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

 

[000]

The bigger the company, the longer it usually takes to get things done. It can take MONTHS to approve a simple domain purchase. I think it's fair to assume that introducing their own .BRAND for the first time in history could take years of planning. I am sure that many are working on it. Why are people so impatient for these companies to lunge to the forefront of ngtld adoption?!

Let's take a look at a few examples...

---------------

.MLB

From their registration agreement text:

Only Registry Operator and its qualified Affiliates and Trademark Licensees will be allowed to register second-level domain names in the .MLB gTLD. MLBAM will develop an internal process to determine which second-level domain names will be registered and which Affiliates and Trademark Licensees will be eligible to register or control the DNS associated with domain names in .MLB.

Sounds like they're working on it.

------------

.NFL:

.NFL will keep you connected to all of the National Football League brands you know and love.

Sounds like they're working on it.

-----------------

.HYATT:

The mission and purpose of Hyatt’s gTLD is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace provided by Hyatt GTLD, L.L.C. .... for use by Hyatt Hotels Corporation and its Affiliates. ....... Hyatt will develop an internal process to determine which second-level domain names will be registered

"trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive..."

Sounds like they're working on it.

----------

.NETFLIX:

The .netflix gTLD will offer a brand-specific and tailored customer experience that reflects Netflix’s emphasis on continuous innovation and increased customer trust.

GASP!? "Continuous innovation"? "Increased customer trust"? Could that mean a move away from .com?! Sounds an awful lot like it may....

And it sounds like they have a plan.

--------

.BMW:

http://next100.bmw (no redirect - GASP!)

-------

Here's a large French bank that is deeply committed to their .brand:

BNP Paribas Banque
https://mabanque.bnpparibas

NO redirect, and in fact this website gets TONS of traffic!
Alexa global rank = 2,978
It doesn't seem that people are having this huge struggle even with a cumbersome URL like mabanque.bnpparibas... so, why should they have any trouble with any other new gtld?
That thinking simply doesn't hold up in the real world, and is based on little more than fear of change.

FWIW they were the first bank to switch their online banking site to a dot brand.

You can see it promoted directly on their very popular twitter account:
https://twitter.com/bnpparibas

-----------


It's all just a matter of time.................. those who can see it coming now will have much greater opportunity than those who realize what's happening a year or two down the road.

 

[Shimmy]

those who can see it coming now will have much greater opportunity than those who realize what's happening a year or two down the road.

Another post ending in sheer and utter desperation that other domainers will come join and waste money on something worthless.

If people really believed in these things, they would not have to constantly do a fear-mongering sales pitch. "oh buy now or you will lose out"

The reality of the sales pitch is "oh PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE join me in wasting money on these names that nobody wants, if enough of us buy them, they will gain value, and my names will stop being so worthless"

 

[000]

Another post ending in sheer and utter desperation that other domainers will come join and waste money on something worthless.

If people really believed in these things, they would not have to constantly do a fear-mongering sales pitch. "oh buy now or you will lose out"

The reality of the sales pitch is "oh PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE join me in wasting money on these names that nobody wants, if enough of us buy them, they will gain value, and my names will stop being so worthless"

Sure.... keep telling yourself that, and let's meet back in a couple years and see where things stand !

Why are you so obsessed with reading these threads then?

Why aren't you bringing any contributions to the table?

You quote one tiny fragment of my INFORMATIVE post just to play the role of resident crybaby. Why?

 

[Shimmy]

i find this thread amusing, and I am contributing the most valuable thing there is, pointing out the real purpose of this thread

 

[000]

i find this thread amusing, and I am contributing the most valuable thing there is, pointing out the real purpose of this thread

No argument about this being an amusing thread! In a few years it'll be comedic gold!

But no.... constantly hijacking threads to cry about alleged ulterior motives, yadda yadda, is NOT true contribution. That's what trolls do: hijack, without providing anything useful.

 

[Kate]

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.

We've heard that before. Even a naysayer like me is surprised at how little has been achieved in 3 years. When it comes to things like the DNS and Internet protocols, the pace of change is awfully slow. I am pretty sure we will be having the same conversation here in 5 years.
But many participants will have dropped out of domaining long before that time.

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.

Here we are talking about a special breed of TLD: corpTLDs.
It's not like every company can apply to have its own TLD. The costs will probably decrease in the next few years but for the vast majority of companies this is not going to be an obvious move at all.

So their second (or first) next best option will remain .com, or the ccTLD, and they of course have a couple more generic strings to choose from. Not 1000, just the few that are actually relevant to their business.

The added value is not so obvious. It is brand affirmation. I am wondering how many clients of Barclays are praising the bank for rolling out new URLs carrying their own brand. From the perspective of the end customer, the old URLs worked just fine.

As a domainer, there isn't much money to be made in new extensions when you consider the risk/reward ratio. To be a domainer in new extensions, you have to be a registrar or registry. And some will crash nonetheless.
From my POV they are a huge distraction and an excellent way to lose a lot of money.
I think investing in great dotcoms and ccTLDs remains the best option for domainers. New extensions must be treated as speculation strictly (or entertainment).

 

[000]

As a domainer, there isn't much money to be made in new extensions when you consider the risk/reward ratio. To be a domainer in new extensions, you have to be a registrar or registry. And some will crash nonetheless.
From my POV they are a huge distraction and an excellent way to lose a lot of money.
I think investing in great dotcoms and ccTLDs remains the best option for domainers. New extensions must be treated as speculation strictly (or entertainment).

You have to be a registrar or registry to make money? Huge distraction? Entertainment? That's odd, because I'm making money with them, and many others all around us are as well, with absolutely zero ties to any registrar or registry.

I'll assume your POV must be based on your personal experience and hearsay. Just goes to show that new gTLD's aren't for everyone. Clearly they aren't for you, equity, shimmy, pogba, bmugford, bram, et all, and that's fine. Many domainers will successfully continue trading .com's ONLY for a long time. And, many domainers (such as myself) will ALSO dive into new gTLD opportunities with open arms while opportunity abounds. It's all about whatever works for your personal strategy, budget, and skill set; of course, not everyone's results will be the same. But I think it's important to be aware of the changes that are and will be occurring in the market.

There is absolutely plenty of money to be made on both sides of the table, if one focuses on QUALITY.

Thanks for weighing in!

 

[joro001]

The fact i'm finding myself reading some of these posts and completely seeing one side and then reading the other and seeing the other side probably means there's validity to both sides of the argument.

"There is absolutely plenty of money to be made on both sides of the table, if one focuses on QUALITY."
I think this point sums it up perfectly and why 99.9% will unfortunately fail in domaining. It takes a long time to realise just how true this is and often by the time you have realised you've blown your budget and time and need to do something else. Few will succeed either way in the long run whichever side of the fence you're on IMO.

 

[Domainatic]

I have read too many similar threads. I understand one thing. You know what? The problem it is not the future. The real problem, which most domainers have, actually is the time of this process. Because time is renewal fees and fees are money.

I agree with you...

 

[imadoer]

what gtlds mean to me -------> .poop

 

[Raymond C]

Which is shorter or better?
RioMedia.com or Rio.Media ?

 

[Raymond C]

gTLDs are good for long term investment.....

 

[bmugford]

Which is shorter or better?
RioMedia.com or Rio.Media ?

A follow up question -

Which is an instantly recognizable extension normal people have actually heard of?

Brad

 

[owntype]

A follow up question -

Which is an instantly recognizable extension normal people have actually heard of?

Brad

RioMedia.top?

 

[Bram C.]

Let's see who drops, or if ICANN is blowing smoke with these companies.

It's just a bunch of smoke and mirrors.

FYI here's a tweet I found from domainincite dating back to August 1st:

".flsmidth becomes the second new gTLD to be removed from the DNS."

Source: https://twitter.com/DomainIncite/status/760137263175049216

And .Doosan was the first brand-TLD to be removed. So it's not all a bunch of smoke and mirrors as it's already happening as we speak. I believe many more will be deleted soon as the 1 year deadline to run a brand-TLD will soon expire for a lot more companies.

Edit: I found the following info on domainnamewire.com as well (dating back to April this year):

Emerson Electric Co (NYSE:EMR) has abandoned its plans to operate the .emerson top level domain name. The company notified ICANN (pdf) last week that it is terminating its registry agreement (Source).

So in this case the company itself terminates the brand TLD agreement.

 

[dordomai]

The added value is not so obvious. It is brand affirmation. I am wondering how many clients of Barclays are praising the bank for rolling out new URLs carrying their own brand. From the perspective of the end customer, the old URLs worked just fine.

Most companies will soon find out that they have been conned by ICANN.

Operating a registry for your .brand is just an overhead and complicates things. Your users won't be happier, you are just wasting money and staff to have a sub-standard URL.

 

[dordomai]

Which is shorter or better?
RioMedia.com or Rio.Media ?

shortness alone doesn't determine value. Sex.co isn't worth $11 million, will never be worth more than a fraction of it.

 

[Bram C.]

shortness alone doesn't determine value. Sex.co isn't worth $11 million, will never be worth more than a fraction of it.

You mean 13 million

 

[dordomai]

You mean 13 million

yes probably. I don't know what the last sale price was as it has sold 2-3 times in the last decade I think.

 

[Brands.International]

Which is shorter or better?
RioMedia.com or Rio.Media ?

Shorter and better is definitely Rio.Media From semantic point of view, adding ".com" does not have any added value here.

 

[Raymond C]

A follow up question -

Which is an instantly recognizable extension normal people have actually heard of?

Brad

The old generation surely heard of .com
But the young generation will hear more of .club .Canon .Apple .world .nyc etc......

 

[Raymond C]

RioMedia.top?

RioMedia.Rocks

 

[dordomai]

The old generation surely heard of .com
But the young generation will hear more of .club .Canon .Apple .world .nyc etc......

so far they have not. You must be talking about newborns.

When will the younger generation will be the main spending power.? This is when they will be 45+ years old.

If they are born today this would be 2061.
If they are 20 years old this would be 2041

Current 6-18 year olds are being taught that all important websites or all brands are under .com or ccTLD.

Probably another generation that will view .com as the default extension.

 

[dordomai]

another reason why shorter isn't automatically better.

what is a better domain? name.uk or name.co.uk?

It seems like a no-brainer. Name.uk is better. Looks better. Is shorter. The .co isn't needed.

Strangely in the real world it turned out that most businesses don't care about the .uk and did not switch to .uk when it became available. They still don't buy .uk domains. At the same time, since the .uk launch .co.uk has become stronger than ever.

In the past year we had some of the highest .co.uk sales ever:

£600k for “gold.co.uk and furniture.co.uk for $650k.

Will this trend eventually reverse and the clearly superior .uk will dominate the market? Who knows?

At the moment there is no trend in that direction. I don't think this will change in the next few years.

 

[dordomai]

more nGTLD myth busting:

Now that there are nGTLDs we don't need .com anymore.


OK. Then namepros.com is obsolete.

We switch to name.pros

There is no .pros? Then we switch to name.pro

Our brand is Namepros without a dot, and pros not pro?

Then let's try namepros.forum

Maybe let's use namepros.com again?


BMW.com is obsolete because .com is the past according to Rightside.

.bmw is much better. We just need to put something on the left side of the dot.

Maybe home.bmw? That's too long and harder to remember. Maybe use something shorter that people know. What about com.bmw? That sounds great.