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"

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.

Singuliers et Pluriels: une très étrange décision de l’ICANN

L’ICANN, instigateur du programme des nouvelles extension Internet, vient de publier une étrange décision. Alors qu’il va devenir de plus en plus difficile et couteux de protéger ses marques dans le programme des nouvelles extensions, l’ICANN vient d’autoriser les lancements d’extensions similaires au singulier “et” au pluriel.

La suite sur le Journal Du Net.

Agenda | New gTLD Program Committee | ICANN

11 June 2013

Consent Agenda:

• Approval of Minutes

Main Agenda:

• BGC Recommendation on Reconsideration Request 13-3
• Info Discussion on ALAC Statement on IDN Variants
• Plural vs. Singular
• Any Other Business

Agenda | New gTLD Program Committee | ICANN