.tv The Dot TV paradox

[kubativity]

Does anybody else on this forum find it strange that .tv is being so widely used by media companies and in television promotions while the aftermarket is slumping? Wouldnt you expect aftermarket sales to boom while the extension thrives in the end user market?

I know that my radar is very "tuned" to .tv sites, but I can say with certainty that i've seen a heck of a lot of .tv sites promoted and it is always growing. Yet, the aftermarket seemed hot a while back and is now cold as ice. I dont get it at all.

 

[TheBulldog]

Premium renewal time/Regular "2007" Landrush renewal time.

 

[michaeldotcom]

As I wrote in my recent thread "DNJournal and .tv sales", there have actually been quite a lot of big .tv sales over the past few weeks on Sedo and elsewhere.

As Bulldog just said, it's premium renewal time for many people who bought premium domains in May 2007, this means that they're spending less on the aftermarket now.

Moreover, as .tv regular renewal fees are much higher than .com, .net, .info, etc. and as this extension is more recent, this means that there are still quite a lot of good domains to handreg.

We're still much earlier in the .tv cycle than in the .com cycle. All the good .com domains are registered, which means that they can only be found on the aftermarket. As far as .tv domains are concerned, people can still handreg lots of good domains and they're still building their .tv portfolio through handregs. The aftermarket will be much bigger in the years to come when all the good .tv domains will have been handregged. Same thing happened for the .com extension in the 90s. The .com aftermarket was much weaker back then.

Finally, as there are more and more businesses, corporations, developers and endusers coming into the .tv market, more and more Internet users are becoming aware of this extension. As the market for .tv domains is progressively growing, some domainers might still want to hold their domains (or at least their best domains) to sell them in a few years time when the .tv aftermarket will be much hotter.

So you really must look at the bigger picture and understand how things work. You must realize that we're still quite early in the cycle but that .tv is on the right track.

There's nothing worse for an extension than when all the domains are in the hands of speculators who just park them and wait for things to happen. That might actually kill an extension.

So what's really good about the .tv extension is that we see lots of endusers, businesses developing big projects on .tv sites. This means that more and more Internet users become aware of the .tv extension, because they're using everyday .tv sites, because they're seeing them advertised more and more often, etc. This is precisely what will give real value to .tv domains in the long run.

The .tv extension is actually exactly on the same track as the .com extension in the 90s. Same type of cycle, same enduser/business involvement, same focus on development...

Even though some might be a bit impatient, there's a lot to be optimistic about.

 

[equity78]

THE end user arena has a lot of options they do not need the generic they can go out and reg a LLLL.tv which there are plenty available. So if you are a new company you can reg a WUBU.tv or ROOB.tv and be focused on branding your new name,

Ebay did not go after Auction.com
Google search.com
Yahoo Search.com
Amazon Books.com
TheKnot Wedding.com

So new companies that feel .tv is an extension they like have many choices to go with instead of a generic.

Blip.tv
Beet.tv
Pandora.tv
Tu.tv
Blinx.tv


The question is do many have the patience to hold .tv domains for 3,5,8 years. My opinion not many have that patience. It is understandable because the renewals are more expensive, how will changes in technology affect domains ? Will the Snowe bill and other domainer unfriendly bills make people anxious ? So it is not as easy as saying buy and put away and one day you will be totally fine.

I would say there is very little money here at Namepros for purchases in the aftermarket here, people are going to have to go out and market their names for sale in other creative ways.

 

[jeffoverman]

good points ray and mention of the snowe bill.

would also like to add the economy, gas prices and recession( michigan has been in this for a very long time before other states and were the last ones to excit as well)

 

[boboski]

Quote from an article --- Many of the top companies in the world recognize the value of generic, category-defining Web addresses. Examples include Bank of America, owner of Loan.com; major bookseller Barnes and Noble, owner of Book.com; and multi-national, multi-industry giant Disney, owner of such premium generic domains as Movies.com, Video.com and Family.com.


http://media-newswire.com/release_1065453.html

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

How many here think that the snowe bill will pass?

 

[snoop]

Does anybody else on this forum find it strange that .tv is being so widely used by media companies and in television promotions while the aftermarket is slumping? Wouldnt you expect aftermarket sales to boom while the extension thrives in the end user market?

Need to understand how these names have been priced, the aftermarket really isn't particularly profitable by design. Verisign has tried as much as possible to keep the profits for itself in the primary market, so the extension becoming popular and speculators making money are two quite different things. I think if .tv were twice as popular as it were today speculators still wouldn't be making much from it.

With the premium names (and non premiums to a smaller degree) it is a bit like trying to make money in property be renting a house and releasing it, as opposed to buying it, it isn't going to work most of the time.

 

[michaeldotcom]

Need to understand how these names have been priced, the aftermarket really isn't particularly profitable by design. Verisign has tried as much as possible to keep the profits for itself in the primary market, so the extension becoming popular and speculators making money are two quite different things. I think if .tv were twice as popular as it were today speculators still wouldn't be making much from it.

I remember reading the exact same things about .com domains in the 1990s.

With the premium names (and non premiums to a smaller degree) it is a bit like trying to make money in property be renting a house and releasing it, as opposed to buying it, it isn't going to work most of the time.

The .tv premiums are essentially made for developers, not for speculators, even though many people who bought good .tv premiums have already sold them and made some great ROI.

But in many cases people don't buy .tv premiums to resell them but actually to develop them.

You made the comparison with real estate. But don't many companies rent office space or commercial property in prestigious locations, set up businesses there and make healthy profits ?

Good businessmen can make nice profits even if they have to pay a rent or a premium renewal fee. They benefit hugely from being in prestigious locations and that definitely pays for the rent or the premium fee.

 

[teabag]

Not all valuable names have premium renewal fee.
Valuable one worders will always be on demand with any extention.

Development is the key as always...

 

[snoop]

I remember reading the exact same things about .com domains in the 1990s.

Not sure I follow.

The .tv premiums are essentially made for developers, not for speculators, ................But don't many companies rent office space or commercial property in prestigious locations, set up businesses there and make healthy profits ?

Agree, but the people who rent office space aren't in the "property" business, just like a web developer using a premium .tv isn't in the "domain business". I'm talking about making money from domain speculation. If you can make money from development that is great, but most domainers like to see themsleves as "developers" when they register 100 names and develop 2 minisites.

 

[michaeldotcom]

Not sure I follow.

Well, I remember that in the 1990s (when Network Solutions had the monopoly of domain name registrations for .com, .net and .org), the renewal fees were much much higher than they are now. They charged $100 for a two year registration, which is twice as expensive as the current .tv regular renewal fee at eNom.

At that time, the aftermarket for .com domains was much much weaker than it is for .tv domains now, it barely existed. That was the time when you could handreg domains like business.com or pizza.com. That's when the very first domainers came into the market. Many people thought they were crazy and actually said exactly the same things you mentioned in your previous post. That they couldn't ever make any profit by doing so, that Network Solutions kept the profits for themselves in the primary market, etc. But these first domainers still held their domains, kept paying very high renewal fees year after year, and were actually proved right. Every domainer would now want to go back to the 90s and handreg those domains like business.com and others, as they're worth millions now.

Just like in any business, it's all about taking some risks. But things are already looking fairly promising for the .tv extension.

Agree, but the people who rent office space aren't in the "property" business, just like a web developer using a premium .tv isn't in the "domain business". I'm talking about making money from domain speculation.

It's true that people who rent office space aren't in the property business. But if they're good business people, they can still make good profits, in spite of the fact they have to pay a rent and that they don't own the property.

What's great about .tv premium domain names is that you can be both in the "development" business and in the "property"/speculation business, which is not the case with real estate that you rent. So that's where your comparison is actually not correct.

We've seen many examples (on NP and elsewhere) of domainers making some nice profits by buying and selling .tv premiums. Obviously, this is much easier to do with cheaper premiums. But when buying expensive premiums, most people will realize they probably won't be able to flip them and usually have a very solid development plan for them (orlando.tv being a good recent example on NP).

The fact is that, just like the .com extension in the past decade, .tv has an increasingly large aftermarket year after year, that more and more businesses and corporations are developing major .tv sites, that more and more Internet users are using .tv sites on a daily basis and are becoming aware of this great TLD.

All in all, things are definitely looking much better for .tv than for most other newer extensions.