Sunday, December 29, 2019

Number one French Registry just changed

I just published (with a slight delay) the November 2019 new gTLD reports for all 20 categories and noticed a few changes:
  1. All (or almost all) registries belonging to Backend Registry Verisign had an increase of domain name registrations: this is rather strange ad I had noticed this already last year.
  2. OVH, wich ".ovh" domain names are open to all for registration saw a decline in registrations in November from 63,000 down to 62,000 and let the .BEST registry become number one in registrations from 51,000 to 69,400 domain names.
That Corporate Registrar Sucks
Note for my December new gTLD report: I also noticed that my reports are used by - at least - one American Corporate Registrar for his clients. For this reason, I might delay the publication of coming reports. This is not the first time that it happens unfortunately so expect my contents...not to be free to read anymore, unless you want to sponsor them ;-)

2 new gTLD Reports in 2020
I am considering 2 new reports in 2020:
  1. The .BRAND new gTLD report (note that this one will note be published publicly;
  2. The TOP 10 new gTLD report.
If you have ideas of a new report, I am happy to consider.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

2 New gTLD Trademark Claims Periods were updated

The 2 new gTLDs concerned are:
  1. the .MOSCOW new gTLD, and;
  2. the .xn--80adxhks new gTLD (the IDN from .MOSCOW).
The update is the Trademark Claims Period which was updated from previous date to 04 January 2021.

Learn more on .MOSCOW and .xn--80adxhks.

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Top 5 of new gTLDs in Sports for November 2019

This is the TOP 5 for new gTLDs dedicated to Sports. These are the volumes of domain names created for the past 4 month.

For example, the Registry for domain name ending in ".yoga" (instead of ".com") had a total of 10,695 domain names created in August 2019 and this number went increasing until 11,013 at the end of November 2019.

Three of these domain name extensions with more than 1,000 domain names created kept growing in number form January 2019 to November. When a TLD evolves that way, we can imagine that it is meeting with adoption bu end users.


AugustSeptemberOctoberNovember
.RUN17,86618,18618,17418,841
.BIKE16,24016,20916,24316,270
.YOGA10,69510,81010,92811,013
.FITNESS10,89910,96110,97210,932
.GOLF9,86110,16510,14410,149

As usual since 2016, numbers in red mean that the volume of existing domain names lowered from the month before and in blue, it increased significantly. When no color, it means that the volume of domain names created keeps growing.

Read the full report with 29 new gTLDs for sports in total, dotBrands included.

In 2019, the NIKE Trademark offered a position (a job) which included the management of the .NIKE dotBrand Top-Level Domain but according to the numbers, there was one single domain name created since the extension was delegated in July 2016: sadly, there seems to be no plan to use domain names ending in ".nike". Something like www.snickers.nike would be quite innovative I believe.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

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 ;-)

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

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.


Monday, December 2, 2019

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.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

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.
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.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

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.

Monday, October 28, 2019

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.

Monday, October 14, 2019

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 ;-)

Monday, September 30, 2019

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).

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The .SPA new gTLD is around

The ICANN contract Registry Agreement for the .SPA new gTLD was just signed and here is what the application says:

.SPA is dedicated to the spa and wellness community.

According to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey focused on the spa industry, 95% have dedicated business websites, 81% advertise and connect to consumers through social media, and over 50% are listed in online directories and monitor reviews. What this means is that the community is eager to reach out to and communicate with its customers online. Developing a strong online presence is therefore becoming increasingly important for operators in the spa community.

Today, none of the TLDs offer the type of health conscious, relaxation and wellness branding that is extremely important for successful spas. Domain names are already more than just a command line used for navigation and resource location on the Internet. Having a TLD that expresses the spirit and branding for spas would be very meaningful to the community. The .SPA TLD would be the most appropriate TLD for this purpose.

Another emerging trend as identified in SpaFinder’s 2012 report for top 10 spa trends is online wellness games. While online games are not traditionally associated with personal wellness and health, SpaFinder reports that medical experts agree that online wellness games “could actually be the key to changing the world’s health, given the unique power that its core mechanisms (especially social dynamics) have on sustaining wellness goals.”

Building on these developing trends, the vision of the Registry is that through the development of the .SPA TLD, it is possible to promote the advancement of the spirit and mind-body vitality philosophies of the spa community, to advocate the wholesome health and wellness consciousness of people around the world.

The mission and purposes of the .SPA TLD are:
  1. To operate the .SPA TLD as a world-class domain registry dedicated to promoting the spa and wellness community;
  2. To support the spa and wellness community, it’s industry operators, professionals and practitioners, in their efforts to develop and extend their presence online;
  3. To foster collaboration within the community, which in turn supports the advocacy of the sustainable holistic mind, body and spiritual wellness of the society;
  4. To encourage excellence and professionalism in the spa and wellness community by leveraging the .spa TLD to further the interaction between the industry and consumers; and,
  5. To deliver a secure and stable TLD registry with a high sense of integrity with policies that protect against abusive registrations and the infringement of rights of others.
In addition, to its mission and vision, as a new gTLD, the Registry believes in its responsibility as a responsible industry participant to advance competition, enhance consumer trust and promote consumer choice with the development of the TLD:
  1. Advance Constructive Competition
    The .spa TLD is focused on developing a namespace that can be complementary to the spa community. The TLD is not intended to be a generic alternative to existing gTLDs. The .SPA TLD advances constructive competition among TLDs by offering a niche TLD with the appropriate stylistic identity over other TLDs, for the spa community.
    The adoption of the .SPA TLD also promotes constructive competition among spas which could exemplify their awareness in the development of technologies supporting wellness. Furthermore, the Registry believes that the utilization of a .SPA domain can provide spas with a better online brand that matches with the style and touch as a relaxed and comfortable environment that matches their offline identity.
  2. Enhance Consumer Trust
    Based on expert studies, Internet users have more trust for domain names that exactly matches what they are looking for. Providing a namespace for spas would allow spa operators to develop a more trusting online brand which they can advertise to their customers with. The value of the TLD name in itself is therefore a core part of the value and of building consumer trust.
    Furthermore, appropriate Abuse Prevention & Mitigation (APM) as well as Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPM) is also important to ensuring a trusted domain space. Further details of APM and RPM above and beyond the basic ICANN requirements is discussed in responses to Q28 & 29.
  3. Promote Consumer Choice
    According to a research by PricewaterhouseCoopers, there are a total of around 40,000 spas around the world (not including the hundreds and thousands of massage establishments and foot spas in Mainland China). According to the same research, in 2010, spas received 150 million client visits in the US, an increase from 143 million the year before. The revenue from the spa industry has reached US$12.8 billion in 2010 in the US, up from US$12.3 in 2009. The spas in the Asia Pacific region generate around US$2 billion a year and this figure is expected to increase significantly in the coming years.
The .SPA TLD believes in creating value for the spa community and consumers in general which is not necessarily measured by the volume of domain names registered under the .SPA TLD but the branding value it offers to the spa community. A consumer of spa products and services is looking for an environment that nurtures their mind and body in relaxed environment. None of the existing TLDs evoke that sense of peaceful calm for consumers.

The .SPA TLD has the possibility to address those needs and provide consumers with a choice to enter a domain that harmonizes with the emotional wellbeing they are seeking in a spa.

To learn more about the .SPA Top-Level Domain, see here.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

New gTLDs: Breaking News !

Looking for the latest News? Check that page: we often update all news we grab about new gTLDs there.


Thursday, September 12, 2019

Many new gTLDs to request their ".brand"

The world is full of .BRANDs :-)

Four new gTLD applications from ALIBABA just requested their Specification 13 to become .BRANDs : the lucky applicants TO QUALIFY FOR SPECIFICATION 13 TO THE REGISTRY AGREEMENT are:
  1. .ALIBABA
  2. .ALIPAY
  3. .TAOBAO
  4. .TMALL
At the moment I am writing these lignes, it seems that .AMAZON and many other Trademarks are doing the same!

The Request from ALIBABA:
This is what the request for .ALIPAY says (the other requests are the same):

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (“Registry Operator”), in connection with the execution of the Registry Agreement for the .ALIPAY TLD (the “Registry Agreement”), hereby applies for .ALIPAY TLD to be qualified by ICANN as a .Brand TLD.

Registry Operator confirms and represents to ICANN that the TLD meets each of the criteria for the TLD to be qualified as a .Brand TLD, as described in the .Brand TLD Application Process and Specification 13 attached thereto, and that all supplemental material accompanying this application is accurate and not misleading in any respect. Registry Operator also represents that the trademark registration attached hereto as Exhibit A, the registration policies attached hereto as Exhibit B, and the SMD file ID number attached hereto as Exhibit C are complete and accurate copies of the official trademark registration, Registry Operator’s registration policies for the TLD, and the SMD file ID for the TLD for which this application is submitted respectively.

Registry Operator agrees that if Registry Operator makes any changes to its registration policies for the TLD (whether before or after this application has been approved) that may disqualify the TLD as a .Brand TLD, it will promptly provide ICANN with a complete and accurate copy of the revised registration policies. In addition, if Registry Operator fails to maintain the trademark registration underlying its .Brand TLD application, it shall promptly notify ICANN of such failure. Registry Operator also agrees to maintain the criteria required to qualify as a .Brand TLD and to immediately notify ICANN of any changes in circumstances that could alter the statements made, and supporting materials provide with, this application.

Because this application is submitted to ICANN after the delegation of the TLD to names ervers designated by the Registry Operator into the root- zone, Registry Operator represents to ICANN that all domain names that are registered in the TLD are registered to and maintained in compliance with the requirements of the .Brand TLD definition.

Registry Operator acknowledges and agrees that this letter is binding on Registry Operator and, if any of the foregoing representations and agreements becomes untrue or not complied with, it shall be deemed a breach of the Registry Agreement by Registry Operator, and ICANN may assert its rights under the Registry Agreement, including by determining that the TLD no longer qualifies as a .Brand TLD pursuant to the terms of Specification 13.

There are exhibits of trademark registrations and an 18 pages request. To learn more from this and read the full list of applicants, click here.

Monday, September 9, 2019

It's .NEW (Sunrise Period coming)

The .NEW (pronounced "dotnew") Sunrise Period was just announced by the Trademark Clearinghouse. This extension belongs to Google.

When:
  • START: Tuesday, 15 October, 2019 - 16:00;
  • END: Tuesday, 14 January, 2020 - 16:00.
What the application says:
Charleston Road Registry is an American company, wholly owned by Google, which was established to provide registry services to the Internet public. Google is an American multinational public corporation and global technology leader focused on improving the ways its hundreds of millions of users connect with information. Since its formation, Google has been developing technology that can improve upon existing ways of doing business on the Internet. Google provides a variety of services and tools for Internet users and advertisers of all sizes, from simple search features and local ads to enterprise-scale business applications and global advertising solutions. These tools make it easier for people to make use of the world’s information and enable entrepreneurs and publishers around the world to grow their businesses.  
In line with Google’s general mission, Charleston Road Registry’s mission is to help make information universally accessible by extending the utility of the DNS while enhancing the performance, security and stability of the Internet for users worldwide. Charleston Road Registry aspires to create unique web spaces where users can learn about products, services and information in a targeted manner and in ways never before seen on the Internet. Its business objective is to manage Google’s gTLD portfolio and Google’s registry operator business. As discussed further in the responses to questions 23 and 31, Charleston Road Registry intends to outsource all critical registry functions to Google Registry Services.  
The proposed gTLD will provide the marketplace with direct association to the term, ʺnew.ʺ The mission of this gTLD, .new, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which registrants can enact second-level domains that position content as ʺnew.ʺ This mission will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain. Charleston Road Registry believes that registrants will find value in associating with this gTLD, which could have a vast array of purposes from enterprises, small businesses, groups or individuals seeking to associate with the term ʺnew.ʺ Charleston Road Registry expects these uses may include but are not limited to applications such as media (tv show.new, author name.new) and marketing campaigns (cheerios.new, shampoo.new). 
The proposed gTLD will also provide Charleston Road Registry with the means to meet its business objectives.
Just for the note
There is a .NEWS (for News) that exists too and you will find it in the list of similar Top-Level Domains that I created.

Learn more here.

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Another 2 new gTLDs are terminated

The ICANN terminated another two 2 new gTLDs. The new domain name extensions concerned are:
  1. .MOBILY
  2. .xn--mgbb9fbpob or .موبايلي (the Arabic IDN for "mobily").
The 2 extensions are from GreenTech Consultancy W.L.L. and both are .BRAND domain name extensions but neither ".xn--mgbb9fbpob" nor ".mobily" were granted a specification 13 according to the Trademark Clearinghouse.

This is what the application said for .MOBILY
Mobily’s TLD is intended to benefit Internet users by enabling Etihad Etisalat (dba Mobily) and its affiliates (collectively “The Company”) to communicate more easily and effectively with all Internet users, and particularly with The Company’s many customers, employees and affiliates. The TLD will become a supporting branding, technology and services platform for The Company’s mission and its businesses.  
The Mobily Registry will provide an Internet space, under control of The Company, to allow the distribution and exchange of information among The Company and its stakeholders by means of, but not limited to, websites, social networks, email and other technologies that will reside within the Mobily domain name space. In addition, ancillary services may be provided in relation to registration of domains within the TLD, including but not limited to website hosting, SEO, marketing and consulting services. And of course, the TLD will be used to promote and deliver our telecommunications services. 
The Mobily IDN Registry will further provide a fully Arabic language alternative for Mobily. With its roots in the Middle East and vast and varied business operations throughout the region, and the ongoing expansion of the global IDN domain space, the IDN TLD will prove useful to The Company and its affiliates.
The Company intends initially to reserve all names within the TLD to itself, and to later register and use any of those domain names for promotional and navigational purposes relating to The Company’s online presence and⁄or provision of goods and services.
Eventually, The Company may allow third parties to license the use of names within the TLD. The Company intends to control content of websites and other uses of domain names within the TLD via contract with any third-party licensees, if any, and via monitoring and enforcement of those contractual provisions.
I had briefly spoken about the .MOBILY new gTLD with two other consultants...but it appears that no one had enough imagination to come out with a solution for .MOBILY.

Sunday, September 1, 2019

JUST UPDATED: New gTLD Reports

All new gTLD reports were updated for the month of August 2019.
  1. 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. New gTLDs related to CATERING and CULINARY (.restaurant - .kitchen - .bar - etc...);
  5. New gTLDs related to PHOTOGRAPHY (.photo - .film - .gallery - etc...);
  6. New gTLDs related to CITIES : these are city names only (.london - .tokyo - etc...);
  7. New gTLDs related to COMPANIES : companies should keep an eye on these;
  8. New gTLDs related to the LAW and LEGAL matters (.legal - .attorney - .lawyer - etc...);
  9. New gTLDs related to FINANCE (.credit - .capital - .finance - etc...).
  10. New gTLDs related to a COLOR (.orange - .pink - .green - etc...);
  11. New gTLDs related to SPORTS (.hockey - .basketball - .ski - etc...);
  12. New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL (.beer - .wine - .vodka - etc...);
  13. New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE (.realestate - .realtor - .villas - etc...);
  14. New gTLDs related to RELIGION (.catholic - .bible - .church - etc...);
  15. New gTLDs related to CARS (.taxi - .auto - .car - etc...);
  16. New gTLDs related to HEALTH (.health - .doctor - .hospital - etc...);
  17. New gTLDs related to ADULTS (.porn - .sexy - etc...);
  18. Multiple Registries : group of Registries operating five (5) and more domain name extensions;
  19. 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);
  20. FRENCH new gTLD applications : these are applications submitted by French companies only.

The .BUZZ Explosion

This title might sound crazy but it appears that I must have missed something: the .BUZZ new gTLD added 60,000+ domain names to its records...in one single month.

March 2019
In March 2019, the .BUZZ new gTLD hardly passed the 10,000 domain name registrations: its contract was signed in October 2013 and already passed the 10,000 registrations several times (and went below) but never went above 12,000 regs until August 2019.

August 2019
When a Registry navigates around 10,000 records and adds 5000 from a month to the other, this is to be noticed,but 60,000...is highly noticed. Checking the outdated news from 2018 at the Registry website, nothing explains such an explosion of domain name registrations.

There is something here that I need to understand. Let's ask Bill Doshier.

Answer from Bill just received :

Hi Jean,
Thanks for noticing.

Briefly,  a one month very successful test run in Asia. Very pleased here. Looking for additional opportunities.  More to come.

Bill.

Thank you Bill. 

Thursday, August 15, 2019

The .EVERBANK new gTLD is terminated

This is no surprise since EVERBANK changed name between the moment its application was validated by the ICANN on May the 15th 2014 (signature of its Registry agreement with the ICANN) and June 12 in 2017, when TIAA, "announced the completion of its acquisition of EverBank Financial Corp and its wholly owned subsidiary EverBank. The transaction was originally announced August 8, 2016. On June 4, 2018 TIAA announced the launch of TIAA Bank, bringing together EverBank and TIAA Direct under a new name and brand" (source Wikipedia).

Notices of Termination and Status of gTLD
  • Date of Termination Notice: 4 June 2019;
  • gTLD (Registry Operator): .everbank (EverBank);
  • Type of Termination: Termination by Registry Operator Section 4.4(b);
  • Comments on Preliminary Determination:
    • Open Date: 13 August 2019;
    • End Date: 12 September 2019.
  • Preliminary Determination by ICANN to Not Transition Operation of the gTLD (13 August 2019).
Purpose of the proposed gTLD was:
Extracted from the application: "Applicant EverBank is the banking subsidiary of EverBank Financial Corp, a diversified financial services company that provides innovative banking, lending and investing products and services to approximately 575,000 customers nationwide through scalable, low-cost distribution channels. We market and distribute our products and services primarily through our integrated online financial portal, which is augmented by our nationwide network of independent financial advisors, 14 high-volume financial centers in targeted Florida markets and other financial intermediaries. These channels are connected by technology-driven centralized platforms, which provide operating leverage throughout our business".

There is a lot more said in the application but I focused on what mattered to the end user.

Saturday, August 10, 2019

The .BEST Registry: One Year After

The .BEST new gTLD registry was acquired one year ago exactly. I interviewed his CEO Cyril Fremont for an update about two important aspects of the project: adoption of “.best” domain names by the public, and THE.BEST : a new kind of social network offering its members a “.best” domain name, and to be paid for their reviews.


The Interview:
(This article was first published on LinkedIn)

Jean Guillon: Hello Cyril, we had this interview in November 2018, 3 months after the .BEST Registry was acquired by yourself, and I wanted to follow-up with you on the global project. It will now be one year so, how are things doing today?

Cyril Fremont: Hi Jean, and thanks for the invitation. Well, a lot has happened since and, like it often happens when delivering innovation, we’ve had a lot of good surprises, learnt new things, but the most important is that we have executed the .BEST Registry’s plan for this first year.

Jean Guillon: On innovation and new services, I kept an eye on your development and noticed that many Brand Protection companies are now offering the new Brands.Best protection service for their clients to secure their Trademark(s) on the entire .BEST domain name extension: how strings (second level domains) can be secured on the .BEST database?

Cyril Fremont: Well, since 1st June 2019 and following the INTA 2019 in Boston, we are now offering a comprehensive .BEST protection service for brands and Trademark holders who want to block any .BEST domain name containing their Trademark from a possible registration. It is really important for us to allow and give +6 months to brands, to protect their Trademark before the official launch of THE.BEST social network.

Clearly, THE.BEST social network is an amazing marketing and advertising opportunity for brands but also a serious threat to Trademarks. Cyber squatting is already a nightmare on existing centralized social networks so the question is not “when”, but “how much” cyber squatting can happen for a single brand within THE.BEST social network if they don’t secure their domain name(s); not to mention that our social network will also affect the reputation of all major brands revealing the user’s satisfaction score of any product or service.

Jean Guillon: You recently announced a standard price drop with an offer to renew “.best“ domain names at the best price. I registered for a certain number of domain names and I will certainly benefit from this new renewal pricing but you will find my question very straight forward: how do you earn money?

Cyril Fremont: Well, we have actually 3 different channel revenues : go.best (the registry), brands.best (the brand protection program) and the.best (the social network).

On the registry side (go.best), like all TLDs, we sell domain names the standard way through our network of accredited registrars and we also sell premium names directly to big brands. We registered a huge number of amazing premium sales over the last few months.

The key with our “.best” premium names is that we don’t just sell a domain name: we sell a business plan with a target ROI to our end-users.

“Best” is part of the most typed keyword in google searches. Millions of daily searches are related to the best. This is why we are so successful selling premium domain names ending in “.best”.

The string “Best” is such a strong asset that we don’t sell names: we sell brand equity!

So, on the brand side, we also offer a subscription protection service to block any possible Trademark cyber squatting. This new brand protection service really is a critical mission: it’s not just a business for us as we want to avoid recreating a cyber squatting nightmare at the public launch of our social network the way it happened with the .TK for instance. Our last channel is THE.BEST social network. We already start generating advertising revenues on THE.BEST social media early adopters. We also offer a satisfaction monitoring service and a review sponsoring service to brands which should become our mainstream revenue for the coming years. Facebook has announced that they were doing +120$ per user in the USA on advertising in 2018. We still target an audience of 100M .BEST users on THE.BEST social network.

Globally, (go.best + brands.best + the.best) over the last 12 months, we have reached break-even!

On the registry side, we have executed our .BEST plan to be up to 20K live domains on the 1st year anniversary of the .BEST acquisition, and we are proud about that.

We pay very much attention to what we spend and focus on what matters. But in the next few months and following our price change on 5th August, we will now invest a lot in Marketing.

Right now, the Brands.best protection service is what matters for us but the next big thing FY2020 is THE.BEST social network, please note this.

Jean Guillon: What’s that thing about “Decentralized platforms” that you keep referring to? I understand that it deals with THE.BEST social network to launch anytime soon but it is still a little unclear to me. As a future user of THE.BEST social network, what difference will it make for me?

Cyril Fremont: We are all aware about the problems related to data privacy and the use some social networks have of our personal details. A decentralized platform will allow us to ensure that the respect of your private information will correspond to what the law says in your country of residence. Furthermore, it’s not just about data ownership, it’s also about data responsibility. Coz if you are the owner of your data, then you are also responsible of then, the same way you are for a domain name.

Jean Guillon: Let’s talk about numbers now, shall we?

Cyril Fremont: well Jean, you follow us on Twitter and you probably noticed that we Tweet a lot about our registration figures: we had as an objective to develop “.best” domain names and to meet with adoption. When we acquired the extension, there were - if I remember well - something around 2,500 domain names created. We now deliver an average of 1,000 more domain names per week and we now have more than 23,000 domains registered. This is good but believe me...this is nothing compared to where we are going!

As I like to say, we are not even “day 1”. Scaling the unscalable is THE.BEST game.

Jean Guillon: Ok, so when is Day 1?

Day 1 will be the launch of THE.BEST social network!

Jean Guillon: I noticed your two YouTube channels, there is one for THE.BEST (which has not launched yet) and another for the Registry. This is something that registries don’t usually do and that they often drop once the TLD has launched: I kind of like the story telling but what happens when the TLD has launched?

Cyril Fremont: Yes, service providers tend to launch many communication tools thinking that they will contribute to their visibility. It is usually true at the beginning but then they often just leave it as it is and forget about it, not wondering about the bad effect it can have on their image then.

I am still not happy with what we have done on the video side. We can do more and we will do more.

The subject of domain names is not an exciting one for all social media users, but we are innovators with our Registry and we think that our story is a good one to tell.

Plus on THE.BEST social network, we will start a process of interviewing with all “Best” players of all major industries.

We also want to make history here and become an example to follow the way the .CLUB registry did.

For me the .CLUB is also a good example to follow. I like the string, they have an innovative marketing, start to have a strong user adoption and a great usage of their TLD, not to mention that they have a smart team that helps also for execution.

Jean Guillon: Talking about other TLDs, there was a deal signed with the AFNIC, the .FR Registry: can you tell me more about it? I understood that new registrants of a “.fr” domain name will be offered the same ending in “.best”?

Cyril Fremont: Yes, this is what the deal is about : a “.best” domain name will be registered for free for one year for each new “.fr” registration. The .FR had +600k new registrations last year so the potential for us is important in France and we already had the support of all major French registrars such as OVH, Gandi, NETIM, NameBay, Hosteur, ...

It’s historic and once again, we are the first to have made a such co-marketing partnership between a new gTLD and and a cctld (country code). I would even say that it’s not the last one, because other partnerships are coming and will be announced.

The idea here is also to prepare the launch of THE.BEST social network as every registered “.best” domain (free or not) will be able to be directly linked to THE.BEST social network beginning 2020. Usage = Value, that will be our difference.

Jean Guillon: Well, thank you Cyril for this interview. Can you remind me when THE.BEST Social Network is launching again and are there any other surprises coming?

Cyril Fremont: THE.BEST social network is coming FY2020. The next big surprise is that we have also decided to open the usage of THE.BEST social network to other TLDs, but that’s another story and I give you “rendez-vous” next year for that part. So, stay tuned, THE.BEST is yet to come!

Thursday, August 8, 2019

New gTLD Investor speaking at the Asheville Investor’s MeetUp

Legendary domain name investor Michael Berkens talks about new gTLDs at the 1st Annual Asheville Domainer Investors MeetUp. Some of the information he shares in this talk has never been discussed before.


Morgan Linton is the co-founder at Bold Metrics, a SaaS solution that is changing the way the world's most innovative brands make clothes. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Monday, August 5, 2019

New gTLD reports are Up-To-Date

All 20 new gTLD reports for July the 31 were updated. Reminder: these reports are monthly domain name registration volumes according to categories of domain name extensions:
  1. 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 : group of Registries operating five (5) 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 and CULINARY (.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 (.paris - .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 : these are 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).

Friday, July 26, 2019

The .RIHANNA new gTLD

I investigated a little bit and I found that no super star operates his or her own Name or Trademark as a new domain name extension. As a fan, I believe that the Rihanna string is a good case figure to take a look at...in terms of online innovation.

The first thing that I did was to enter Rihanna on a search engine: not only I made a mistake in writing the name (mixing the “i” and the “h”) but I also forgot an “n”. I found plenty of content on the first page about my superstar. In the order: some “top stories” from various sources of information, then the Wikipedia page, the link to her twitter account, a rihannanow.com website with an old kind of title, her Instagram account, then a YouTube channel, etc…

There is a “.com”
I notice the RihannaNow.com domain name is listed but I didn’t see the Rihanna.com, even if it does exist. It seems that someone chose to communicate on the RihannaNow.com rather than the Rihanna.com domain name. I sincerely hope that this same person noticed that there is a “.now” domain name extension coming anytime soon: something like Rihanna.now could be an idea but hey...this is not the subject here.
All superstars tend to do the same

Beyoncé displays the exact same content in Google, in the exact same order. Madonna does almost the same too. I quite like Sting too and guess what: they all have their name ending in “.com” and the exact same communication channels (Yes Wikipedia is a channel, Twitter, Facebook, a website… but none uses his or her name as a new domain name extension: there is are no domain names ending in “.rihanna”, “.beyoncé” (with an accent), “.madonna” or “.sting”.

Rihanna is not just a singer
Rihann is a singer but she also “is” lingerie with Savagex and “cosmetics” like perfume trademarks and names, etc: dozens of generic strings like “perfume”, “fashion”, “bio”, “shop”, or “fragrance” that any communication specialist would want to use on the Internet to increase visibility for the super star’s products: doesn’t something like www.perfume.rihanna looks descriptive? What about www.fragrance.rihanna : not nicer than www.rihannanow.com/fragrance/?

What about www.charity.rihanna : wouldn’t it be instantly recognizable when searching for her involvement into the Clara Lionel Foundation?

Music.rihanna makes sense too and there are many more to suggest when digging on her main website.

Branding but not only
There are many other advantages when focusing on one single branding for Internet (security, brand protection, positioning, U-N-I-C-I-T-Y, etc…) instead of several different domains names but if many, like Jovenet Consulting, have already discussed this, there is one thing for sure: there are no superstars to have considered taking advantage of the new gTLD tool as a Brand...yet.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

The .MADRID Sunrise Perdiod

The Sunrise Period for the .MADRID new gTLD starts today.

The purpose of .MADRID
This content was extracted from the application submitted to the ICANN:

The Comunidad de Madrid (the Government of the Region of Madrid) is applying for the .madrid TLD to serve the Madrid’s community, defined as the community of individuals and legal entities with a bona fide presence, direct or indirect, in the Region of Madrid, including Madrid as the capital of Spain.

The goals of .MADRID are:
  • Facilitating digital communications from, to and within the Region of Madrid.
  • Providing a platform for the urban development in the digital space of the Region of Madrid.
  • Strengthening the image of Madrid in the online world.
This is to be achieved by:
  • Actively designing and developing the .madrid TLD name space with a focus on the needs of the Region of Madrid, involving cultural, civil society, business and public-sector stakeholders.
  • Allowing registrations of second-level domains in the .madrid TLD by individuals and organizations with a bona fide nexus with the Madrid area.
  • Operating the .madrid TLD under the stewardship of the Region of Madrid in consultation with the local public authorities of the area and the private-sector stakeholders. 
The .madrid TLD will be the new trusted domain-name space that offers a secure and global option for local institutions, companies, brands and citizens. It will allow them all to be present online by creating a multicultural space that integrates and facilitates new opportunities; a space that enables the materialization of public and private initiatives in order to promote and strengthen the brand image online driven by the solid image that Madrid already enjoys globally.

As .madrid Registry, the Region of Madrid (Comunidad de Madrid) is well aware of and fully acknowledges, the responsibility that arises from the management of the domain name ad commits to manage it in full respect of the interest of both the .madrid and the larger Internet communities.

The constant and sustained effort made during the last years, makes that the implementation of the Information Society in the Madrid area is a consolidated fact and in this sense, the Region of Madrid is the most suitable public institution to execute the management and running of the .madrid TLD.

Dates:
  • START: Tuesday, 16 July, 2019 - 16:00
  • END: Thursday, 3 October, 2019 - 16:00
To learn more, check the TMCH website.

Saturday, July 13, 2019

A .PROVENCE new gTLD coming?

Dixit Wikipedia, "Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east, and is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south".

Domains ending in .PROVENCE
That is what the website says and it is located here. There is a twitter account too. Checking again, the account was opened in 2015 which means that the project is not so new and actually, I remember travelling to Provence for an old meeting about that project before 2012.

My opinion on such project:
  1. There is no doubt that a .PROVENCE makes a strong sense for the identity of the French Provence: for Tourism and Culture, I am definitely buying. Actually, I am more buying for the Cultural aspect because that is an excellent opportunity to distribute knowledge about this location's culture, in the long term.
  2. For SEO, I am definitely buying too because any company connected to the subject of Provence takes the lead developing another version of its website in another language, using this domain name: 2 websites connecting one to the other is good for their positioning on search engines. Also it often happens that French tourism websites also have an English translation: drop the long URL and use a second domain name. If you have two languages already, maintaining two websites instead of one will not require so much extra work but a few changes.
  3. Sales is where I have a doubt. There are many similar projects and we've learnt that it takes time for end users to come to buy such highly identical domain names. Financing such projects often comes from taxpayers and if I agree to pay taxes to finance such TLDs, I disagree completely when operators/owners of the projects keep using ".com" or ".fr" domain names when they should show the way: shouldn't official websites massively promote such domain names and start with "using them"? What about front pages and newsletters of these official websites: shouldn't they "always" refer to the existence of such domain names and point to their registration? "Don't do what I do, just do what I say".
Tip: did you investigate your Wikipedia pages and add your TLD to them? This is about culture and history too ;-)

Friday, July 12, 2019

Now more simple to find a new gTLD

Thursday, July 11, 2019

The Challenge of 20K .BEST domains

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Companies and generic gTLDs

New gTLD registration volumes from extensions that I believe Companies should keep an eye on. Most are generic Domain name extensions. Some IDNs (extensions with accents or non ASCII) were added to this list. Two legacy Top-Level Domains were added to this report.

This report is dated June the 30th 2019.

2019FebruaryMarchAprilMayJune
.SITE1,022,9671,146,4601,211,6311,326,0071,465,755
.ONLINE1,207,0921,235,9571,261,2621,290,3691,295,101
.APP372,341383,774392,881403,129444,213
.WEBSITE315,689323,484327,616334,242339,303
.BLOG195,987199,856202,533205,169208,836
.WORLD137,939145,880152,906157,918163,474
.EMAIL84,52585,49985,95586,37585,865
.GROUP67,64968,57769,09669,56869,545
.COMPANY69,62169,61369,21968,77467,744
.GLOBAL47,20548,04248,39548,58348,796
.公司 (company)42,95242,91642,90942,48042,320
.EXPERT35,07735,29135,38435,42834,851
.商标 (trademark)25,06925,15725,57525,85226,153
.INTERNATIONAL25,43825,60625,58425,59625,623
.SUPPORT24,25224,36824,54424,68724,652
.PAGE11,06513,93816,33818,39721,186
.BEST6,10412,08313,51716,03218,936
.BUZZ9,76110,18710,32910,43510,559
.CEO2,7203,7382,7572,7322,711
.集团 (corporate group)1,2121,8881,8661,2882,057
.世界 (world)1,4381,4381,4431,4441,446
.CONTACT11111
.WEBcomingcomingcomingcomingcoming
Legacy TLDs:
.COM138,388,746139,127,705139,707,934140,130,725140,641,735
.PRO296,521297,158295,281291,457290,074

In red are listed the number of domain names lost from a month to the other, in blue, when the increase is noticeable.

.BRAND new gTLD Reports are updated once a month: CLICK HERE !