discuss 2020 Predictions for the Domain Industry

[DaveX]

Every year the top domain brokers and investors make their predictions for the coming year.

Let's make our predictions about domain name investing for 2020.

What do you think will happen? What do you think will be popular? What changes do you think will occur?

What new products/services will be unveiled in 2020.

I'm really interested to hear what NamePros members predict.

Make your predictions here and let's see what happens in 2020!

We have so many great minds here on NP. I look forward to learning from these predictions.

 

[nametrekker]

Thanks for your kind words.

So first the prediction that I am confident about: I don't know!

Now for more speculative thoughts....

1. I think that the domain market overall will be influenced by the economic and political environment, trade friction, etc. And that is difficult to predict.
2. I believe that dictionary word .com will continue to command ever higher prices.
3. I am less sure about whether prices and sales of multi-word legacy will go up. I see pressure from higher acquisition prices and little movement in sales prices, with obvious exceptions.
4. I see country-code both general purpose and restricted as having a strong 2020, possibly an outstanding year.
5. I don't know what to predict for .org. I think it will hold it's own for this year, but with the uncertainty of the proposed sale it is hard to know for long term.
6. I do not see another 8-figure sale but do see multiple 7-figure .com sales again in 2020.
7. I think mixed-mode domains, at least in .com possibly in a few other TLDs, will continue to grow, especially those that start with a letter.
8. I am cautiously optimistic about new gTLDs, but it will be slow. I do not think we will see many or possibly not even any 6-figure sales of new extensions in 2020. However I predict there will be more $1k+ and $100+ sales of new gTLDs in 2020 than in 2019.
9. I see legal issues in domaining ever more widespread and critical, but not confident predicting more than that.
10. I see continued consolidation and near monopolies in some elements of domaining, even though I wish it was not that way.
11. I predict some big player none of us predicted will have a big impact on the domain business.
12. I see domain payment plans, leases and rentals as becoming ubiquitous. Decreasing numbers of domains will be purchased outright. Some of these may involve an outright purchase but after a x month trial period.
13. I think, finally, people will begin to see the danger of trusting their work and information in large companies on sites they don't own. Personal websites will grow strongly in 2020. Whoever figures out the best system for people to get their site up with the features people want and the security protections they need will win. While most of these will be hand-registered names, there will be decent sales as well for those who want a memorable name.
14. We already have a lot of services like AirBnB, Uber, etc. but I see lots more growth in direct person to person services and items mediated by third party networks.
15. Robotics and AI will automate more and more processes we did not think could be robot-assisted. There will be domain opportunities here but difficult to be sure the type of name.
16. Physical and mental health and well-being will be highly sought with the best domain names. I see all of .com, .org and .net well represented, but also a few of the new gTLD and some of the general country code like .me.
17. People will tire of the divisive, confrontational tone of so much of public discourse, and organizations that build respect and communities and positive outcomes will thrive. There will be domain opportunities here, but in the spirit of the organizations limited financial gains.
18. Most people will have a side-gig and there are domain opportunities, both directly and in services like workspace sharing.
19. Finally, I feel confident on the last prediction. MOST OF MY PREDICTIONS ABOVE WILL PROVE TO BE COMPLETELY WRONG!!

Have a great 2020 everyone.

Bob

bob, i concur with most...let's see!

 

[otismo]

I predict private equity will privatize GoDaddy.

That as well as the outrageous price paid

( like in the case of Salvador Mundi )

will draw incredible attention

and intense scrutiny

to Domaining.

 

[BaileyUK]

This is an interesting comment on a topic not talked about enough. Would you care to write more @BaileyUK ?

No specifics - Bob,
Just that if you think about it. The whole business of domaining is pretty much a closed-shop as far control, influence and jurisdiction goes.

I've always thought sooner or later a new out-laying perspective will come into play, There has to be minds at work out there that constantly reviewing the whole domain concept and controls. These minds may be linked to legal or technology.. I personally just don't foresee everything staying as it has been for the last 40 years. We are still in the infancy of the connected world (with all the smart concepts and devices still evolving) I just don't see how a fundamental part of this World can be left in control of the few

 

[eyedomainous]

What is a shared content video player ?

Everyone who embeds the video player on their domain(s) gets a linked content page/screen or video in the player that when clicked can lead to their onsite channel (DomainSalesTV/otismo), or an offsite domain.

I should mention, channels could be the member's YouTube, Vimeo, Wistea, etc., embed, or in-house video player options which includes multimedia TV.

I should also mention, any video ad rev the network attracts is also 'shared' among the onsite channels, and some client paid embeds. YouTube monetizes its videos; members can still profit but via YouTube.

The fragmented nature individual domains makes individual domainers weak players the marketplace.

A shared content player... would also be domainers who connect their dots to make strands on the web that are long enough and strong enough to be a (sticky) marketplace.

Thanks for asking.

 

[otismo]

Everyone who embeds the video player on their domain(s) gets a linked content page/screen or video in the player that when clicked can lead to their onsite channel (DomainSalesTV/otismo), or an offsite domain.

I should mention, channels could be the member's YouTube, Vimeo, Wistea, etc., embed, or in-house video player options which includes multimedia TV.

I should also mention, any video ad rev the network attracts is also 'shared' among the onsite channels, and some client paid embeds. YouTube monetizes its videos; members can still profit but via YouTube.

The fragmented nature individual domains makes individual domainers weak players the marketplace.

A shared content player... would also be domainers who connect their dots to make strands on the web that are long enough and strong enough to be a (sticky) marketplace.

Thanks for asking.

I LOVE Domain Sales TV ! Definitely an idea whose time has come. I have done something similar in a carousel @ http://tfg.foxeo.com but you have to scroll down to "And Our Affiliated WebSites" and it of course features my domains - but video/TV is WAY better !

 

[otismo]

This is not so much a prediction as it is a review of what is happening right now,

in an attempt to glean a little insight as to what we might expect going forward.

Data are from ntldstats.com, tld-list.com, domainnamestat.com, etc.

King Com @ 158 million names reigns supreme.

Top performing generic ICU @ 5.4 mil. up over one million names just in the last forty days !

No hint of implosion, it just keeps on going ! My guess is that in addition to being wildly popular,

the renew fees being cheaper than COM make it a keeper

( TOP XYZ ONE ditto but no where near as popular ).

Another surprise is BUZZ, from 264k to 475k names in the last forty days also.

ONLINE is back in number five position, finally trumping CLUB.

What is notable is that over the same forty days, ONL went from 6k to 7k names.

Big mover REST ( abbreviation of restaurant? ) from rank 245 to rank 89 in forty days.

Number three BAR from rank 122 to rank 82; number two LUXE from rank 195 to rank 147.

Many people do not have a web SITE; they have a web PAGE.

So I predict that PAGE will be a steady gainer, one day soon on a par with SITE.

Next we look at the over promotion implosion, which I will dub the namecheap.com nineteen :

LINK TODAY XIN WIN MEN OOO BID LOAN PARTY TRADE SCIENCE REVIEW STREAM DATE

DOWNLOAD WEBCAM FAITH RACING ACCOUNTANT !

None has fallen as dramatically as LOAN which one year ago had over two million names

and today barely has over twenty-four-thousand. Scary - but just over-promotion to the uninformed.

These appear to be stabilising at current levels, except for LINK which is genuinely rebounding.

I predict that the new generics are here to stay, especially as a low cost alternative for the pure hobbyist

( like myself ); but what will really end up stealing the show is two letter "country codes" :

the top twenty have over one hundred million names registered !

 

[frank-germany]

I have no clue what will be up in 2020
I wish you all the best outcomes possible.

I'm pretty confident for the following predictions:

1) Sedo won't change anything on the domainers interface
( what has worked since 1999 must be good and change can only cause confusion )

2) More buyers will cancel the deal..
( I didn't mean to actually buy it )

3.) Low ballers keep on low balling

4.) Promoters will flood namepros

5.) Epik is not buying namepros

6.) Afternic will become more important to .com sales
( and they deserve it )

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

an AI will become sentient launch nukes and then create super robots to kill the rest of mankind no wait! That's a movie!

an AI will become sentient trigger a global EMP wiping out the internet and all the valuable domains ever created.

Domainers will form tribes of cannibals roaming the land like packs of wolves and they have also acquired a particular taste for SEO Experts!

 

[HotKey]

Wow. It's gonna be a crazy-ass decade. Have always wondered, which domain name a sentient being AI would choose to rest his laurels on, and use to interact with the rest of us lowly netizens with?

 

[Randolph]

Generic one-word names will fetch more mind boggling prices, but we'll also see an increase in activity towards niche names as mass social apps/communities and corporate conglomerates continue to experience user fragmentation.

An increased focus on dropped domains, more than ever before. By end of 2020, there will be another drop-catcher that eats a huge market share from the top catchers we've leaned on for years.

 

[DomainAgents]

The CEO of DomainAgents posted some thoughts on 2020:
https://blog.domainagents.com/2020/01/21/what-to-watch-in-2020/

He suggests keeping an eye on the US election in particular.

 

[lock]

well it is 2020 and futuristic names will require a lot more future before the keyword gets noticed.

 

[CraigD]

Final day of 2020 here.

No one predicted a world-wide pandemic that caused more grief and turmoil since the two world wars?

I hope we have a better year in 2021

 

[Samer]

Final day of 2020 here.

No one predicted a world-wide pandemic that caused more grief and turmoil since the two world wars?

I hope we have a better year in 2021

Lol “On to 2021!”

Samer

 

[AEProgram]

I hope when this thread is revived next year this time we are all doing better in every way!

I do predict that 2021 will be the year domain names explode in value as you will have a sudden boom in new businesses and investors competing for top names. Would not surprise me to see at least one published 6 figure sale a day come July 2021.

 

[Jeffrey]

Many large websites such as Google, Facebook and Twitter has further exposed themselves this year, manipulating biased search results and the news we see on our feed..

 

[seomotionz]

Many large websites such as Google, Facebook and Twitter has further exposed themselves this year, manipulating biased search results and the news we see on our feed..

Twitter and Reddit are the worst.

And @CraigD Yeah me too hoping and wishing that 2021 will good for all.

@lock Although it's late to reply on your post here. But I will say that futuristic names or not. Some odds names are definitely going to pop up because more & more people are leaving big cities and starting their own business in small towns. Or, simply changing their line of work.