Founded by Ovesee.net in 2002, Domain Sponsor is one of the oldest and most well-known domain name parking companies. The company has thousands of clients, and even people within the domain industry who don’t work with Domain Sponsor likely know the brand because of its DomainFest conference sponsorships.
In April of 2014, Rook Media acquired Domain Sponsor and its clients. After the acquisition, Rook Media gave clients the option to continue using the familiar Domain Sponsor platform or to switch to the Rook platform. Since the closing of the acquisition, the company has undergone the process of migrating the databases and features of both platforms. Essentially, this means that a client using Rook and a client using Domain Sponsor would have access to the same features, albeit with different branding.
Rook Media has been advertising on my blog for well over a year, and at the beginning of the year, you probably noticed the banner creative changed to Domain Sponsor branding. This is because the company is rebranding as Domain Sponsor for its new clients. Anyone who signs up to monetize their domain names will do so under the Domain Sponsor branding. Current clients will have the option of continuing to use the Rook platform or migrating to Domain Sponsor. The primary difference between the two brands is the user interface. Both parking service brands offer the same features.
Because of its history and reach, Domain Sponsor likely has greater brand recognition than Rook Media, and the company is going to use that to its advantage in its rebranding.