discuss Generally...Are New gTLD's Becoming Mainstream?

[DaveX]

I think there is progress!

Couple of large sales suggest that people may be getting used to the new gTLD's.

Do you agree?

 

[gilescoley]

No, there are always decent sales with new extensions..the good sales just get fewer and fewer and then stop.

 

[DaveX]

No, there are always decent sales with new extensions..the good sales just get fewer and fewer and then stop.

Just seems like I'm seeing them promoted more.

For example (which is driving me crazy), recently Dynadot changed their domain search function where it now shows ngTLD availability on top, then mixed in are the legacy extensions.

 

[DaveX]

It almost seems like soon people will be asking each other, "I got dot whatever, what extension did you get?" and not "What domain did you get?".

 

[DnEbook]

Do you agree?

No

 

[Ategy]

There is no doubt mainstream end usage is going up.

The real question however is whether it's going up fast enough to make any significant changes in the market?

There really needs to be a critical mass for public awareness to really reach a tipping point. I don't think we're there yet .. but I also think that it's simply a question of time as usage continues to grow (at a pace I think most ngTLD investors would say is too slow).

Despite tales of doom and gloom there are SOME ngTLD's with large numbers .. but I'm not really seeing many used in the wild.

If anything I'm seeing more end usage of repurposed ccTLD's than anything else. I've sold a few .co's (the only reason I even bought them is because I saw them used by large businesses) .. and .tv has had slow but steady sales for years.

Recent "HOT" TLD's have been .io and .ai

If ICANN actually used a percentage of the ngTLD auction revenue to do a serious promotional campaign for all the alternate TLD it could transform the industry. But who knows what they have planned with their millions?

 

[DaveX]

If ICANN actually used a percentage of the ngTLD auction revenue to do a serious promotional campaign for all the alternate TLD it could transform the industry. But who knows what they have planned with their millions?

Agreed...1 million percent.

 

[domainer111]

Seems to be a bit of uptake lately.

They are the best thing ever for dot-coms.

 

[DaveX]

Seems to be a bit of uptake lately.

They are the best thing ever for dot-coms.

It's very true.

 

[Recons.Com]

I think there is progress!

Couple of large sales suggest that people may be getting used to the new gTLD's.

Do you agree?

To become mainstream, you'd need to start seeing those on business cards, corporate cars, billboards etc. And that is not happening.

 

[DaveX]

To become mainstream, you'd need to start seeing those on business cards, corporate cars, billboards etc. And that is not happening.

I am seeing some domain investors with seemingly steady sales of new gTLD domains. I know @kerala regularly sells them.

 

[mad409]

It's a slow process but this week shines a bit of light for those holding on to some of the better ones not reserved by the registries.

 

[Recons.Com]

I am seeing some domain investors with seemingly steady sales of new gTLD domains. I know @kerala regularly sells them.

You have to define "mainstream" then. If 97% of businesses are still using .com, .net, .org, .io, .co, .tv, .me, .cctld, then the remaining 3% cannot be "mainstream" regardless of how many Kerala and few others sell.

 

[DaveX]

I'm getting offers pretty frequently on some of mine. Typically low, but I get that on legacy extensions too.

It seems a logic may be developing in favor of considering a new gTLD, at least until there is a budget, especially when you can get the exactly what you want lotd.

People sit in front of the computer and think "Darn...it's taken. Well..what about this other extension?"

Might look sh*tty at first, but after a while (or a few drinks), it doesn't seem so bad.

It will be interesting to see what happens down the line.

 

[D Haynes]

I think you can only gauge their rise by looking outside the domaining world. The domain community is a bubble and what happens here doesn't always give accurate representation of what's happening outside.
Personally I haven't seen any change in usage in the "real world" and I'm certain that if I asked anyone I know what domain extensions there are they would say .com. co.uk and .org .
It's going to take time for the new extensions to gain traction and for average Joe to hear about them but I think it will happen eventually. That said, I'm not convinced they are worth investing in. The registrar's are the new domainers when it comes to new extensions.

 

[JB Lions]

I'm just not seeing them anywhere once I'm off this forum/domaining world. You've had a couple of nice sales lately but also had some recent big .com sales, people upgrading from other urls to a .com. Fake it to you make it type of deal. Like somebody mentioned in the other thread about Wells Fargo being the real winner, which is true. Maybe online ok, but with offline marketing, you'll just be helping the .com holder in many cases.

 

[wwwweb]

You saw 2 big sales this week across over 1000 strong strings, .com does this weekly, these sales did not happen overnight, I am sure they took time.

Donuts has kept all the platinum names for themselves so it's not like domainers are sharing in it.

The.Club one looks like it was privately owned now, so that is good for the seller.

A long ways to go still, I don't entirely see how the $500K on home.loans came to be, I think there might be more to that story in regards to one time payment.

 

[Arca]

If ICANN actually used a percentage of the ngTLD auction revenue to do a serious promotional campaign for all the alternate TLD it could transform the industry. But who knows what they have planned with their millions?

Not a dollar of ICANN's money reserve is going to this, most likely. The money raised by ICANN from the new G's will be used to fund charity projects, scholarships, internet security initiatives, etc. That's why ICANN is cash flush, but at the same time "running out" of money, cutting their operating budget, as they did not earn as much in registration and renewal fees from new G's as they had expected. The money earned from the new G auctions can't be used for their operational budget either.

You can read the ICANN letter by the Cross-Community Working Group on New gTLD Auction Proceeds HERE, where they outline what the money might be used for, and how they view the appropriateness of using the money in such a way. Here is their stance on promoting/raising awareness of the existence of new Gs:

- inappropriate use of the funds, smells too much like marketing
- marketing new gTLDs is up to the new gTLDs, this would be outside our scope.
- ICANN engaging in marketing, would be negatively viewed.

 

[Kate]

For example (which is driving me crazy), recently Dynadot changed their domain search function where it now shows ngTLD availability on top, then mixed in are the legacy extensions.

Registrars do this all the time, GD does that too. At some point GD was defaulting to the .co.
But it's usually experiments that only last a few days.
From the POV of the registrar, if the .com is not available they could as well suggest something else (which may have a higher margin).

My definition of mainstream is .com & ccTLD and a few other extensions like org .edu .gov .mil .eu depending on your location. Everything else usually qualifies as oddity.

 

[Brands.International]

Well (as a person who is heavily invested in new gTLDs) I can tell you following:

As for 2018, imho:

a) New gTLDs are not yet mainstream, but are heading to this direction - you can like it, or not.

b) Number of offers/sales are getting larger year by year - I can feel it myself in my portfolio. End users like unique and cool names.

c) We see some record sales of new gTLDs publicly announced, and this is just a beginnig - I would not be surprised to see some new gTLD sales larger then 1 mil until end of 2018.

d) Registrars, registries, ICANN, new gTLD investors AND END USERS - they all find gTLDs beneficial. No end user will ever complain that there are more options to name their business. If they do not like those options, they can ignore them, no problem.

e) If you builded large .com or ccTLD portfolio over the years you can naturally have some issues with new gTLDs - it is not fun for them to see part of the money redirected to new gTLDs. So this is the only group of people who can complain, which is fully understandable.

f) New gTLDs are just another investment instrument in domain space - as for private investors, most profit will be done, imo, by pre-mainstream investors. Logically, no one can seriously expect to get great name for $1 AFTER they becomes fully mainstream. In the process of investing there will be (are) some losses too, as everything is still in process and we need to learn everyday.

g) It is not true that all good names are hold by registries as stated by one of OPs above - you can see TONS of amazing names in private hands, with regular renewals or very reasonable smaller premium renewals attached to them - people who do their analysis and work are doing well. When you study in WHOIS who owns great gTLDs combos, you will find people from all around the planet, PLUS some clever and rich .com investors as well, who have diversified their domain portfolios.

Just IMO