eyes on;
9. New gTLDs related to the LAW and LEGAL matters (.legal - .attorney - .lawyer - etc...);
10. New gTLDs related to FINANCE (.credit - .capital - .finance - etc...);
11. New gTLDs related to a COLOR (.orange - .pink - .green - etc...);
12. New gTLDs related to SPORT (.hockey - .basketball - .ski - etc...);
13. New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL (.beer - .wine - .vodka - etc...);
14. New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE (.realestate - .realtor - .villas - etc...);
15. 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);
16. FRENCH new gTLD applications : applications submitted by French companies only;
17. New gTLDs related to RELIGION (.catholic - .bible - .church - etc...);
18. New gTLDs related to CARS (.taxi - .auto - .car - etc...);
19. New gTLDs related to HEALTH (.health - .doctor - .hospital - etc...);
20. New gTLDs related to ADULTS (no comment).

New gTLDs: IDN Homographic Attacks

I already wrote about the increasing problem of IDN homograph attacks and made a parallel with .BRAND new gTLDs; but this is a "must watch" interview with ICANN’s Andrew McConachie, Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) Chair and Rod Rasmussen discussing the use of Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) homographic attacks.

This problem is not a new one, but the number of these attacks...is increasing with new gTLDs. Banks and other sensitive businesses can considerably reduce the risk of these attacks when operating their own domain name extension: not because they will be able to better control the Top-Level Domain, but just because they will be able to control who registers domain names.