Why is .co.uk more popular then .uk?

[urljunky]

Maybe somebody can help me out here, but it just seems uk should be more popular then co.uk? Doesn't co just mean local company? I am new and uk seems easier to type and remember, but I'm obviously missing something because the sales say it all.

 

[hawkeye]

Because .uk 'just' was released within the last couple of months, an .co.uk has been out for many years.

 

[urljunky]

Because .uk 'just' was released within the last couple of months, an .co.uk has been out for many years.

makes sense. do you have to live in uk to get uk domain?

 

[pranker]

.co.uk has been around for a long time there.

 

[ScottMb]

makes sense. do you have to live in uk to get uk domain?

Not sure there is that much money in the UK market, especially as it's a very competetive market with mostly rich estabilished members catching the cream, sticking to .com is probably better.

 

[urljunky]

Not sure there is that much money in the UK market, especially as it's a very competetive market with mostly rich estabilished members catching the cream, sticking to .com is probably better.

Yeah I looked into it a little more and it seems if you own insurance.co.uk they hold the .uk extension for you and wont let anyone else reg it. unless you don't want it then it goes to who ever owns the same extension in the other uk extensions and so on. I guess that's fair since .uk will probably get more popular.

 

[wot]

Yeah I looked into it a little more and it seems if you own insurance.co.uk they hold the .uk extension for you and wont let anyone else reg it. unless you don't want it then it goes to who ever owns the same extension in the other uk extensions and so on. I guess that's fair since .uk will probably get more popular.

Provided you held the .co.uk prior to ,I think, October 2013

 

[carob]

Provided you held the .co.uk prior to ,I think, October 2013

Hi the official info is here
http://www.dotuklaunch.uk/dates-and-definitions

• New registrations of .co.uk domains made before 08:00hrs on 10 June 2014 (provided that no other equivalent .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, ltd.uk or .plc.uk exists) would have been given automatic rights to the new .uk domain.
• The new .uk domain launched on 10 June 2014. Any new registrations made within the UK Domain Family (e.g. in .co.uk, .org.uk etc) after this date will no longer get automatic rights to register the new .uk domain. So these new .uk domains become available for anyone to register.

 

[Krisss]

...

 

[jamesosix]

I think it will improve over time, after all it is shorter and does look better.

 

[vivaldi]

Nice only five years until launch of direct .uk registrations...

 

[championshipforum]

There is no money in the .uk market in my opinion, it's best not to waste your time.

Also, it's more ideal if you own both the co.uk and .uk which means twice as many renewals.

 

[vdonline]

.uk was just released not long time ago. And if you want to register .uk, I think you have to own .co.uk or .com.uk with the same name.

 

[carob]

.uk was just released not long time ago. And if you want to register .uk, I think you have to own .co.uk or .com.uk with the same name.

The answer is earlier in the thread http://www.dotuklaunch.uk/dates-and-definitions

No, if there was no .co.uk registered before 10 June this year you can register .co.uk or .uk

If .co.uk was registered before 10 June they have the right to register .uk for 5 years. They can save money by waiting till the end of the 5 years.

This does make domaining on new registrations more expensive since you need to register both .co.uk and .uk. Not to mention there's .org.uk and .me.uk and some extensions for companies only: .ltd.uk and .plc.uk

 

[Marko12]

The marketing for the new .uk wasn't great. Nominet recently sent out an email regarding .uk to everyone who holds a .co.uk explaining the right to the .uk (where applicable) . In 2019 when there will be general availability to all .uk's currently reserved for the .co.uk holders things will get interesting. Domainers will have a big decision to make as it will effectively double the renewal costs.

Over time I can see .uk becoming more popular than .co.uk and this will likely happen after 2019 so there is a good opportunity in 2019 to grab some gems which are not taken up by the .co.uk holder. I am in the UK and I chase both UK ccTLD's and .coms.

.org.uk and .me.uk are seen as lesser extensions in the UK, .org.uk is more charity based, I have secured a city.me.uk domain which was a surprise, but UK domain investors see no value in them. Many end users buying domains have no interest in the .uk , this could be lack of awareness. It will take years for the general public to become fully aware of .uk, to me this is a window of opportunity for domainers. Look at it another way .co.uk could actually be seen as a sub domain to .uk in the future.

I agree with the comment above.uk looks better, of course domainers won't let go of their .co.uk's having probably spent ££ on renewals, I think 2019 will offer a real opportunity to domainers and the real advantage being .uk popularity will not have peaked then so domainers holding current .co.uk rights will have some hard decisions to make.

 

[baldonius]

Not sure there is that much money in the UK market, especially as it's a very competetive market with mostly rich estabilished members catching the cream, sticking to .com is probably better.

There's a guy who owns pretty much every generic word .co.uk you can think of. I can't remember his name but he also owns a vehicle private number selling business.