RESTON, VA - Verisign, the company that is the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains (TLDs) and the .cc country-code top-level domain, released their 3rd quarter 2023 Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) this week that reveals by the end of the latest quarter, total domain registrations across all TLDs worldwide have reached 359.3 million. That number represents a 2.4 percent increase year over year, amounting to an … [Read more...]
Seven Years Later, New gTLD “.Cars” Still Driving Long & Winding Road to Nowhere
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – I recently wanted to see what was going on with the “. Cars” domain name, so I tried visiting a site I thought would probably be one of the best names; “used.cars”…. Not much is going on there; the page just fails to load. Same thing with “used.car”, “new.car” and “new.cars”. A “.cars” domain name costs $2,499 per year to register, renew, or transfer at Dynadot, one of the largest domain name registrars in the world. Same thing with ".Car" which was … [Read more...]
WordPress Offering 1 Million Google Users Opportunity to Transfer Domains Free
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - One month after Squarespace entered into a deal to purchase Google Domains – which encompasses all of it’s assets, including approximately 10 million domains that are owned by millions of customers – web content management company WordPress has announced they would be offering former Google users free domain transfers for the first million domains that choose to move to their platform for a limited time. Currently, Google Domains customers … [Read more...]
U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Trademark Rights on Generic Internet Domain Names
PALM BEACH, FL - On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the addition of “.com” to a generic word or phrase can be trademarked when it reviews “United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V.” on Docket No. 19-46 with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The issue has reached the highest court in the country after lower courts reversed the decisions of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") and Trademark … [Read more...]
20 Years Later: A Look at The Top 100 .IO Domain Sales Over the Past 5 Years
NEW YORK, NY – According to NameBio, there were a total of 2,927 “reported” .IO domain sales over the last 5 year period. These top 100 total $993,953.00 in sales. The highest reported sales on this list were the domains “Tank.io” for $60,000.00 with the second as “Cloud.io” for $45,000.00 (Neither of which are developed). .io is a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory. The .io domain is administered by the Internet Computer … [Read more...]
10 Years Later: A Look at ALL (96) Recorded .ASIA Domain Sales Over Past 5 Years
NEW YORK, NY – According to NameBio, there were a total of 96 "reported" .ASIA domain sales over the last 5 year period. These top 96 total $148,019.00 in sales. The highest reported sales on this list were the domains “Mobile.asia” for $10,000.00 with the second as “L.asia” for $6,374.00 (Neither of which are developed). .asia is not a country code top-level domain (ccTLD). It is a (sTLD) that is 'intended' for those who have a 'connection' to the region but an actual … [Read more...]
Highest Reported .xxx Domain Sales, Public Sales for Adult Entertainment Industry sTLD
NEW YORK, NY – According to NameBio, there were a total of 20 reported .xxx domain sales since 2011 (when it was first introduced). The total for all 20 is $4,403,428.00 in sales (astronomical for just 20 domains). The highest reported sales on this list were the domains “Sex.xxx” for $3,000,000.00 with the second as “Gay.xxx” for $500,000.00. Both websites are developed and are live cam sites. .xxx is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) which means while available to all, … [Read more...]
Top 100 .co.uk Domain Sales Over Past 5 Years; United Kingdom Domains Sales
NEW YORK, NY – According to NameBio, there were a total of 1,433 reported .co.uk domain sales over the last 5 year period. These top 100 total $2,744,555.00 in sales. The highest reported sales on this list were the domains “Furniture.co.uk” for $650,000.00 with the second as “Purple.co.uk” for $158,035.00. Furniture.co.uk appears to be a major furniture retailer and manufacturer and the domain name redirects to BedroomFurniture.co.uk. Shockingly, Purple.co.uk is also … [Read more...]
31 Years Later: A Look at the Top 100 .DE Domain Sales Over Past 5 Years
NEW YORK, NY – According to NameBio, there were a total of 3,460 reported .DE domain sales over the last 5 year period. These top 100 total $4,282,897.00 in sales. The highest reported sales on this list were the domains “kik.de” for $246,080.00 with the second as “kaffee.de” for $237,474.00. Kik.de appears to be a major clothing retailer, while kaffee.de (which changed hands several times - latest this year in August) is a coffee company website waiting on further … [Read more...]
Name Summit Digital Branding Conference; Entrepreneurs, Experts, Domain Enthusiasts
NEW YORK, NY – “NameSummit – The Digital Branding Conference” is just one week away. There will be over 40 speakers, including entrepreneurs, experts and digital branding superstars ready to engage with attendees. Expert panels will discuss leading trends in branding, influence marketing, social media and showcase the continuing evolution of domain names as an important part of powerful branding and advertising campaigns. Below is the updated line-up of experts; an … [Read more...]
Name Summit Conference in New York City Shaping Up to Be “Very Big Event”
Agenda includes long list of Industry Veterans; Live Domain Auction for WallStreet.com; Event Ending with Undisclosed "Presentation for Exclusive Asset Sale" yet to be revealed!! NEW YORK, NY – A few days ago I spoke via telephone (yes, that clunky old device still in use) with some of the people at NameSummit to discuss interesting developments for the upcoming event in New York City which is just weeks away. If you have not yet booked your tickets and stay to New York … [Read more...]
21 Years Later: Look at the Top 100 .TV Domain Sales Over Past 5 Years
NEW YORK, NY – According to NameBio, there were a total of 859 reported .TV domain sales over the last 5 year period. These top 100 total $1,461,847.00 in sales. The highest reported sales on this list were the domains “USA.TV” for $125,000.00 with the second place name as “SC.TV” for $40,000.00. USA.tv is parked at Uniregistry, while SC.TV is redirected to www.SmithsonianChannel.com. The domain is popular because it is an abbreviation of the word television, but its … [Read more...]
New gTLDs: Revolution of New Dots Is Here; There Will Be Winners, There Will Be Losers
NEW YORK, NY - One of the most problematic things about the new gTLD space is that all of the applicants are trying to accomplish the same exact thing, either ahead or before the other; to create a single authoritative place for their industry or brand. They all want 'their' dot, to be “the” dot. However, what they all seem to be aligned in parallel with, is the concern of, risk for, or fear that users will fail to adopt to the change, and that all the good .coms are already … [Read more...]
Measuring New gTLD Growth and Market Share via The DNS Zone File System
NEW YORK, NY - As should be no surprise, new gTLD growth and usage is on the rise exponentially. There are several tools available for measuring gTLD growth and market share which are ‘fairly accurate’ as they use the DNS Zone File system which maps domain names and IP addresses. One such tool which I originally thought was new is ntldstats.com, although the owner Stefan Meinecke was interviewed back in 2014 by TheDomains.com - so it is far from … [Read more...]