Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson.
NamesCon
2019: Two Things You Can Count On: Great
Networking and News Overload!
The
2019 NamesCon conference
gets underway Sunday (January
27) at the Tropicana Hotel in
Las Vegas where it will run
through Wednesday, January 30. By
bringing so many people from
throughout the industry together in
one place, NamesCon is able to offer
a networking opportunity that
just can't be beat. Representatives
from all of the top companies will
be there, along with successful
domain investors and developers,
legal experts and an all star line up
of speakers.
Another
thing you can count on when NamesCon rolls
around
is a tidal
wave of news releases from
companies throughout the industry.
In fact, that
has already begun. Getting
news about new offerings out just ahead
of or during NamesCon gives
companies an opportunity to create a
flow of contacts that will check out
their offerings in the exhibition
hall or, if they at least pique the
interest of potential clients,
entice them to connect after the
hustle and bustle of the show
subsides. The
only downside to that is having so much news
competing for attention that a lot
of it can get lost in the crowd.
That's what more and more releases
are coming out before the show event
starts. I'll give you four
examples of that in this post (published
before heading out to
NamesCon myself).
Bhavin
Turakhia
Founder & CEO
Radix
Registry
One
of the biggest highlights on
the NamesCon
agenda will be a
keynote speech from
the young billionaire
Founder & CEO of Radix
Registry, Bhavin
Turakhia. I am expecting
a full house when Bhavin
delivers his address in the
Keynote Hall Monday morning
(January 28) at 10am local
time in Las Vegas.
Dovetailing
nicely with Bhavin's
appearance is Radix's latest
release of their semi-annual
Premium
Domain Report (.pdf
file) covering the second
half of 2018. Radix operates
multiple new gTLD domain
registries, including
.online, .tech, .store and
.website, to name just a
few. The report provides
sales results for their
premium level sales across
multiple Radix TLDs.
The
company reported $1.3
million in total premium
revenue from over 1,200
domain sales during the
6-month period. 31%
of revenue came from new
registrations of tiered
premiums, 57% from
the renewal of tiered
premiums and 12% from
one-time premium sales.
Radix also reported that
their 1st-time renewal rate
stands at 51% and
subsequent renewal rate at a
robust 76%.
.CLUB
is another new gTLD registry
operator that will have high
visibility at NamesCon
(their exhibit hall booth
always draws a crowd with a
variety of games and cool
schwag). They will be using
NamesCon to launch what CMO Jeff
Sass says will be "a
big addition to our Names.club
platform. Any domain owner
will be able to
list
their names for sale and
we'll accept names with any
extension, including
.COM. We're very excited to
make a much wider range of
brandable and keyword
domains available with
60-month Easy Payments, as
we are confident paying
monthly is an attractive way
for businesses, startups,
and entrepreneurs to build a
brand on a great premium
domain. This also represents
a great new distribution
channel and model for all
domain investors to sell
their names."
.CLUB
has even produced a
short video clip
(under two minutes)
illustrating how to
list your names on
their platform:
Domain
monetization
(parking) companies
will also be out in
force at NamesCon.
One of the leaders
in that field, ParkingCrew.com,
just launched
a new domain
feature.
They
can now serve
parking pages over
HTTPS with valid SSL
certificates at
no extra cost for
the domain owner.
With Google Chrome'd
push towards HTTPS
and expired traffic
often coming over
HTTPS, ParkingCrew
expects this to
increase revenues
and future proof
domain parking. You
can get more details
on that development here
(.pdf file).
TheInternet
Commerce Association
(ICA), the
non-profit
organization the
protects the rights of
domain registrants,
including investors
and develops, always
has a major presence
at NamesCon and 2019
will be no exception.
ICA leaders will be in
stage on multiple
occasions, they will
host a member's
meeting Monday morning
(January 28) at 11am
and an annual dinner
at the House of Blues
(in Mandalay Bay)
Monday evening
starting at 6pm.
In
between those two
events, at 3:30pm
Monday in the Afilias
Lounge, the ICA will
present their annual
Lonnie Borck Memorial
Award to
pioneering domain
attorney John
Berryhill. In
a letter sent out to
members the ICA noted
"John has been at
the forefront of the
fight for domain owner
rights for over
20 years and has
taken on many cases
pro bono. He has
devoted considerable
time and effort to
educating the domain
community about their
legal rights, often by
actively engaging on
the forums and we are
honored to present him
with this year's
award."
The
ICA does a great job
and always has the
welcome mat open for new
members. You can
learn more about that
on their website.
We
will of course be at
NamesCon to cover all
of the key sessions
and events throughout
the week for you. Each
busy day runs from
early morning to
midnight (or beyond),
so we will be
John
Berryhill
2019 Lonnie Borck
Award Winner
getting
up especially early
each day to put
together a Lowdown
post featuring the
previous day and
night's activity in
Las Vegas. For those
of you who will be
there too, we look
forward to seeing you
at NamesCon 2019!
We need your help to keep giving
domainers The
Lowdown, so please email [email protected]with any interesting information you might have. If possible,
include the source of your information so we can check it out (for
example a URL if you read it in a forum or on a site
elsewhere).
