In Andrew’s opinion (and I agree with the domain investor aspect), “if a new TLD operator wants to come anywhere close to the number of registrations that .mobi, .me, .xxx, and any other recently ‘launched’ TLD have, they’re going to need to count on both domainers and defensive registrations.” I happen to disagree with Andrew regarding defensive registrations.
Before .XXX domain names were made available to consumers, many domain registrars sent “warning” emails to clients to recommend that they defensively reserve / register .XXX domain names so that others couldn’t use them maliciously. Because of the potential embarrassment associated with a brand .XXX domain name, many companies and people secured .XXX domain names to “protect” their brand. I don’t see the same thing happening with new gTLD domain names.
There are going to be hundreds of domain name extensions available within the next few years. By the looks of it, domain names are going to be on the expensive side, and most will certainly be more expensive than .com domain name registrations. I can’t imagine that most companies are going to go out and register hundreds of these new gTLD domain names for their brands. It would likely cost tens of thousands of dollars a year to protect just one brand, let alone a company that has several brands.
I want to show you what makes me believe this.
Right now, there are hundreds of ccTLD domain extensions, and most of the domain names can be bought by anyone, anywhere. Some like .ME, .TV, and .CO have meaning aside from the local ccTLD relationship. Google considers a number of ccTLDs as gTLDs, meaning a company in Boston can use a .CO domain name and will be listed in Google just as it would if it used a .com or .net. I suspect that many more ccTLDs will be considered to be generic by Google in the next few years, but that’s another story.
With that said, visit 101 Domain for a minute to search for available brand ccTLD domain names. Click the second search tab for ccTLDs and check off the European ccTLD tab because there are many searchable TLDs there. Search for brands like Realtor.ccTLD, RedSox.ccTLD, Johnsons.ccTLD, and Oracle.ccTLD. What you’ll notice is that there are a ton of available ccTLDs that practically anyone can buy now. Turn up the stakes a bit and look up “sensitive” brands like Citibank.ccTLD, HSBC.ccTLD, and Apple.ccTLD. Many unregistered large brands there, too.
If major companies haven’t registered ccTLDs for their brands, I hardly expect them to do the same for most new gTLDs. My feeling is that if Citigroup isn’t going to spend $52/year to register Citibank.SE, then the company isn’t going to worry about registering Citibank.whatever. Someone who wants to build a malicious website can likely do it on either of those domain names.
I do believe domain investors will be an important caucus for registry operators. Judging by yesterday’s poll results, domain investors don’t seem to be convinced that there is money to be made.
They will do defensive registrations if the GTLD is a U.S. type of GTLD name such as .store, .web, .app, .bank etc…and 100’s of others. They will defend their target market.
Do you think a company like Citibank will register:
Citibank.horse
Citibank.ceo
Citibank.club
Citibank.hotels
They don’t own Citibank.travel.
Do you think smaller companies will spend tens of thousands of dollars on defensive registrations? Companies like Publix, Kroger, Liberty Travel, Four Seasons…etc? I don’t think they will, especially considering they aren’t protecting their brands in available TLDs now.
I edited this comment because I was incorrect, but Mike had commented in the meantime so it’s back:
“Can’t they simply sign up for the trademark clearing house and prevent anyone from registering?”
Maybe Citibank.club but not the others you listed. They will register the ones that make sense. There will be 100’s of choices and if we went through the whole list I think it will be crystal clear which ones they will and will not. They will probably also register the reverse of the ones that they use in their marketing. I am not sure if they applied for their own brand but if they have .Citibank and used loans.Citibank then I would think they would register the reverse which is Citibank.loans. This one is obvious but their will lots of good ones their marketing team will come up with and chances are they will register the reverse also.
E-
“Can’t they simply sign up for the trademark clearing house and prevent anyone from registering?”
No it doesn’t work this way, guess I need to do a post since there seems to be confusion
Borderline extortion to pay all these fees, and renewals, companies need to focus on running core businesses, and not worry about registering 2000 defensive gtld registrations.
fail.horse is available for priority reservation!
get it before anyone else!
€1,199.95 priority reservation & 1st year registration —> Over $1500 USD
ENOUGH SAID!
Dot.Whatever
Is.wasting
Money.On
Stupid.Stuff
What.The
Hell.is
Dot.Sexy
Why.There
is.need
For.Sexy
Dont.We
Have.Facebook
to.show
sexyness.to
other.then
Why.Frank????
LOL.My
Advice.Dont
Burn.Your
Money.Because
GTLDers.will
say.whatever
it.takes
to.sell
their.extensions
Even.If
they.have
to.say
stuff.they
know.is
not.true.
Because.Their
success.is
your.stupidity.
You.snooze
You.LOOSE!
Goodluck, been there myself done that, so dont do it guys, I sometime disagree with rick, but this time, he is RIGHT ON it, dont do it.
I do think there will be quite a bit of defensive registration, but not as much as many predict.
The gtlds are all incredibly dumb and will all fail.
Now, can we all get back to renewing our .com?