The Lowdown
April 2025 Archive

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.

2025 Nordic Domain Days Delighted Attendees from Around the World With 10th Anniversary Event in Stockholm

The 2025 Nordic Domain Days conference concluded its three-day run this evening at The Clarion in Stockholm, Sweden. This was the 10th anniversary edition of the popular event that LG Forsberg created back in 2015 to focus on the domain industry in the Nordic geographical and cultural region that encompasses Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. As has happened with several other major regional conferences, Nordic Domain Days (NDD) has attracted attendees from around the world who are interested in doing business or investing in rapidly growing markets. 

As events like NDD sprang up, global domain entrepreneurs and investors quickly learned that every region offers unique opportunities. With their face-to-face, socially centered formats, the conferences make it possible to quickly form multiple new connections and partnerships that benefit from the fresh perspectives that come from cross-cultural interaction.

 April 27-29, 2025 

Here's just one example of that. In the photo below, NDD Founder LG Forsberg is at center with two attendees that came from different continents to get there. At left is DN.com Founder Jack Dai who traveled from China and on his right is UK native Mark Ghoriafi (Sedo's Mr. Premium) who is now based in the U.S. and flew in from Florida.

In another example below, two of the first people to hit town for Nordic Domain Days were Australia's David Warmuz (left) and Nathan Parker. As most of you know, David is the Founder of Trillion.com and their many well-known brands, including Above.com. Nathan is the General Manager of Above's Marketplace and Brokerage.

Above, the first order of business at Nordic Domain Days is bringing people together right off the bat so they can start getting to know each other or re-connecting before the two full business days that followed. So opening day, Sunday April 27, was devoted completely to welcoming drinks at 5pm, followed by a VIP Dinner at the Clarion. (Photo from Sedo).

Business got underway on day 2, Monday morning, April 28 with nine illuminating business sessions spread across the day. In one of those, above, Gabriella Schittek, ICANN Stakeholder Engagement Director Nordic & Central Europe, presented an overview of the topics that ICANN currently is focusing on, including the next round of new gTLDs, DNS Abuse and Internet Governance matters. (Photo credit: Martin Steinkamp)

Below: The final business session Monday featured the well-known trio from The Breakfast Club podcast, Alan Shiflett (GoDaddy), Braden Pollock (LegalBrandMarketing.com) and Giuseppe Graziano (GGRG.com). They shared their proven strategies for building and managing a successful domain name portfolio, along with insights into the latest industry trends. (Photo credit: Jack Dai)

Another opening day highlight Monday was a presentation titled Where Web2 Meets Web3 from Freename.io CEO & Founder Davide Vicente (above). Davide detailed how traditional domain systems are converging with blockchain technology, creating new possibilities for domain resolution and trading across both ecosystems. 

Below: Both business days included a traditional Swedish Fika - a coffee break featuring hot drinks and a smorgasbord of sweet delights. Taking some of that time to catch up are (left to right), Brady Anthony-Brumfield (Unstoppable.com), James Iles (GoDaddy) and Jack Dai (DN.com).

Attendees also enjoyed a 10th Anniversary Nordic Domain Days Dinner and entertainment Monday night. The next morning it was time for another full day of business, Tuesday, April 29, with Policy & Tech matters being the focus of the day - one that was hosted throughout by Lars Steffen (ECO). 

The second day was even busier than the first with more than a dozen sessions presented (you can see the full list of all NDD sessions from both days, including the speakers, here). One major topic was How to implement NIS2 in the domain industry. Above, Thomas Rickert (ECO, topDNS) provided a deep dive into The Network and Information Security (NIS2) Directive that brings significant cybersecurity obligations to the domain name industry. 

Below, after Thomas's session, Hilde Thunem, the Marketeing Director for Norid (the administrator of Norway's .no ccTLD) presented further insight into NIS2 from her country's perspective. Hilde discussed how a ccTLD registry may approach registration data verification and handling requests for access to customer data, while not putting an undue burden on the legitimate registrants of the TLD. (Photos above and below courtesy of Lars Steffen).

After the final session Tuesday, some attendees headed straight to the airport to catch flights to their scattered home around the world but others decided to stay over for the Farewell Dinner and take advantage of the opportunity to spend another day in the Scandinavian paradise that is Stockholm before saying goodbye. 

For NDD Founder LG Forsberg, being able to celebrate his 10th anniversary event with people who came  from around the world to help him do it, was a testament to how well he has turned his vision for the Nordic region into a lasting and treasured reality that will continue to be a highlight on the global industry calendar for years to come.

(Posted April 29, 2025) 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/2025/dailyposts/0429.htm

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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - GoDaddy Survey Reveals What Various Generations Like and Don't Like About Domains

I just had a chance to look through a recently released GoDaddy Consumer Pulse Survey that provided some interesting insight into what customers of the world's biggest registrar look for when they start searching for a name. It can be a daunting process when you consider the endless options. There are over 1,500 TLDs on the web to choose from at prices that can vary wildly from one extension to another. They also have to decide whether to go with a relatively inexpensive new registration or dig a little deeper for an aftermarket domain that ticks every box for them. 

While domain investing pros often think that the general public has a minimal grasp of

what makes one domain better than another - the survey suggests otherwise. The vast majority (80% of the 1,500 consumers polled in March) put a high priority on getting a short, properly spelled name - a must for making sure their web address provides an easy, memorable route to their website. 

That group was already in the habit of practicing what they preached, noting that they personally avoided visiting or purchasing from a website because it had an oddly spelled domain name. This sentiment was strongest across younger generations, with 85% of Gen Z and 82% of Millennials reporting they passed up a business due to the spelling of its domain, compared to 76% of Gen X and Boomers who reported doing so. A huge majority (74%) also also put a high premium in the domain being an exact match for for the company's brand name.

Qualities consumers said make a domain memorable (ranked in order by how many picked the attribute):

• Full words spelled correctly – 43%

• A short domain of two words or less – 40%

• If the domain is easily pronounced – 38%

• Unique domain extensions (like .AI or .shop) – 23%

• A funny domain (rhyming or punny) – 19%

Qualities consumers said make them NOT trust a domain:

• Misspelled words – 56%

• The domain doesn't match the business's name – 55%

• Hyphens in the domain name – 20%

• Numbers in the domain name – 20%

• Free domains (like sites.google.com, name.wixsites.com, godaddysites.com, etc.) – 20%

Younger generations tend to be more open to new TLDs than those of us from previous generations. Only 17% of respondents from the Gen X and Boomers categories found an alternate extension (like .AI or .shop) to be memorable but 34% of Gen Z said they were and 30% of Millenials agreed. Of course, it could also be that their memories are a lot better than ours are now! :-)

(Posted April 28, 2025) 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/2025/dailyposts/0428.htm

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Global Domain Registrations Passed the 368 Million Mark at the End of 1Q-2025 - New Verisign Brief Breaks Down What Went Up and What Went Down

VeriSign, (the administrator of the .com and .net TLDs) has released their latest quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) covering the 1st quarter of 2025. This update showed that the total number of domain registrations across all TLDs worldwide ended the most recent quarter at 368.4 million. That is up 6.1 million registrations year over year representing a 1.7% increase.  

.Com remains, by far, the dominant TLD on the Internet but .com's total number of registrations continued a trend of slipping in year over year comparisons. With 157.2 million domains at the end of 1Q-2024, .com was down about 2.2 million from the same point last year - a 1.4% decline. .Net has ebbed as well. .Net was down by 500,000 domains YOY to 12.6 million at the end of 1Q-2025, a 3.9% decrease.

ccTLDs finished 1Q-2025 with 142.9 million registrations, 3.4 million more than a year ago, representing a 2.4% increase YOY. New gTLDs enjoyed the largest jump but, being newer, they are working from a much smaller user base than the .coms and ccTLDs. Still, by adding 4.5 million domains, the new Gs reached 37.8 million domains at the end of 1Q-2025, giving them a solid 13.5% increase year over year. 

For legacy gTLDs not including .com and .net (a group that includes older TLDs that were released prior to the beginning of ICANN's new gTLD program in 2012), registrations stood at 17.9 million at the end of the latest quarter. .Org alone accounted for 11.1 million of those - representing over 60% of the category. As a group, this sub-set of legacy TLDs gained about 850,000 domains year over year - a 5% increase.

(Posted April 25, 2025) 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/2025/dailyposts/0425.htm

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Icon.com Sold for $12 Million in 6th Largest Publicly Reported Domain Sale of All Time

In a post on LinkedIn today Icon CEO Kennan Davison revealed that his company paid $12 million to acquire the exact match domain for their artificial intelligence based startup. The sale was made by Andrew Miller (ATM Holdings and Managing Director for Hilco Digital Assets) with Lumis.com representing the buyer. This is the 6th highest publicly reported domain sale since we began tracking the market in 2003 and just the latest of many landmark sales that Miller has helped orchestrate (details of which are in a DNJournal Cover Story profile of Andrew that we published in April of last year).

Acquiring this premier asset was a bold and decisive move by Davison who, based on his post, clearly believes in the go big or go home philosophy. Kennan stated, "I know I’m not supposed to say this publicly, but I want to

Image from Bigstock

make Icon the greatest company of all time. I want to deliver insane value to our customers. I want to create generational wealth for my team and investors. I want to break the $0 to $100M ARR world record!"

We will be charting the Icon.com sale and adding it to our YTD Top 100 Sales Chart when our next bi-weekly report comes out Wednesday evening, April 30. The eight-figure blockbuster is more than five times higher than the top 2025 sale prior to Icon.com.

(Posted April 24, 2025) 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/2025/dailyposts/0424.htm

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It's World Art Day! .ART Celebrated By Announcing Fellowship Winners and the Opening of Applications for Their Annual Innovation Award

The domain industry is filled with creative people - singers, musicians, writers, poets and artists of all kinds. We even have our own all-encompassing TLD in .Art , making April 15 - World Art Day - an occasion to celebrate (it's also Tax Day in the U.S. but, unless they are getting a refund, that's one most people aren't as happy about)! April 15, a date selected because it is also Leonardo Da Vinci's birthday, was designated World Art Day by the International Association of Art (an official UNESCO partner) in 2012. It has been growing in popularity ever since with celebrations in major cities around the world.

As you would expect, the .ART domain registry goes all in on World Art Day, as do many registrars who are running sales on .ART domains today (that makes this a good time for artists and creatives to get their .ART identity). The registry itself used the occasion to announce the recipients of the 2024 and 2025 Kasimov Art Therapy Fellowship - an award established to support the next generation of art therapists through financial and community-based support. 

The Annual Fellowship Award is part of .ART’s ongoing “Healing Power of Art Initiative," which celebrates art as a vital form of expression, healing, and connection. The Fellowship is endowed through a $1 million gift from .ART Founder & CEO Ulvi Kasimov and his wife, Ulvi, to The George Washington University’s renowned Art Therapy Program and is also supported by the sales of .ART domains. The Fellowship reduces the financial burden on students pursuing careers at the intersection of art and mental health - fields that demand rigorous study and extensive internships, yet often lead to lower-paying roles in the nonprofit and public sectors.

The 2025 .ART Kasimov Awardees are:

Christian De Jesus – a Puerto Rican student art therapist whose work integrates creative expression and advocacy to promote healing.

Karina Monroy – a California-born mixed media artist and student art therapist whose work honors feminine ancestry and explores collective healing through creativity and cultural connection. 

The 2024 Kasimov Awardees are: 

Bethany Eddleman – an artist, art therapist, and educator from North Carolina-committed to advocacy and inclusive, community-centered care for children, adolescents, families, and diverse populations. 

Chengjiaoyang Xue – an art therapist from China devoted to advancing mental health awareness and art therapy accessibility across cultures.

As part of the celebration, .ART will host a live webinar on April 17, 2025, inviting the public to explore how art is being used as a tool for healing across borders, cultures, and disciplines. 

(Posted April 15, 2025) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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.AM Climbs Aboard the Domain Mirroring Bandwagon Through New GlobalR and ArmeniaDomains Partnership With WebUnited

We recently profiled WebUnited as part of a series of stories we are doing on companies that are working (often in very different ways) to make legacy domain names (Web2) work seamlessly with blockchain-based Web3 domains. If you read that story, you know WebUnited's approach is one of the simplest ones, making it possible to add Web3 services to Web2 domains that are purchased through a registrar that offers the WebUnited domain mirroring technology. The service appears as an add-on option during the usual checkout process. 

With that approach the key to WebUnited's strategy is getting registrars on board with an option that also opens up a new revenue stream for them. GlobalR.com (a U.S. based registrar that specializes in ccTLDs and offers nearly 100 county code extensions) is the latest to adopt

the WebUnited option, doing so in partnership with ArmeniaDomains. The latter is a proponent of .AM domains - a TLD we wrote about when the registry was celebrating their 30th anniversary last summer).

As a result, any .AM domain name can now be mirrored onto the blockchain with just a few clicks, allowing registrants to unlock Web3 functionality without changing their name, workflow, or DNS setup. Once mirrored, domains can function as a wallet address, power Web3 email, and serve as a digital identity. No additional technical knowledge is required.

WebUnited VP Kathy Nielsen, a well-known figure in the Web2 world after spending 15 years as a top executive at leading companies like Sedo, Neustar and GoDaddy, is all in on the Web2-Web3 marriage as well. She said, “As more registrars adopt mirroring, they’re positioning themselves at the forefront of the next internet evolution, We’re excited to support GlobalR and ArmeniaDomains in this pioneering move that gives registrants the ability to take their existing .AM names and turn them into future-ready digital assets."

(Posted April 14, 2025) 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/2025/dailyposts/0414.htm

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