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Several
tidbits for you today as we close out
another week in the domain business and head into
the big Labor Day 3-day holiday weekend in
the U.S. First, in still another sign
of the |
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shifting media times,
prominent Chicago Sun Times sports
columnist Jay Mariotti has quit after 17
years on the job because, after going to Beijing
to cover the just concluded Olympics, he said
he realized that sports journalism had become "entirely
a website business. There were not many
newspapers there." Mariotti told
the rival Chicago Tribune
that most of the journalists covering the Olympics
were "there writing for Web sites.''
Mariotti, who also
appears on ESPN cable TV added,
""Everyone is hanging on for dear life
at both (Chicago) papers. I think probably the days
of high stakes competition in Chicago are over.
To see what's happened in this business...I don't
want to go down with it.'' Thanks to Brad
Evers for sending the link to that story. |
Jay
Mariotti |
Also thanks to Adam Strong
at Domain
Name News for sending me a link to a related
item from Xbiz.com about a number of
consumer magazines reporting that their website traffic
was was up strongly at a time when print editions are
seeing big
losses in ad revenue. It has become clear that
the web is the future for print publishers IF they
can survive long enough to make the transition. The
problem they are having is they are losing print revenue so
quickly they haven't been able to make up the losses
with their website properties. I write frequently about
this historic shift from print (and from radio and
TV) to the web because it is the biggest media upheaval of
our lifetimes - and many domain owners will benefit.
Every domain name is potentially a media property that can
reach every corner of the globe with virtually no
overhead. That is a tough combo to compete against.
Elsewhere, the administrator
of Great Britain's popular .uk extension
says the ccTLD has just passed 7 million
registrations, having added more than 1 million new registrations
since July 2007 (most of those in .co.uk). Only two
other countries have more total registrations, Germany
(.de) and China (.cn) with more than 12
million each. |
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T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founders
Rick Schwartz & Howard Neu |
Moniker
continues to whittle down the list of the domains that
will be included in their live auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
New York next month. You can see the current
list of front runners here
as well as get other relevant information on the
sale.
In a related note, we will
start emailing our August newsletter out within the
next 24 hours. It will feature an extensive T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
New York preview article based on interviews with show
co-founders Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu.
Schwartz also took the opportunity to make some frank
comments about the current state of the industry that will
undoubtedly ruffle some feathers. You will want to read
what he has to say whether you are planning to go to New
York or not. To get on our opt-in mailing list you can sign
up for the free newsletter here. |
