opinion A few companies that believe in the future of new gTLD's...

[000]

We hear a lot around the forums from people who see no future in the new gTLD program. They'll never catch on! is the battle cry, as if people are either incapable or unwilling to use or remember anything besides the almighty .com.

But what do the big wigs have to say?

Well, here are just a sampling of the international powerhouses that are each getting their own gTLD/s -- if that answers the question !!

Disney (.abc)
NFL (.nfl)
NBA (.nba)
MLB (.mlb)
Marriott (.marriott)
Hyatt (.hyatt)
Intel (.intel)
Visa (.visa)
FedEx (.fedex)
Netflix (.netflix)
Nike (.nike)
Lego (.lego)
Mattel (.mattel)
Best Buy (.bestbuy)
Jaguar Land Rover (.jaguar .landrover)
Fiat Chrysler (.chrysler .ferrari .fiat .jeep)
Discover (.discover)
Toyota (.toyota .lexus)
Honda (.honda)
Kia (.kia)
Citigroup (.citi)
Hitachi (.hitachi)
Xerox (.xerox)
Staples (.staples)
Gallup (.gallup)
GoDaddy (.godaddy)
Honeywell (.honeywell)
American Family Insurance (.amfam)
State Farm (.statefarm)
Progressive (.progressive)
Esurance (.esurance)
SC Johnson (.scjohnson)
Symantec (.norton .symantec)
Tiffany & Co. (.tiffany)
JCPenney (.jcp)
T.J. Maxx (.tjmaxx .tjx)
Macys (.macys)
L'Oréal (.makeup .beauty)
Microsoft (.microsoft .office .skype .windows .xbox)
etc

Do those names mean anything to you?

It would seem that many here think that these companies will never even use or advertise their fancy new URL's... that the "general public" still won't be aware of alternative URL's (gasp!!) even 5 years from now.

Say whaaa?!

How could they NOT? In the next few years, we will all be bombarded with new gTLD's from all directions, including many of the ones listed above.

If .com is still The Future, and the future of the new gTLD program is so uncertain (or doomed from the start, as many would argue), why is it that so many of the largest companies in the world are jumping aboard, rather than waiting it out from the sidelines? It's a very expensive endeavor, and it's not like anyone else is going to scoop up .NFL or .NETFLIX. Clearly, they aren't buying the whole .com is all that matters! hogwash.

Of course, many .com die-hards have spent a decade (or two!) investing solely in .com, so it is not surprising that they are slow to realize/accept what's happening. But the truth is, the tipping point will soon be upon us.

No longer will the NFL much care about Dolphins.com. They'll use Dolphins.NFL anyway.
Making a movie? There is no need to have the .com. Simply get the MovieTitle.movie.
Do you specialize in auto repair? Find a cool .repair and call it a day!
You get the idea!

It's way past time to admit that .com's are already losing value en masse. If you're still a .com die-hard, it's not too late, but the optimal time to re-evaluate your strategy has long since passed. You'll need to adapt sooner than later, or you will almost certainly go down with the ship.


Don't go down with the ship !





See more delegated strings here:
https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/delegated-strings

 

[dordomai]

It happens.
I listed a few end users who switched back too.
50+ businesses dumped their .com for a new top level domain - or did they ?

more of that will happen.. they will measure ad ROI and notice visitor confusion and switch back to their (often uglier) .com because it works still better.

.com brand is too powerful. people will always assume .com by default.

 

[Elon Swift]

This is a on going debate till now but for now , still .coms' are on the edge of winning and also for some time now they will be on lead.

 

[168]

more of that will happen.. they will measure ad ROI and notice visitor confusion and switch back to their (often uglier) .com because it works still better.

.com brand is too powerful. people will always assume .com by default.

(found this thread by Kate, Sept 23,2016

Hello,

A while ago I stumbled on that page:
Why these 50+ businesses dumped their .com for a new top level domain

It features 50+ end users who switched from a GTLD (not always from .com).
I thought it would be nice to visit them since it's been well over a year, and find out how they are doing now.

At first I though about automating the test but I would miss some details, so I decided to check the domains manually. I visited the old URL and the new.
This is a cursory look but hopefully it is accurate.

Then for each domain I assigned a score among 3 possibilities:
green (all good): the new domain is still in operation
orange (good with warnings): the new domain is still in operation but implementation is partial
red (fail): they ditched the new domain, or rolled back
Here is the chart below. Sorry for pasting an image and not text.
I think the results are rather positive. Most end users seem to be sticking to their new homes. But there have been rollbacks too.
Even Barclays still indulges in a bit of .co.uk nostalgia

Enjoy

capture.png
Kate, Sep 23, 2016

The opinions expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
168


Kate,

Your link goes here: blog.europeandomaincentre.com/best-new-tld/

These 87 sites dropped their .com for a smarter new TLD (New data)

JULY 6, 2015 CHRISTOPHER HOFMAN LAURSEN

out of the 50 sites numbered 26% do not resolve.
out of the 118 sites mentioned 13 do not resolve.
(Many of the numbered sites also give additional examples)
I checked every site for active business activity-design
Not all examples say what they switched from but most were either .com, .org, or country code
The most popular switch was from country code to city code.
Cheers

 

[LordMomo]

stackoverflow.blog, but it is for a separate purpose to their stackoverflow.com domain

 

[Brandon.Domains]

• I check previous registrant, it was Name marketing team.
• I'm nice, I email the marketing dept. asking if they want it back, if not I will use the domain.
• 1 week later Scott McBreen, takes the domain out of my account

Never be nice

Brandon

 

[robert widener]

this is a great thread , nice read .

 

[DNGear]

Elsewhere.xyz
Linx.xyz
Liquidity.xyz
DebtRelief.xyz
Pantheon.xyz
Genii.xyz
Philanthropy.xyz

 

[garptrader]

I was at the mall today and noticed the usage of a new TLD on a board trying to sell ad space.

The domain was two words .TODAY. I think one of the words was advertise. I cannot recall the other word. or the exact domain. Did they buy that domain from a domain investor for $XXXX? I seriously doubt it.

Is their ad effective? Well, I guess next time I go to the mall I should see if they actually sold the ad space.

 

[Kate]

Without http://www. in front of the domain name, it should be expected that many people will not even understand this is a URL...

 

[equity78]

Without http://www. in front of the domain name, it should be expected that many people will not even understand this is a URL...

I agree Kate it's something I thought all registries should have strived to make standard. you cannot think the rest of the world who cares little about domain names and knows little, will recognize all these combinations, shoes.nike well is that a subdomain for the .com and the printer forgot the .com shoes.nike.com ?
Advertise.Today is that a statement like Booking.YEAH ?

There was little thought in how the whole world would engage with these domains.

 

[garptrader]

It was something like advertisehere.today but yes without www in front it might not be clear to the general public it was a url. That domain was placed in the middle of a sentence so even I was not sure it was a domain. I have heard of some of the more popular new extensions but did not realize there was a .today. But sure enough on Godaddy .today does exist.

 

[garptrader]

I went to Google and typed in the url. The first couple times I got a warning about my wireless settings but I also noticed there are others similar domains advertisehere.com and the cctld for the UK. But the first Google result did mention a mall shopping network. Sadly it appears the domain expired recently. So how do I advertise my business on that billboard?

 

[dordomai]

I agree Kate it's something I thought all registries should have strived to make standard. you cannot think the rest of the world who cares little about domain names and knows little, will recognize all these combinations, shoes.nike well is that a subdomain for the .com and the printer forgot the .com shoes.nike.com ?
Advertise.Today is that a statement like Booking.YEAH ?

There was little thought in how the whole world would engage with these domains.

I do not understand how people can even think about advertising these without www. and http://

Even before the nGTLDs word.word had been used, in my opinion the majority of people will not think of it being an URL, seems the worst way ever to promote a website without people understanding it is a website. Of course these days people will simply type this into Google if interested but this is not what domains are for.

you could as well create an ad saying: type my name into Google to find me.

even with www. I am not sure if everyone gets it. If you need to explain people how the domain works = fail

 

[garptrader]

Domain investors will quite often have to prune their portfolio of lower quality domains to keep renewal costs in check. However the question could be asked why did this end user who was actually using a new tld to promote their business decide to let their name expire.