Houston: we have a problem

ICANN is discussing the problem of Singular VS Plural new gTLDs at the moment and decisions "should be taken" prior round 2 to begin, in regard to this awful option to allow both strings to exist at the same time. The draft of the report can be reviewed here (PDF download). It starts page 115.

Something that I don't understand
This is an extract of the REAL ESTATE new gTLD report (entitled "Singular and Plural new generic Top-Level Domains") from March 2017, which clearly shows that there is a HUGE difference between the number of registered domain names ending in ".loan" (instead of ".com") and the number of domains ending in ".loans", with an "s".

Of course, I have my idea about this surprisingly high difference but I am interested in hearing other explanations.

Chinese registrants like .LOAN

Checking domain name registration volumes for the Real Estate industry, I noticed an increase of 179,933 new domain names within a one week period of time. For a registry...

THIS IS A LOT OF DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATIONS

...so I called Famous Four Media (dot Loan Limited), the Registry for the .LOAN new gTLD to ask the question and what was the reason of this. Here is the answer I received:

It has to do with the way .loan is perceived in China and it seems they are starting to love it. We have at least 2 big registrars in China that started selling insane numbers in .loan so that’s a fact now, no longer a guess.

Famous Four Media recently established a WFOE company (wholly foreign-owned enterprises) in China and obtained a government license to be able to sell its domain names. The Chinese market now seems to be part of any new gTLD development strategy to sell domain names.

What you missed in our previous Newsletter:

1. The .BOSTON new gTLD (is coming);
2. HOT - Reminder: the .BUZZ auction is coming;
3. Update - In which extensions should companies secure their domains?
4. Involved in the consultancy side of a registry business?
5. Google’s Open-Source TLD Registry Platform;
6. New ICANN procedures for gTLD transfers (what you need to know);
7. The .GOOG Sunrise Period ends soon (read more)

Domain name registration volumes: 

• New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL; 
• New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE; 
• New gTLDs related to SPORT.

Our reports are available here.

Since most new gTLDs have launched, reports will be updated on a monthly basis starting January 2017.

Recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

Note to our readers: starting January 2017, the content of our Newsletter will be sent by email only. It will not be made available online anymore on www.newsletter.domains.