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Before
they had to go silent, we had five full months of 2014
sales data from the company covering January through
May. Over that span, they averaged $2.6 million a
month in reported sales. That means, assuming they
remained close to their average, they would have
reported about $7.8 million in sales for 3Q-2014.
Without that number, quarterly sales volume numbers
(industry wide) obviously take a big hit, so I will give
you the results without Go Daddy numbers as well as a
pretty good estimate of what they would have been with
them.
In
3Q-2014 $20.1 million worth of sales were
reported to us across all extensions (this without Go
Daddy/Afternic sales). On the surface that is a big drop
(down 32%) from the same quarter a year ago
(3Q-2013) when $30.8 million was reported. That
quarter presents a tough comparison because it was by
far the best quarter of 2013. But when we looked closer
to find out why that may have been the case we found
that was also the quarter when the year's biggest
sale was reported - a blockbuster $4.7 million
deal for IG.com. Had that one sale not happened,
the 3Q-2013 total would have been $26.1 million. If you
also add in the estimated $7.8 million in 3Q-2014 sales
that Go Daddy/Afternic made but did not report, the
3Q-2014 total would be $27.9 million - 7%
better than 3Q-2013 (the $27.9 million is also in
the same ballpark (off 5.5%) as the previous quarter
(2Q-2014) when $29.5 million in sales were
logged).
The
IG.com sale illustrates how much a huge sale (or a
handful of big ones) can skew total $ volume figures for
a quarter - and why we also look at median prices that
give a more accurate picture of market trends. As I
noted in the headline and opening paragraph, median
prices were up substantially over last year - but
we will get to that shortly. First let's continue with
the total $ volume numbers, breaking them down by
category.
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.Com
image from Bigstock |
For .coms
only, $15.5 million in sales were
reported to us in 3Q-2014. Since about 75% of
sales volume typically goes to .com we can also
estimate that Go Daddy/Afternic had around $5.9
million in .com sales for the quarter which would
have boosted the total to $21.4 million.
That would be almost identical to the previous
quarter when $21.5 million in .com sales
were reported, and 17% below the $25.8
million in the same quarter a year ago. Again,
if it weren't for IG.com, the 3Q-2013 total would
have been lower that 3Q-2014 at $21.1
million.
The ccTLDs
had the biggest year over year and quarter to
quarter percentage gains. The $3.3 million in
country code sales reported in 3Q-2014 was 14%
higher than both the same quarter a year ago
and the previous quarter this year (3Q-2013 and
2Q-2014 both came in with total sales of $2.9
million). |
The
non .com gTLDs (.net, .org, .info, .biz, etc.)
suffered the biggest fall in total $ volume. With
only $1.4 million in sales reported in 3Q-2014
they were off 33% from the $2.1 million
recorded in the same quarter a year ago. However, again
the absence of Go Daddy/Afternic data is a big factor
here as they have traditionally been one of the
strongest platforms for .net and .org sales. Still, if new
gTLDs are impacting any part of the domain
aftermarket, this category - the one that all new gTLDs
are all a part of - is the one that is most vulnerable. Verisign
acknowledged that this week in noting that .net is
facing a challenging environment with hundreds of new
competitors arriving in the same category.
The
non .com gTLDs had an even more unfavorable comparison
quarter to quarter, plunging 72% from the $5
million in sales reported in 2Q-2014. But again this
is deceiving as that massive change can be attributed to
a single domain. Sex.xxx was sold for a whopping
$3 million in 2Q-2014. Without that sale the
category would have come in at $2 million which
is right around the average number we see for it every
quarter.
For
this group, the question going forward will be "can
aftermarket sales of new gTLDs make up for declining
sales of traditional non .com gTLDs?". If they can
we will see those total $ volume numbers go up. If they
can't this group will fall further behind both the .coms
and the ccTLDs whom they already trail by wide margin.
With hundreds of new gTLDs on the scene (and many more
coming) it's hard to envision the group's aggregate
number not growing considerably unless the new
gTLDs completely flop in the aftermarket.
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let's move on to median sales prices in
3Q-2014. As always, you should note that, in order to keep our weekly
domain sales
reports at a manageable length, we do
not track sales below four figures (to be
specific, we track .com sales of $2,000 and up and
all other TLDs from $1,000 and up). So our median
numbers would be lower if we also tracked the
bottom end of the market. Conversely, our total $
volume number would be higher).
In
3Q-2014 the median sales price across all
extensions was $3,000 - exactly the same
figure as the previous quarter but a very solid 13%
jump from the same quarter a year ago when it
was $2,660. Since the median represents the
figure at which
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Money
image from Bigstock |
| half
of all sales were higher and half were lower, it
is a difficult needle to move. We normally see
changes of no more than 1-5% so a double digit
increase is very impressive. |
The
median numbers for .com only were even more eye
popping. The 3Q-2014 median of $4,410 is a 24%
increase from the previous quarter (when it was was $3,546)
and an astonishing 43% higher than the same
quarter a year ago when it was $3,088. Seeing
this kind of upward movement in the median is pretty
good evidence that the arrival of new gTLDs is having no
effect on .coms (and could even be making them more
attractive, though it is so early in the game that is
not something anyone can definitely say).
The
ccTLDs weren't as fortunate but they did hold
their own. Their 3Q-2014 median price of $1,935
was $1 higher than the median in the same quarter
a year ago. However, their median was off 8% from
the previous quarter (2Q-2014) when it was $2,110.
The
non .com gTLDs, despite taking a hit in total $
volume, got some good news on the median price
front. Their 3Q-2014 figure - $2,200 -
represented a very strong 22% jump over the same
quarter a year ago when it was $1,800, and it was
10% better than the previous quarter when it was $2,000.
One
final interesting stat. With the first three quarters of
the year now in the books, we can tell you that the
total $ volume reported to us across all TLDs thus far
this year has been $81.6 million. That is a solid
9% increase over the $75 million reported
in the first 3 quarters of 2013 even with an entire
quarter of Go Daddy/Afternic sales missing from
3Q-2014. Again, we know they were averaging $7.8 million
in quarterly sales this year before they had to go
silent. If you add those average sales that were made
but not reported as they normally would have been, the
3Q-2014 total rises to $89.4 million, a hefty 19%
jump from the same time frame a year ago. Now if the
4th quarter holds serve we will have a very good 2014
story to tell when the books finally close.
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