New gTLDs for Sports: 2019 in Review

Are end users (domain name registrants) using TLDs with sport names? Well kind of...but general speaking, "Sports" new gTLDs have not revealed their potential in 2019. Globally speaking, it looks like very few have noticed their existence. This is what I noticed over 2019:

• Of the 29 new gTLDs dedicated to sports:
• 21 are either community or generic ones (that anyone can buy).
• 8 are dotBrands (domain name extensions operated by Trademarks for their own use).
• Five new gTLDs ended the year with between 10,000 and 20,000 domain names. The TLDs in order are:
• .RUN with 19,289 domain name creations (December 2019).
• .BIKE
• .YOGA
• .FITNESS
• .GOLF with 10,148 creations (December 2019).
• .YOGA and .GOLF surpassed 10,000 domain name registrations in 2019.
• These TLDs ended the year with fewer registrations in December than January:
• .BIKE
• .FOOTBALL (!)
• .RACING
• .SOCCER
• .FUTBOL ("football" in Spanish)
• .CRICKET
• These TLDs maintained their registration levels (i.e no declines) throughout 2019:
• .YOGA
• .SPORT
• .SURF
• .AFL (dotBrand)
• .XBOX (dotBrand)
• 12 extensions are below 1,000 registrations but most are dotBrands, except these four generic ones:
• .RODEO
• .RUGBY
• .BASKETBALL
• .BASEBALL
• Two dotBrands remained at one single registration throughout the year:
• .NIKE
• .NBA
• Playstation does not seem to care about new gTLDs but Xbox does with 57 .XBOX domains registered in December.
• The .MLB new gTLD held to the same number of registrations all year: 33
• Something wrong clearly happened in 2019 with these Registries:
• .RACING started the year with 67,458 registrations and ended December with 3,523 domain names in total.
• .CRICKET started with 20,772 and ended with 1,561 creations.

Read the full report here.

Coming: "New gTLDs for Finance: 2019 in Review"

Sunrise Details updated for .BOT new gTLD

Some details from the .BOT Sunrise Period were just updated:

• Trademark Claims Period: 04 November 2020 to 03 February 2021;
• Limited Registration Period: LRP 2 - 5 Dec 2017 to 3 Nov 2020.

Reminder about the mission of the .BOT registry:

• To provide a unique and dedicated platform while simultaneously protecting the integrity of Amazon’s brand and reputation.
• The .BOT registry will:
• Offer a stable and secure foundation for online communication and interaction.
• Provide a platform for innovation.

Learn more about the update here.

New gTLDs for Companies: 2019 in Review

When writing my reports, I often wonder if should add an "s" to my titles and write thinks like "Companies new gTLDs: 2019 in Review", instead of what you actually read; but since I am French and French are always right, I'll probably keep writing my titles that way until someone corrects me.

By the way, what I qualify of "domain name extensions for companies" are the extensions in which I believe that companies should secure their domain name with.

Have new extensions for companies been a success in 2019?
MY first answer is yes because many have seen their registration figures increase. I listed 25 of these new gTLDs and here is what I noticed for the year of 2019 globally:

• 2 are legacy TLDs (old domain name extensions);
• 4 are Chinese IDNs (international domain name extensions);
• 1 is "coming" : the .WEB new gTLD
• 1 was delegated in December 2015, was acquired by a third party then, but still has one single domain name registration: it is the .CONTACT new gTLD, expected to launch soon...for a few years now.
• 3 extensions exist in 2 versions:
• .GROUP and .集团 (corporate group);
• .WORLD and .世界 (world);
• .COMPANY and .公司 (company).
• The .SITE new gTLD has the largest number of domains created and doubled that number between January and December 2019 from one to two million.
• 2 extensions have more than 1 million domain names registered: the .SITE and .ONLINE new gTLDs;
• 5 extensions have between 100,000 and one million domains registered;
• Some extensions clearly "exploded" and more than tripled their initial numbers from January 2019. The extensions concerned are:
• the .BUZZ new gTLD: from 9,500 to 424,640 registrations in one year;
• the .BEST new gTLD: from 4,745 to 86,684 registrations;
• the .PAGE new gTLD (by Google): from 8,544 to 51,370 registrations.
• Five extensions have less registrations in December than when they started the year:
• .COMPANY
• .公司 (company)
• .CEO
• .世界 (world)
• .PRO (legacy TLD)
• Some extensions did stagnate during the hole year;
• Five extensions kept increasing their domain name registrations one month after the other with no interruption.

Read the full report here.

Coming: "New gTLDs for Sports: 2019 in Review"

City new gTLDs: 2019 in Review

I believe that every business should acquire its name in the city where it resides (when the TLD exists) and setup a page just for this: it makes sense to provide that information to the public and let it be indexed; but it also benefits the Search Engine Optimization of the business's existing front page. A link back is always good (as long as it is not copy-paste content). Also, for a company which business is purely local, such domain name extension will always offer more precision than a ".com"...for obvious reasons.

Have City Name extensions been a success in 2019?
On my list of 45 domain name extensions, to which I included 2 generic TLDs which are not city names, here is what I noticed in 2019:

• The 2 generic domain names I included to my list are .TOWN and .CITY : they are no city names but I considered that they should be included in my list:
• The .CITY new gTLD stagnated from January 2019 and even lost a few registrations in December: it ended the year with 30,962 domain names registered in total.
• The .TOWN new gTLD gained registrations but and ended the year with 4,194 domain names.
• .TOURS and .SPA which are not City Names were included too because they represent two famous cities. The .SPA new gTLD has no registrations yet since it was delegated recently and .TOURS gained a small 800 registrations from January to December: not because the French city of Tours attracted Registrants but because "tours" has another meaning in English.
• The .TOKYO is the only extension to have more than 100,000 domain names created. Its follower, the .NYC new gTLD ends the year with 67,220 domain names.
• 16 extensions have more than 10,000 domain names created. The last one of them on the list is .COLOGNE which ends the year with 10,432 domain names. The first one is .TOKYO.
• Just 3 extensions kept gaining registrations one month after the other but such numbers are not significant since they are below 2,500. The cities concerned are (in the order):
• The .MADRID new gTLD which ends the year with 2,156 domain names;
• The .KYOTO ends the year with 898;
• The .STOCKHOLM ends with 80 domains.
• Some extensions kept loosing registrations from January:
• .AMSTERDAM (26,385 creations in December);
• .VEGAS (15,092);
• .YOKOHAMA (4,412).
• 5 extensions had no registrations from January to December:
• .DUBAI stick to 5 domain names;
• .BCN - .HELSINKY - .BUDAPEST and .DOHA (still listed as "Delegated") stick to one single domain name registration.
• Some extensions have a twin sister:
• Barcelona has .BARCELONA and .BCN
• Moscow has .MOSCOW and its IDN, the .МОСКВА new gTLD;
• Cologne has .COLOGNE and .KOELN
• Istanbul has .ISTANBUL and .IST
• 11 extensions are below the 1,000 domain name registrations. The first one of them is the .RIO new gTLD with 910 domain names created.

Read the full report here.

Coming: "New gTLDs for Companies: 2019 in Review"

Sunrise Period coming for .GAY new gTLD

There's an official update from the ICANN on the .GAY new gTLD application: the Sunrise Period was announced on the ICANN website:

WHAT:
What the application says:

Top Level Design, LLC’s mission is to create a dedicated space in the root zone for those involved in the various aspects of gay culture. We recognize the size and diversity of the individuals identifying as LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer and Questioning) and want to welcome everyone underneath a succinct and widely understood top-level domain. Labels for sexual and gender identities are vast and complex, and it is worth noting that there is merit to implementing .lesbian, .bisexual, .trans, .queer, and .lgbtq, but even then those individuals that don’t fit cleanly into the confines of a single identity category are not represented in these root-level distinctions. There are plenty of people that defy distinct labeling, and identify themselves through fluid notions of gender and sexuality. This is precisely why we at Top Level Design, LLC believe that a .gay TLD could never be delegated through a Community Priority application, especially if it claims to represent the entirety of the LGBTQ community. Just because it is often easiest to try to fit others’ gender and sexual orientations into socially constructed boxes, whether heterosexual or cisgender or LGBTQ, does not mean that the minority who participate in multiple self-definitions at any one time can be ignored, or that we have the right to create labels for them. This must be kept in mind as the ICANN community decides how to proceed with a .gay TLD, especially in the case of a Community Application that proclaims the support of the entire LGBTQ community.

The description/purpose of the .GAY new gTLD is rather long so I'd suggest to complete its reading here (PDF download) and go to "18A. Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD".

WHEN:
The Sunrise Period:

• Starts on 10 February 2020;
• Ends on 31 March 2020.

There are 2 other periods:

1. Trademark Claims (11 May 2020 - 10 August 2020);
2. Limited Registration Period also called "Sunrise 2" (6 April 2020 - 6 May 2020).

These dates are announced on the ICANN website but could be modified.

Singular vs Plural new gTLDs: 2019 in Review

When the ICANN new gTLD program launched, no one would have expected that multiple extensions would exist in their singular AND plural version. Well they exist and there are 22 of them.
Note that .MOTO (a .BRAND) is not the plural of .MOTORCYCLES but it could look like and the same applies to .NEW and .NEWS Top-Level Domains.

This is my review of these extensions - in terms of volumes of domain names created - by their respective registries.

So : "S" or no "S" ?
My answer really refers to no specific logic but just a reading of the figures and I don't find them attractive, it's clearly a "no" to me:

1. Almost no Singular and Plural new gTLDs have more registrations in December 2019 than in...January 2019. On my list of 22 twins, only 16 out of 45 (.HOTEL had 3 "plurals) had more registrations after 12 months. The TLDs concerned are:
1. .AUTOS
2. .CAREER
3. COUPONS
4. .DEALS
5. .FAN
6. .GAME and .GAMES
7. .MARKETS
8. .MOTORCYCLES
9. .NEW (by Google)
10. .PHOTO and .PHOTOS
11. .SUPPLY
12. .WATCH
13. .WORK and .WORKS
2. Some TLDs from ex Famous Four Media (now GRS Domains) lost (a lot of) registrations:
1. The .ACCOUNTANT new gTLD lost 52,000 registrations in one single year;
2. The .LOAN new gTLD lost (...) 2,182,000 registrations in one single year;
3. The .REVIEW new gTLD lost 132,000 registrations in one single year.
3. Only 5 TLDs lost no domain names from a month to the other during the entire period. The TLDs concerned are:
1. .FAN (belonging to Multiple Registry Donuts Inc.) ended the year with 3,411 domain names;
2. .GAMES (belonging to Multiple Registry Donuts Inc.) ended the year with 20,149 domain names;
3. .MOTORCYCLES (belonging to Multiple Registry Dominion) ended the year with 214 domain names;
4. .NEW ended the year with...262 domain names created;
5. .WORKS (belonging to Multiple Registry Donuts Inc.) ended the year with 20,956 domain names created.
4. 6 extensions still have one single domain name registration.

Read the full report here.

Coming: "City Name new gTLDs: 2019 in Review"

UPDATED - Real Estate new gTLDs: 2019 in Review

One thing is for sure is that it takes time to adopt new gTLDs and the Real Estate industry clearly demonstrates that: the .CASA Top-Level Domain is a good example to look at (see below). As a reminder for a better understanding of these reports:

• When no color from a month to the other = new gTLD registration volumes increase;
• When in red, the volume of domain name registered decreased from the previous month;
• When in blue, the increase in domain name registrations is noticeable from previous the month.

This is what I noticed in regard to 12 month of domain name registrations for extensions which string is a Real Estate keyword:

• 32 extensions were selected for my report, one was withdrawn (.HOME), 6 are dotBrands (.BRANDs) Top-Level Domains for Trademarks, one exists in two versions, the singular and the plural one:
• .PROPERTY
• .PROPERTIES
• No TLDs have more than 100,000 registrations but 9 had more than 10,000
• One would expect all extensions to have more registrations in December than in January but it is not the case: on the 31 TLDs listed, it is the case for 14 of them so half of them (note that some extensions from this list stagnated during 12 months so "half of the list" is not entire true.
• 7 extensions (.BRANDs mainly) had the exact same number of registrations in January and in December. Surprisingly, two are not Trademarks:
• .MLS and
• .LOFT 
• 2 extensions, the .CASA and .HOMES Top-Level Domains - listed in blue - showed an interesting learning curve during the entire year. The first one tripled its registrations, the second multiplied them by 5.
• The strange .CASA new gTLD figures:
• In 2016: it ended the month of December 2016 with 18,077 domain name registrations
• In 2017: 
• it ended the month of January 2017 with 18,072 registrations,
• and ended December 2017 with 6.262
• In 2018:
• it ended the month of January 2018 with 6,386 registrations,
• and ended December 2018 with 5,682
• In 2019:
• it ended the month of January 2019 with 6,081 registrations,
• and ended December 2019 with 19,602
• The .REALTOR new gTLD, number one of this list, is for Realtors and lost nearly 7,000 registrations from January to December 2019.
• The .REALESTATE - one of the most interesting Real Estate new gTLD to me - has almost the same umber of registrations in December (19,588) than what it had in January (19,547). Stagnation concerns other TLDs in  2019:
• .HOUSE
• .IMMO
• .PROPERTIES
• .RENTALS
• .RENT
• .APARTMENTS
• .LEASE
• .MAISON

UPDATE on .HOMES new gTLD

The Registry for .HOMES domain names was kind enough to answer our questions on the success of his extension and here is what he said:

"Until 14 Jan 2019, .Homes was a restricted TLD. On that date we removed all restrictions so that anyone could purchase .Homes domain names. As a result of that change, DUMs have increased from 800 at the end 2018 to 12,339 at the end of 2019; an increase of more than 15 times. A large percentage of registered names are geographic places - i.e., cities, towns, states, provinces, neighborhoods, and postal codes - as well as geo names with an additional key word (e.g. BuySeattle.Homes, MyDubai.Homes, The303.Homes). We are seeing agents buy their names and companies in the real estate industry purchasing company names - ranging from brokerages to home builders to mortgage providers to agent teams. For more background on name categories, see https://get.homes/domains/homes-domains-categorized/. Because the names are now open to everyone, we're seeing domain investors getting involved as well".

Thank you Jim ;-)

Read the full report here.

Coming: "Single vs Plural new gTLDs: 2019 in Review"

French new gTLDs: 2019 in Review

The end of December is always the right moment to have a look on what happened during the year: this is the review for French new gTLD applications, from January to December 2019:

• The .BEST Registry, acquired by French entrepreneur Cyril Fremont, went from 4,745 domain name creations to more than 86,600: the registry kept increasing in volume. This is mostly due to brands.best, its program, preparing the launching of its coming Social Network The.Best (in 2020). By the way, I strongly suggest Trademarks to keep an eye on this TLD: this social network is an innovation focusing on the registration of domain names ending in ".best". In November, .BEST became the first French Registry in volume of domain names registered.
• 3 French new gTLDs have more than 10,000 domain names registered:
• .BEST
• .OVH
• .PARIS
• I call them "Cultural TLDs" because they truly represent part of a French Culture: these are either Community or Geographic based applications with a strong identification. All of them kept increasing in volume since January 2019. Note that .ALSACE is a special case since this French region changed name recently in 2016. Their number of domain name registrations grow slowly but I am not surprised by the interest in these domains, these Top-Level Domains allow a culture to keep existing...and expand thank, to Internet:
• .BZH for (the French Brittany)
• .ALSACE
• .CORSICA (the French island of Corsica
• 4 French new gTLDs have between 1,000 and 10,000 domain names created. 3 are the cultural TLDs mentioned above and one is a .BRAND ! The MMA Trademark uses more than 1,600 domain names ending in ".mma" (instead of ".com").
• Almost all other Top-Level Domains are below the 1,000 but that is not surprising since France is one of the countries to have created the most important number of .BRAND new gTLDs and dotBrands don't create too many domain names for their own use. Note that the volumes of domains created by these .BRANDs are noticeable and ended the year with:
• 285 domain names created for the .BNPPARIBAS new gTLD (domain names ending in ".bnpparibas"). BNP PARIBAS is a Bank;
• 173 domain names for the .LECLERC new gTLD (a superstore);
• 148 domains for the .WEBER new gTLD : not the BBQ Trademark but a subsidiary of Saint Gobain offering solutions for new builds.
• 15 more .BRAND Top-Level Domains end the year with less than 100 domain names created: between 2 and up to 73.
• The .SCOR and .ALSTOM dotBrand new gTLDs created no domain names and stuck to one single registration from January to December 2019.

Read the full report here.

Coming: "Real Estate new gTLDs: 2019 in Review"