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The
Lowdown
The Lowdown
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Welcome to the The
Lowdown from
DN Journal - your source for notable news
and information from all corners of the global domain name
industry!
The Lowdown
is compiled by DN Journal
Editor & Publisher Ron Jackson. |
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Back
to the Future! ICA Members Got
Together in Person for 15th
Anniversary Meetup in Las
Vegas
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When
the
Internet
Commerce Association (ICA)
- the non-profit organization that
fights to protect domain registrant's rights - held their 15th
Anniversary Meetup in Las
Vegas September 19-21, it was the
way we used to be and the way
we hope to be a lot more often
going forward.
The
event based at the Green Valley
Ranch resort in Henderson
(just outside the city) marked the
first time since the global
Covid-19 pandemic began in early
2020 that a domain industry
meeting
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of
any significant size was held
in person, face to face. It
was also the ICA's first stand
alone meeting (all previous ones
had been held at large industry
conferences).
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The
pandemic is still far from over, of course, but a mix of factors including,
vaccinations, natural immunity developed by some and careful attention to
following safety protocols made it possible for this to finally happen for
those ready to take the plunge back into the physical world.
There
is a theory
that we are all living in a computer simulation. I don't know about
the rest of you, but after doing almost everything online for almost two
years now, I definitely feel like I've been living in one! Regrettably, I
wasn't able to go to to the ICA meeting that ended the day before the latest
NamesCon Onine conference began,
but I was there with my colleagues in spirit. Better yet, thanks to some
information and photos I got from ICA Executive Director Kamila Sekiewicz,
I was able to see and hear about some of what happened and now share that with you.
Kamila,
ICA General Counsel Zak Muscovitch (who came in from Canada), Board
Members Paul Nicks (GoDaddy), Jay Chapman (Digimedia) Nat
Cohen (Telepathy) and long-time ICA supporter Gregg McNair (who
traveled from Panama) were among those who flew in to greet several dozen of
their fellow members.
Above and
below: Nevada currently has an indoor mask mandate in place but the Green
Valley Ranch made it possible to hold many functions outside, including
meals and casual networking in cabanas near the pool.
Above
and below: There was no cost to attend the meetup and generous
sponsors provided the meals, drinks and cabana rentals at no charge
throughout the event. Thank yous for that went to GoDaddy,
Above.com, Michael
Cyger (DNAcademy.com), Zak
Muscovitch, Ammar Kubba,
Dynadot, Bodis
and Gregg McNair’s PTL.
Above
and below: After a busy opening day of socializing, casual talks and an
evening reception, nearly half of the attendees got out of bed early the
next morning for a hike near scenic Red Rock Canyon. Michael Law
rounded up the ICA adventurers long enough to snap these shots.
(Below)
Everyone got back to the ranch in plenty of time to sit in on a Q&A
session with Paul Nicks, the Aftermarket Director at GoDaddy, as
well as a
presentation from DNAcademy's Michael Cyger and a Town Hall
discussion about the past, present, and future of the ICA. During the town
hall, one of the earliest
ICA members, Nat Cohen, shared stories many members had never
heard before. General Counsel Zak Muscovitch then spoke about issues
the ICA is currently focusing on and their importance to the domain industry.
After that the floor was opened for members to ask any questions they had.
(Above
and below) With the business day done, attendees were taken to Virgil’s
BBQ on the Las Vegas Strip, where they were treated to a sumptuous
and drinks.
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With a large outdoor patio
overlooking the LINQ promenade (at right), Virgil's was the
perfect location to start a night out in Vegas.
The next day (closing day, Tuesday, September 21), the
members of the ICA leadership team who attended the meetup got
together for a team breakfast. It gave them a a rare opportunity to
meet in person and review how the meetup went - which seems to have
been all good judging from the comments we have seen on social
media, More importantly, it was a
chance to plan for the future and address the
challenges ICA members and the domain industry are most concerned
about.
Kamila Sekiewicz gave me this closing
note - "Judging by the response we received after this event, we
hope to do this again soon!" That should be music to
everyone's ears. |
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Sun
setting over the Green Valley Ranch where the Internet Commerce Association
celebrated the organization's 15th Anniversary. If you are not an ICA
member, you should be! You can join
here.
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(Posted
September 28, 2021) To refer others to the
post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2021/dailyposts/20210928.htm
*****
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Photos
& Highlights from Closing Day
Friday at the
September 2021 NamesCon Online
Conference
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The
September 2021 edition of
the NamesCon
Online conference concluded
Friday (September 24) with
another flurry of activity on
multiple stages, as well as
virtual work rooms and the
networking lounge, There was even
a long online after party to
celebrate the latest success in
the popular series. If you missed our
Day
1 photos and highlights from
Wednesday, you will find those here.
For the Day 2 photos and
highlights from Thursday click here.
During
the course of the show, NamesCon
reported over 900
registrants from 53
different countries logged on to
hear what over 120 industry
experts had to say about the
latest trends and developments in
this space and what they expect to
see happening in the months and
years ahead.
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While
the live event is over, the NamesCon Online platform remains open to registrants through October 29, 2021, so they can take
advantage of our favorite feature - replays of all of the sessions staged
during the event. There were too many to catch them all during the show's
three-day run, but the replays give showgoers plenty of time to catch up and
not miss a thing.
Stage
1 Photos & Highlights (Friday, Sept. 24, 2021)
As
we did on days 1 & 2, we will recap what happened for you Friday
chronologically, one stage at a time. Following welcoming comments from the Chairman
of the NamesCon Advisory Board, Soeren Von Varchimin, and an
introduction from the multi-talented Stage 1 MC, Jonathan Tenenbaum,
I had the pleasure of hosting the first Sateg 1 business session (below).
That was a Fireside Chat with my long-time friends and industry
pioneers Michael Castello and David Castello, Founders of Castello
Cities Internet Network (and the subjects of one of DNJournal's
earliest and most popular Cover Stories back in 2006).
The
Castello brothers have had huge success in both domain investing (with sales
like Whisky.com
at $3.1 million) and development (with PalmSprings.com,
Nashville.com, Daycare.com, Traveler.com
and many others). In our session, titled, How The Pandemic Launched A Domain Gold Rush and Why the Public Should Benefit, Not
Monopolies, Michael and David talked about what has fueled the
current domain sales and website development boom, one
that David was among the first to predict in the summer of 2020 when it
looked liked Covid-19 could wreak disaster on nearly every aspect of the economy.
Skyrocketing
domain prices have been no surprise to Michael either, but for several years
now, he has also been sounding
an alarm about an existential threat posed by repressive
institutions and corporate titans. Left unchecked, they could snuff out the
boundless opportunities the Internet has given entrepreneurs around the
world. He detailed what has to happen to solve the problem.
Next
up on Stage 1, another industry pioneer, Richard Lau, the founder of
both NamesCon and Logo.com (left above) interviewed Morgan
Linton for an NFTs Explained: Fireside Chat. Morgan,
the co-founder of AI startup Bold Metrics, has been involved in the
domain investing world for over a decade and jumped into crypto in 2016. In
May of this year, Morgan dove into NFTs with his purchase of a Bored Ape. He
discussed what he learned from that process and shared additional
information from the leading edge of this new space.
NamesCon
Online helped raise funds for Entrepreneurs
for Knowledge during this week's conference. In this session
(above) - Doing good - Feeling good: Social Responsibility as Your
Success Factor - EFK Head of Program Leoni Rossberg and
Bodis.com Business Development Manager Shaun Wilkinson addressed
business owners and managers who feel an inner need to do
something good and socially responsible. They detailed how corporate giving can be implemented successfully and
sustainably,
what makes communication trustworthy, how employees can be involved, and
what actually defines an impactful project (a good example is NamesCon's
2021 school project in Kenya this year).
After
a networking break, action resumed on Stage 1 with The Match Game:
Ignite Explosive Value When You Hit the Bullseye (above). The
right name can become a game-changer. This panel of expert brokers
and daring end-users explores how exact-match category domain names are
adding exponential value to the investors bold enough to buy them. The
panelists, clockwise from top left) were Andrew Miller (broker of many
of the biggest domain sales ever recorded), Amanda Waltz
(Co-Founder of top tier brokerage Saw.com) and corporate end user Woodrow
Levin (CEO & Founder at Extend.com).
(Above
and below) Social media platforms like Instagram have become key places for
businesses to communicate with customers and even sell directly to
consumers. Yet when it comes to actually making a purchase, do consumers
trust a social media site over a domain? This presentation - Don't
@ Me: What We Learned about Millennials’ Shopping Behavior on Domains vs
Social Media - from The
Domain Name Association (part of the i2Coalition)
featured original research that produced unprecedented insight into this
question. The panelists, clockwise from top left in the photo above,
were Brooke Edge (Research Consultant at Open Eye), Jeff Sass
(CMO, .CLUB), Jonathan Thomas (International Marketing and
Communications at Blacknight), Alvaro Alvarez (EVP, General Counsel
& Secretary at Donuts Inc.) and Tim Smith (General Manager at
Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA).
In the final
session Stage 1 Session Friday (above) DNJournal's Ron Jackson (top
left) got together with (clockwise from top right) Tessa Holcomb (Founder
& CEO at Domain Advisors | Igloo.com),
Andee Hill (Director, GDD Accounts at ICANN) and Doron Vermaat
(Co-Founder at Efty.com) to talk about how
to Flip the Script: Impactful Methods to Shift Negative Perceptions of
the Domain Industry. As a niche
community within internet commerce, domain name investors—and the value
they add—are frequently misunderstood. The panelists discussed how
infringing behavior and other actions by unprincipled players,
especially in the industry's formative years, cast a shadow over the
industry as a whole - one that has not fully subsided even today. The
situation has gotten much better, but there is still work to be done and the
panelists opined on what they entails.
Stage
2 Photos & Highlights (Friday, Sept. 24, 2021)
As
interesting as things were in Stage 1, the Stage 2 sessions were just
as compelling. The opening session - Domain Court: Arguing a
Real-Life UDRP Case, presented by the Internet
Commerce Association and INTA
- was one of the biggest home runs of the entire conference.
In that
session (above and below), for the first time ever, actual domain
name lawyers, trademark lawyers, and UDRP panelists conducted a UDRP
hearing based on a real high-profile case. Each side presented oral
arguments and the Panel decided the case. Registrants got to see how lawyers
argue a UDRP
case (.pdf file) and how panels deliberate and decide a UDRP
case. It was fascinating from start to finish. In the end, the Respondent prevailed,
winning a 2-1 split decision over the Complainant.
The
panelists and opposing attorneys were, (clockwise from left to right below)
Francine Tan (Director at Francine Tan Law Corporation), Steve Levy
(Attorney at FairWinds Partners), Gerald Levine (Managing
Partner at Levine Samuel), Karen Bernstein, representing the
Respondent (Managing Partner at Bernstein IP) and George Nahitchevansky,
representing the Complainant (Partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
LLP). If you missed it live, be sure to see the replay.
Everyone
has heard about blockchain by now, but do you understand it yet? The
Blockchain Panel (above) made sure registrants understood it a lot
better over the course of this session. It's relevant to the domain industry
because blockchain
domains (involving alternatives to the traditional DNS managed by ICANN)
have been made possible by the new technology. The panelists, clockwise from
top left, were Encirca President Thomas Barrett, Dana Farbo
(Partnership Lead at Butterfly Protocol), Mike
Carson (Founder at Impervious.com), Brantley.eth
(Director of Operations at Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and Tieshun
Roquerre (CEO at Namebase).
Next
up on Stage 2, the question was Are Legacy Domain Names the Original
NFTs? and the answer was provided by panelists, clockwise from top
left), Shane Cultra (CEO at Uncomfortable.com), domain investor Jason
Sheppard and Brad Kam (Co-founder at Unstoppable
Domains). The understanding they have of the foundations of
legacy domain names gives them a lot of insight into the dynamics around
NFTs. As digital assets explode, the panelists provided the fundamentals of
buying, selling, and owning something that has no physical form.
In
the final Stage 2 session Friday (above), another interesting question was
posed - Where Have All the Good Names Gone? Many domain
investors say it is harder than ever to find quality domain names. The
panelists, clockwise from top left, moderator Krista Gable (Founder
at Domain Domme, LLC), Andy Booth (Direct at Booth.com Ltd), Deepak
Daftari (CEO at eSiksha.com), Bill Sweetman (President
at Name Ninja) and Josh Reason (Founder at DNWE.com) provided
some tips on where the new opportunities are when most premium domains are
not available.
Handshake
Stage & Masterclass Photos (Friday, Sept. 24, 2021)
Over
eight hours of content was provided on the Handshake Stage on days 1
and 2 of the conference. That left Friday's Flamingo Handshake
Domain Auction (above) as the last order of business. Registrants
were able to bid on emoji and single-word TLDs on the decentralized
internet, and see how things in this space are heating up.
There
was also one final session on the Masterclass track Friday
(below). After delivering terrific
masterclasses on days 1 and 2, ParkLogic.com Co-Founder Michael Gilmour
added a third on closing day when he explained why Future
Domain Investment Opportunities are Now! Michael's
ParkLogic teammates Laci Nagy and Robert Lasky-Davison also
chipped in to make this masterclass an especially memorable one.
NamesCon
always closes with some Closing Remarks in a party atmosphere
celebrating another job well-done. Stage 1 MC Jonathan Tenenbaum (top
left) and NamesCon Chairman of the Board of Advisors Soeren Vonb Varchmin
presided over the fun and brought DNJournal's Ron Jackson (top
right), Handshake stage moderator Michael Michelini (bottom
right) and Stage 2 moderator Elisabeth Klughardt (bottom left)
on board to try to keep things under control. As you might have guessed from
Michael's palm tree and flamingo sunglasses, we failed in that task!
However, we clearly won in the fun department :-) The absolute
highlight was JT's jaw-dropping NamesCon Rap that brought the house
down in a fitting finale. The replay is now available for registrants to see
- so do not miss that!
...and
that was still not all! As soon as the official conference closed, a
full-blown after party started shaping up on Zoom where Arif Mirza
(top left corner below) presided over The Domain Social -
DomainPodcast.com Inaugural Edition - an event that went on for
several hours. Arif is the Producer, Host, CEO at DomainPodcast.com, the
successor to The Domain Socials he previously hosted every week.
To
sum it all up, NamesCon Online once again delivered an amazing
virtual version of NamesCon's real-world conference that has temporarily
been sidelined by the global Covid pandemic. At this time, plans are to
return with a physical conference next spring if conditions allow.
We'll close with a special thank you to the entire NamesCon crew,
including Soeren, JT, Elisabeth, Helga Neumer and so many other NC
all-stars - and a special shout-out to NamesCon's event production team
- no one does it better than you!
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(Posted
September 26, 2021) To refer others to the
post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2021/dailyposts/20210926.htm
*****
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Photos
& Highlights from Day 2
Thursday at the
September 2021 NamesCon Online
Conference
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Day
2
of the NamesCon
Online conference
Thursday was again
jam-packed with expert speakers,
business sessions running on
multiple tracks and another live
domain auction (this one the big
Right of the Dot premium auction
that is a traditional conference
highlight). If you missed our Day
1 photos and highlights from
Wednesday, you will find those here.
The three-day event will be
wrapping up with another full day
of business Friday (September 24).
Day
2 began very early for those of us
in the U.S. when the Europe
Stage made its debut with
three sessions, the first of which
began at 6am U.S. Eastern time
(five hours before the sessions on
Stage 1 and 2 even got started).
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Having
been up late putting the Day 1 column together, I was only able to catch the
final session on the Europe Stage (above and below) this morning, titled The
Future of Intermediary Liability. The discussion
around Intermediary
Liability is drawing ever closer circles around Internet
infrastructure intermediaries like access providers, DNS resolver operators
and domain name registrars. The panelists (clockwise from top left), Volker
Greimann (General Counsel at CentralNic LLC), Lars Steffen (Director
at eco – Association of the Internet Industry), Julia Reda
(Project coordinator control at Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V.), Klaus
Landefeld (MoB Infrastructure & Networks at eco e.V.) and Thomas
Rickert (Director Names & Numbers at eco Association of the
Internet Industry), talked about the legislative trends
they are currently seeing in the European Union and around the globe, as well
as what the potential liabilities and risks in the future are for
intermediaries.
A
great thing about NamesCon Online is that the conference offers replays
of virtually all sessions within a day or two when they first ran (those will
be available to all show registrants until the end of October). That, will
give me an opportunity to see the two earlier Europe Stage sessions I missed
live today. Those were The Future of Domain Name Registration
Data and New gTLD Subsequent Procedures - The next round of TLDs.
Stage
1 Photos & Highlights (Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021)
A
little before 11am, the Chairman of the NamesCon Advisory Board, Soeren Von
Varchmin, welcomed viewers to Day 2, then turned the reins over to
moderator Jonathan Tenenbaum (above) to get the business sessions on
Stage 1 started. The first of those (below) covered the connection between
Domainers and Daily Fantasy Sports. NamesCon has decided to
expand its horizons into other Internet areas that have proven to be popular
with domain investors due to their potential for big returns and/or their
recreational value.
The
Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) session featured Andrew Miller (top left) and
Roman Edmond, two of the most successful domain name investors and
deal-makers that have also both won multiple high-paying daily fantasy sports tournaments. Roman is world champion in fantasy football as well as one of the biggest movers and shakers in the domain industry
and Andrew is one of the most widely-known domain investors, having founded
CreditCards.com, InsuranceQuotes.com, and recently overseen the sales of
Home.com, Candy.com, and Universal.com. Andrew and Roman provided some basic DFS education and strategies on how to win a big-money, large-field NFL tournament on
Draftkings and Fanduel.
The
next session (above), Develop Your Domain Portfolio, featured Tommy
Butler, widely renowned in the geodomain development space for the network
of websites he built devoted to Glasgow and surrounding communities,
including Glasgow.com. Tommy shared his vast
experience in turning a domain name into an online business including how to
generate revenue and increase the value of your domain by having a
social platform that matches the domain.
After
a short networking break, one of the world's top domain brokers, Kate
Buckley (CEO at Buckley Media) took center stage (in the session above)
with a presentation on The Art of Collaboration. In her talk Kate said The
Art of the Deal is dead. It’s out of date, and no longer speaks to
the values of an integrated, ever-evolving society—one in which it’s
recognized that creativity loves company. Effective collaboration,
creating values-based community, and developing deals that benefit all
parties is the next-level way to grow a business vs. the churn-and-burn
tactics and scorched-earth aftermath of old-paradigm thinking such as the
"Art of the Deal.” She noted, "Collaboration ensures the
systemic health of not only your business or brand, but also the health of
our industry, and society as a whole.
Next
up, the Internet
Commerce Association (ICA) presented a session called
Decoding the Domain Leasing Agreement, that explained how domain
owners can unlock a major new stream of revenue by leasing domains. The key is
doing to doing it safely is having a professionally written agreement that
spells out the terms of the lease, an agreement the ICA will provide you with free
of charge! This session featured (clockwise from top left), ICA's
General Counsel Zak Muscovitch, ICA Executive Director Kamila
Sekiewicz, attorney Stevan Lieberman (Greenberg & Lieberman)
and Nat Cohen (Founder of Telepathy, Inc. and ICA Board Member).
The
topic turned to domain parking in the final Stage 1 business session Thursday
- DomainParking.com - How to build and maintain a profitable domain
portfolio, hosted by James Tuplin (Director of Business
Development at BODIS). James shared his personal
experience of how to build and maintain a profitable domain portfolio by understanding
which domains which are worth registering, how and where to find them, and how
much to pay.
Now
it was time turn attention to one of the conference's biggest events - The NamesCon/RightOfTheDot.com
Live Premium Domain Auction. To get everyone ready for the big sale, the Auction
Red Zone session (above) brought together a panel of experts to talk
about the 112 domains that would be going up for sale and the ones that were
among their favorites. The panelists were, clockwise from top left, moderator
Jonathan Tenenbaum, Manish Lunja (Founder at BrandPros.com, Inc),
Kate Buckley (CEO at Buckley Media) and Laszlo Schenkhuysen (Account
Director at Dan.com).
In
addition to talking about the upcoming auction, Laszlo took the opportunity to
announce the winners of five new Dan.com Awards. The winner and
their categories were:
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Most data-driven domainer of the year 2021
– Nikhail Jain
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Most community-driven domainer of the year
2021 – Leanne McMahon
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Best newTLD domain investor of the year 2021
– Swetha Yenugula
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Best ccTLD domain investor of the year 2021
– Nils Buurman
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Best .com domain investor of the year 2021
– Ehren Shaiberger
One
of the new Dan.com Awards presented Thursday afternoon at NamesCon Online.
Then
it was on to the big auction, with RightOfTheDot.com Founder & President Monte
Cahn (at left in photo below) and World Champion
Auctioneer Wayne Wheat conducting the sale live from a
studio in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
RightOfTheDot will not be releasing
the final auction results until after their extended
online auction concludes on October 7. Name that did not
meet reserve or sell in the live auction will remain available in the extended
auction until that date.
Stage
2 Photos & Highlights (Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021)
The
auction officially concluded the activity on Stage 1. Now let's take a look at
the four sessions that were presented on Stage 2 Thursday.
First
up was a session titled So You Want to Run a New gTLD featuring,
clockwise from to left, moderator Christa Taylor (Head of Marketing at
Dot Brand Services & Founder), Phil Buckingham (CEO at Dot
Advice Consultancy), Jeff Neuman (Founder & CEO at JJN
Solutions, LLC) and Jothan Frakes (CEO at Private Label
Registrar). This session filled registrants in on the
timeline for ICANN’s second round of nTLDs, the challenges applicants to run
a new gTLD will face, and how the landscape has been shifted by the changes
put in place since the first round was released.
The
next session was for those who are more interested in running their own
business than administering a new TLD. Titled From Start-Up to Grown-Up:
Strategies to Make it Happen! it featured, clockwise from top left,
moderator Krista Gable (Founder at Domain Domme, LLC), Richard Lau (Founder
at LOGO.com) and Tatiana Bonneau (Founder & MD at MarkUpgrade). This
group provided insight into why some startups make it and others don’t. They
also detailed how certain verticals, particularly those that were already
beginning to grow before COVID, have accelerated tremendously due to
the pandemic forcing so many businesses to build or improve an online
presence.
The
next session on stage 2 covered a subject that always draws huge interest at
NamesCon - What’s my domain worth? With panelists, clockwise from top
left above, Braden Pollock (LegalBrandMarketing.com), Leanne McMahon
(Domain Investor at Pixel Corp), Josh Reason (Founder at
DNWE.com), Alan Shiflett (Sr. Director at GoDaddy) and Louis
Pickthall (Co-Founder & Vice President at BrandForce.com), NamesCon
assembled the right people to answer that question. The panelists provided real-time,
no holds barred domain name valuations, with case studies from high-profile
sales used to back up their appraisal instincts.
The
final session on stage 2 - ParkLogic - A Future of Innovation -
featured a presentation by ParkLogic Co-Founder Michael Gilmour, who
had also presented another one of his Masterclasses on a separate track
earlier in the day. This session was put together for
large portfolio investors that already understand the basics of domain
monetization and wanted additional insights into advanced domain traffic
management.
Day
2 Masterclass Track (Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021)
In
addition to Michael Gilmour's masterclass, there was a second session (above)
on the Masterclass track - All Things Expiry 2.0 - presented by GoDaddy.
In this well attended workshop GoDaddy Aftermarket
experts shared tips on how to build your portfolio through Expiry Domain
acquisitions.
Handshake
Stage (Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021)
There
was also another four full hours on content on the Handshake Stage
Thursday. We had a chance to catch the session below - Handshake: A
community-first blockchain project, that featured, clockwise from top
left, Kiba Gateaux (Founder, DATA Index), Fist Full (HNS fund
community manager at HNS Fund), Matt Zipkin (Lead Developer at
Impervious), 0xStefan (Creator at niami.io) and Chad Folkening (Leader
at RealtyDAO). This group discussed how Handshake
fits in to the larger blockchain ecosystem. Rather than going into the
technical details of the project, they covered how the project was started,
funded, developed, and released.
All
of the other Thursday sessions on the Handshake Stage will be available for replay
with the next day or two. Those included Alexa100k - The Missing
Link Between Alexa Ranking Sites & Handshake, What is Bob Wallet?,
Decentralized Name Exchange and You, Issuing Lifetime Domains: Data
and Insights, War Stories: Handshake Pioneers Share SLD Sales and
Lessons Learned for TLD Owners and Use cases for Handshake names.
This
edition of NamesCon Online concludes with another full day of activity Friday.
I'll have all of the final day photos and highlights for you in my next
Lowdown post!
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(Posted
September 23, 2021) To
refer others to the post
above only (and not the
full Lowdown column) you can use
this URL: https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2021/dailyposts/20210923.htm
*****
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Photos
& Highlights from Day 1 at the
September 2021 NamesCon Online
Conference
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The
latest edition
of the NamesCon
Online conference got
underway Wednesday with
registrants around the world
logging in to see what experts
from every corner of the industry
had to say about the newest trends
and developments in the domain
business.
The
3-day event opened with
activity on four separate tracks -
Stages 1 and 2, plus a new stage
dedicated to Handshake
domains and
another reserved for a daily
Masterclass from domain
monetization expert Michael
Gilmour. Day 1 also featured
the first of three domain
auctions that are being staged
in conjunction with the show and,
throughout the day, registrants
could connect with each other in
the virtual Networking Lounge.
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Soeren
Von Varchmin, Chairman of the NamesCon Advisory Board, got things
started just before 11am (US Eastern time) with his welcoming comments,
followed by introductions to the conference's three primary moderators.
Moving clockwise after Soeren (in the top left corner of the photo below)
are moderators Elisabeth Klughart (i2Coalition), Jonathan Tenenbaum
(MediaOptions.com) and, for the Handshake track, Michael Michelini
(Shadstone).
To
give registrants a big-picture look at the domaining
industry, and set the tone for the next three days of learning, sharing, and
networking, Soeren also spoke with wildly successful serial entrepreneur Bhavin
Turakhia, Founder of Flock, Radix and Zeta (at right above) and
DomainNameWire Editor Andrew Allemann (at right below).
The
first business sessions of the show then got underway and through much of the
day, discussions were going on concurrently on multiple stages. To give you a
better idea of the flow on each stage, we'll run down one at a time, starting
with Stage 1.
Stage
1 Photos & Highlights (Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021)
Above:
The Stage 1 track started with a session called The Investor Experience with
GoDaddy Leadership that featured, clockwise from top left, Alan
Shiflett (Sr. Director at GoDaddy), Bob Mountain (Chief
Revenue Officer at Afternic.com), Deeksha Mittal (Sr.
Director Product Management at GoDaddy) and David Helgeson (VP
of Sales & Care for GoDaddy Aftermarket). They
covered areas where progress has been made and opportunities created, with
their focus on providing the tools and resources domain investors need
to succeed.
Next
up (above), registrants learned How to Value Domain Names Step-by-Step
with Michael Cyger. The DNAcademy.com Founder is the top educator
in the domain name field. Michael detailed metrics that
need to be examined (like relevant, recent and
retail-priced comparable sales) that help owners value domain names in the
wholesale and retail markets. Cyger noted they must also make educated
assumptions about factors like desirability, traffic and appreciation.
Judging
from comments left during the above session - Finally, Some Real Numbers
- it was a big hit (one wrote that this session alone was worth the cost of
admission for the entire show). Moderator Andrew Allemann (top left)
talked with domain investors Mark Levine (Domain Theory LLC) (at top
right) and Logan Flatt (Media Code LLC) about their 2021 sales and the
two industry veterans were very forthright in detailing both the names they
sold and the prices they were paid. Levine and Flatt have each made dozens of
sales already this year and both have had success with both .com and non
.com TLDs (especially with hot ccTLDs like, but not limited to, .io).
NamesCon makes their sessions available for replay
for a month
after their conferences end and this is one that should be on your
watch list if you missed it today.
Given
what Mark Levine and Logan Flatt revealed about their own success selling
multiple TLDs, the next session (above, featuring Neha Naik, Sr
Director, Channel Partnerships at Radix) titled Don’t invest in
New Domain Extensions, they said! Here’s some food for thought,
proved to be timely. Neha detailed how new gTLD registry
operator Radix has been marketing their TLDs and the results they’re seeing
with some of the most sought-after new domain extensions. Radix
administers .tech, .online, .store and many others.
The
final order of business on Stage 1 Wednesday was the RapidFire Domain
Auction, the first of three auctions (one per day) being held during
NamesCon. Before, the auction, five industry experts got together (above) for
the Auction Red Zone Countdown show, in which they discussed
their opinions of the various names going up for bid in this low cost auction
(no reserves above $500 were allowed) that also benefited charity (Entrepreneurs
for Knowledge). The entertaining preview featured (clockwise from top
left) Braden Pollock (LeaglBrandMarketing.com), Reza Sardeha
(DAN.com), Alistair Banerjee (Founder, Quaint Media LLC), Ammar
Kubba (CEO, afterTHOUGHT, Inc.) and Leoni Rossberg (Head of
Program at Entrepreneurs for Knowledge).
Above,
the two-hour auction then got underway, hosted by Aaron Sanders (Founder,
Repeat Brands), Tom Gallagher (Co-Founder, RapidFireDomaining.com) and Michele
Rae (Co-Founder, RapidFire
Domaining.com). 73 names went up for sale with 10 those donated to
raise funds for Entrepreneurs
for Knowledge (EFK). 40 of those names totaling $11,000
were sold, with $3,495 going to EFK. Good job by everyone involved!
Stage
2 Photos & Highlights (Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021)
While
all of the above was happening on Stage 1 Wednesday, things were just as busy
on Stage 2!
The
action on stage 2 began at 11:20am (US Eastern time) Wednesday with The
Traffic Jam (above), in which four of the most widely-known figures in
the domain monetization business covered the state of that domain
science. The panelists (clockwise from top left) were Gregg McNair (Chairman
at Premium Traffic Limited Group), Matt Wegryzn (CEO & Founder at
BODIS), David Warmuz (CEO, Above.com) and Michael Gilmour
(Co-Founder, ParkLogic.com). The all-star group covered
search to parking and beyond in providing information on how to make the most
of the traffic you get –and get more of it.
The
next session was one of the most engrossing ones I've seen at any
conference. In it Jay Paudyal, Co Founder at DN
School (at left above with moderator Elisabeth Klughardt)
told his remarkable story of Domain Name Trading on a Crazy Road Trip,
in which he and a half dozen passionate people spent two months and
traveled more than 20,000 kilometers around India to share
information about how how domains and affordable technology could change
people's lives.
As
Jay noted, in his talk and slide show (below), they
all piled into one van on a mission to impact the lives of millions of their
countrymen and women. They were greeted by inquisitive and sizable crowds
everywhere they went. You will absolutely want to put this one on your
replay list when those become available after the conference.
The
Stage 2 action continued with CentralNic's Marie Lanyon and Martin
Spreer (above) talking about Domain Migrations Done Right.
The session covered how resellers can address the
challenges of moving domains to another provider should the need arise.
CentralNic's ICANN accredited registrar, RRPProxy, provides the
services and support that help reseller registrars increase their
profits without overwhelming their teams or disrupting their customers.
In
the next session (below), Jebidiah Burnett (Business Development
Manager at Above.com), spoke about Killer Cash Flow: Unlocking
Your Portfolio’s Potential. With over 20+
years of experience in monetizing portfolios with innovative services such as
Above's Optimizer, Maximizer and now Managed Monetization, the company
specializes in creating innovative opportunities that can help you flourish in
today’s monetization environment.
As
they headed down the opening day home stretch on Stage 2, Brad Karn (above),
Co-founder at Unstoppable Domains, answered the question What Are Domain
Name NFTs? Karn covered how how this decentralized domain option
can give your more control over your digital identity, as well how you can
start accessing the benefits now, before the decentralized web hits the
mainstream.
In
the final Stage 2 session below, is was all about What's Up with .IO? This
ccTLD was assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory but, after being
re-purposed for global generic use, it quickly found a home in the startup
world. With that new association, .io popularity and prices have skyrocketed.
This panel of experts included clockwise from top left, Christa Taylor
(Head of Marketing, Dot Brand Services at Com Laude), Jay Paudyal
(Founder, UrbanSkill.com), Morgan Linton (Co-founder & COO
at Bold Metrics Inc.), Braden Pollock (LegalBrandMarketing.com)
and Mark Ghoriafi (MrPremium.com). They
explored the dynamics of .IO’s pricing and use cases, and how these factors
can work in your favor as a domain investor or entrepreneur.
Day
1 Masterclass (Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021)
ParkLogic.com
Founder Michael Gilmour (above) is conducting a daily Masterclass
in domain monetization and investment at NamesCon Online. In the first
one Wednesday, Michael delivered a performance analysis
of the traffic industry and followed it up with a fireside chat with his
ParkLogic teammates Laci Nagy and Robert Lasky-Davison. Together
they have over 50+ years of combined experience in
domains.
Handshake
Stage Photos & Highlights (Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021)
In
something totally new for NamesCon, an entire stage was dedicated to the
rapidly developing Handshake naming system. Activity on this stage
kicked off started at 4pm (US Eastern time) with a Welcome and Handshake
Highlights session (above) hosted by the stage moderator, Michael
Michelini (President at Shadstone).
Below,
the first business session, Handshake 101, presented by Matt
Zipkin (Lead Developer at Impervious), started with all of the basic to
prepare for the deeper dive that followed in five additional sessions.
Activity
on the Handshake Stage continued until 8pm (US Eastern time) with sessions on Namecheap
Now Offers Handshake Domain Registration, The Risks and Impacts
of Name Collisions, Why Decentralization Matters, NFT
and Blockchain Investing and Numbers on Handshake Investing.
Four more hours of Handshake content will be presented Thursday (September
23), again starting at 4pm (US Eastern time).
Another
Thursday (Day 2) highlight will be the opening of the Europe Stage at
6am (US Eastern time). That will be early for U.S. residents but that is why
NamesCon's replay system (available soon after the conference closes) is so
valuable. We will be back with you here with the Day 2 Photos &
Highlights in our next post from NamesCon Online September 2021!
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(Posted
September 23, 2021) To refer others to the
post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2021/dailyposts/20210922.htm
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CA
& INTA Will Provide an
Unprecedented Inside Look at the
UDRP Process in a Session at
NamesCon Online
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The
UDRP
(ICANN's Uniform Domain-Name
Dispute-Resolution Policy) is used
to settle disputes that
occasionally arise over who has
the right to own a specific domain
name. It allows a party (usually a
trademark owner) who thinks
someone has registered or purchased
a domain that infringes on
their rights to use a given name
online to file a UDRP complaint
against the domain owner.
The
process usually involves the
Complainant and the Respondent
hiring an attorney to
present their side of the
argument. Depending on the value
of the domain, some respondents
decide to represent
themselves or don't respond at all
but, as you would expect, doing
either of the latter dramatically
increases the risk of losing a
domain.
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Unless
you have been involved in a UDRP dispute yourself, you are likely unfamiliar
with the inner workings of the process and you might think
there is no need to be concerned with it. However, since anyone who owns domain name
could get caught up in an unexpected UDRP complaint, ignoring the possibility is not a
good idea. Forewarned is forearmed became a popular saying because it's
true.
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That is why the Internet
Commerce Association (ICA) and the
International Trademark Association (INTA)
came up with a novel idea to give everyone in the industry a chance
to fill in that potentially dangerous knowledge gap. On Friday
(September 24, 2021), as part of this week's NamesCon
Onlline conference), you will be able to see, for the
first time ever, a “live” demonstration of how al UDRP
domain name dispute case is adjudicated when ICA and INTA
present a mock UDRP hearing. ICA Executive Director Kamila
Sekiewicz said, "This innovative and lively session will
feature three actual UDRP Panelists as they hear a fictional
UDRP case influenced by real-world facts. The case will be
presented by experienced lawyers making arguments for the
trademark owner and for the domain name registrant, respectively."
You can read
the facts of the case here (.pdf file). |
The
ICA and INTA put together a dream team of counsel and panelists that
includes George Nahitchevansky as Complainant Counsel, Karen
Bernstein as Respondent Counsel, and Gerald Levine, Steve Levy,
and Francine Tan (Chair), serving as Panelists. Lori Schulman
from INTA and Ms. Sekiewiucz will both be making brief remarks at the
beginning of the 45-minute session that will begin on NamesCon's Stage 2
at 15:50 UTC (11:50am U.S. Eastern time) Friday. The format will feature
a video of the entire hearing followed by live commentary by the experts.
This brief YouTube video
clip with snippets from the hearing will give you a better idea
of what you will be seeing in this special event (you can also access the
video by clicking on the photo below).
Screenshot
from the mock UDRP hearing that will be presented Friday at NamesCon Online.
To
attend the session, you can register
for NamesCon Online here. The regular pass (that covers all
sessions and activities at the three day conference that runs Wednesday
through Friday) is $99 but if you are an INTA member you can get an
exclusive $19 ticket by contacting [email protected]
and requesting the INTA discount code.
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(Posted
September 21, 2021) To refer others to the
post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2021/dailyposts/20210921.htm
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With
Over 120 Speakers and 100+
Sessions the Upcoming Edition of
NamesCon Online is a BIG Deal With
a Small Price Tag
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Due
to the global pandemic
the domain industry has
not been able to come together in
person at a major conference
since the NamesCon
Global event in Austin,
Texas in January 2020.
Though Covid-19 is still
preventing us from getting
together face to face in
significant numbers, we are
fortunate that NamesCon has
managed to create and produce an online
version of the big
show that has proven to be the
best possible solution to
current conference hurdles.
They
did it for the first time in
September
2020, then repeated
that success with another widely
praised event in January
2021. Now are set to
do it yet again when the 3rd
edition of NamesCon
Online runs Wednesday
through Friday, September
22-24, 2021.
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The
scale of what will be going on over those three days is beyond the scope of
a single article like this, so let me sum it up this way. NamesCon Online
will bring together more than 1,500 registrants from over 60
countries around the world. They will hear from more than 120 expert
speakers who will appear in over 100 sessions that will be spread
across four stages, as well as a separate daily MasterClass
being provided by ParkLogic.com Founder Michael Gilmour. You
can see the
entire agenda here. You can also see who the individual
speakers will be on the Home Page at NamesCon.online.
The
remarkable thing about this is that the cost for all of that value comes to
a grand total of $99 for the three-day
event pass that you can get here.
|
Soeren
Von Varchmin |
It all gets started at 11am
US Eastern Time on Wednesday, September 22 when moderator Soeren
Von Varchmin, the Chairman of the NamesCon Advisory Board, will
welcome everyone to the party. The first business sessions will begin
a few minutes later on Stages 1 and 2, followed by a
beehive of activity on the Handshake Stage and more coming from
the Europe Stage that opens on Thursday. As we have previously
reported, there will also be three
separate domain auctions during the conference.
As always, I will be
covering the conference from start to finish with daily photos and
highlights in this column. I will also be hosting two
sessions on the closing day, Friday (September 24)
including a Fireside Chat with the Michael Castello and David
Castello that kicks that day off and a panel discussion about
improving perception of the domain industry that will be the
conference's final session on Stage 1. I look forward to seeing all of
you (virtually) there! |
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(Posted
September 17, 2021) To refer others to the
post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2021/dailyposts/20210917.htm
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ROTD
Announces 1st Group of Premium
Domains for Next Week's NamesCon
Auction, Pre-Bidding Open Now
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As
we told you
at the end of August, the NamesCon
Online conference
coming up next week (Wednesday,
September 22 through Friday,
September 24) will feature three
separate domain auctions. The
marquee event will be the
traditional RightOfTheDot
(ROTD) live Premium Domain
Auction that is set to run Thursday,
Sept. 23, starting at 3PM U.S.
Eastern Daylight time). ROTD
just released a list of the
first group of premium
domain names that will be up for
sale and opened pre-bidding
on those names at ROTD.hibid.com.
After
receiving thousands of submissions
for the auction, ROTD selected
300-400 premium names for
pre-bidding, with new names being
added daily. At the end of the
pre-bidding period, 75-100
domains will be selected for
the live auction September 23.
That event will be broadcast live
from a professional video
streaming production studio in
South Florida. World
Champion Auctioneer Wayne Wheat
and RightOfTheDot President Monte
Cahn will run the sale that
will be live streamed on both the NamesCon
website and the ROTD
YouTube Channel. ROTD
provided this sampling of some of the premium names that are available for
bidding now:
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Rye.com
Mam.com
Automobile.com
Celebrities.com
ill.com
Sweepstakes.com
Autoloans.com
Lie.com
SaveMoney.com |
Top.jobs
URN.com
My.realestate
5.gg
HormoneTherapy.com
Lodges.com
TruckLeasing.com
BoredApes.info
BlackPower.com |
To
participate, bidders must first register at https://rotd.hibid.com.
To place bids over $2,000, bidders must be verified so it’s
important not to wait until the last minute to register. Registration with
NamesCon Online is not required but is strongly encouraged. You can register
for the conference here.
RightOfTheDot
will also conduct an online extended auction starting on September
24th that will feature additional premium domains, along with those that did
not meet reserves in the live auction. That will be a timed auction without
an auctioneer. The first lots in the extended auction will begin closing on
Thursday, October 7, 2021, at 1:30 PM EDT.
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(Posted
September 14, 2021) To refer others to the
post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2021/dailyposts/20210914.htm
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11
Years After an Electrifying Domain
Purchase, Bill
Karamouzis Sells His Company for $35
Million
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Back
in 2010, game developer
Bill Karamouzis made
a purchase that changed the way
many of us thought about the
value of domain names. As we
detailed in a DN
Journal Cover Story
about Bill that year, his $350,000
purchase of CookingGames.com
left just about everyone in this
industry in a state of utter disbelief.
Literally. We were flooded with
messages from people who thought the sale couldn't possibly be
real. Most wondered "what are
"cooking games" anyway?
Bill knew what they were and he
knew just about everything else
there was to know about both
the game business and the kinds of
domains he could use to make money
in that field. Prior to the
CookingGames.com purchase he had
already spent over $4 million
on other domains that his company,
Addicting
Games, had developed
into big winners.
Having
been schooled on just how valuable
some obscure (to the rest of us) two-word
.com domains could be, we have
been following Bill's career ever
since and watched his gaming
empire keep getting bigger and
bigger. The
culmination
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Bill
Karamouzis
Addicting Games Founder
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of his wisdom and years of hard work arrived this week
when Karamouzis sold
his Addicting Games empire to Enthusiast
Gaming for $35 million. The acquisition includes
Addicting Games, Shockwave, Type Racer, ioGames Space, Little Big Snake,
Diep.io, EV.io, Mope.io, Math Games and more than 1,000 instant games.
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Toronto-based Enthusiast Gaming, is a
public company that calls itself the world's largest platform of
communities for gamers and eSports fans. Their CEO, Adrian
Montgomery, told GamesBeat
author Dean Takahashi (at VentureBeat.com), “We’re
super-excited about this deal and about bringing Bill and his team
into the fold. We’re trying to own the fan experience. I
think it’s such a strategic fit for us to have access to this
content and grow our loyal subscriber base and fan base to unlock
new revenue streams.” |
Karmouzis
noted, “We’re game developers. Everything we’re doing is around
product and around the player. And that’s really what we focused on.
Enthusiast Gaming brings so many eyeballs. They have partnerships with
influencers and content creators. They have marketing relationships and
partnerships with major advertisers. It’s a nice marriage of the two
talents between the two companies. And so for us, we’re,
we’re excited to get our products in front of their audience!”
Congratulations
to Bill and his entire team. Enthusiast Gaming has already stated they are
keeping everyone from the Addicting Games crew in their rapidly
growing line up.
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(Posted
September 8, 2021) To refer others to the
post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2021/dailyposts/20210908.htm
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While
the Domain Aftermarket Boomed
Verisign Reports New Registrations
Were a Mixed Bagged in 2Q-2021
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Verisign
(the administrator of the .com
and .net TLDs) has released
their latest quarterly Domain
Name Industry Brief
covering the 2nd quarter of
2021. The quarter closed
with 367.3 million domain
name registrations across all
top-level domains (TLDs)
worldwide, an increase of 3.8
million domain registrations
(a 1.0% gain) from the previous quarter.
The new total is down 2.8
million registration from the
same point last year but that
entire drop (and then some) came
from one source - new gTLDs.
They lost 8.8 million
registrations year over year,
plunging 27.8% to 22.9
million total. The new G's did
show some stabilization since the
last quarter though, actually
registering a small 2Q increase
from 1Q-2021.
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Verisign's
marquee TLD, .com, finished 2Q-2021 with 157.0 million
registrations, up 2.4 million
(+1.55%) from the previous quarter and a healthy 8.3 million (+5.5%)
year over year. Their .net TLD inched up to 13.6 million
registrations from the 13.4 million .net stood at both a year ago and
a quarter ago.
Total
country-code TLD (ccTLD) domain name registrations came in at 157.7
million at the end of the second quarter of 2021. This is an increase
of 1.2 million registrations since the end of the first quarter, but a decrease
of 2.4 million registrations year over year. As was the case with total
registrations, the ccTLD drop YOY can be attributed to a single culprit.
The .tk TLD, that is given away free and is subject to huge
fluctuations, accounted for all of the country code drop. Taking that
extension out of the equation, ccTLDs gained 400,000 registrations
over the past year.
The
bottom line in the new registration business was determined by what you were
selling. There were some big winners (especially .com), some that treaded
water and others that lost ground this time around the track.
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(Posted
September 6, 2021) To refer others to the
post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2021/dailyposts/20210906.htm
*****
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