Frank Michlick
Domain Registar Consultant
DomainCocoon.com

One of the most significant topics in our industry in 2018 was the introduction of new penalties and details in privacy rules in the European Union, GDPR. It impacted our industry all over and continued to do so today. We saw the public Whois that we've gotten used to disappear and domainers were concerned about not being contacted by buyers anymore, as brokers were concerned about not being able to contact domain owners. I think that privacy is essential and while users need to be given a choice whether they want their data to be public or private, we should revisit which data is collected and how it is used. Data should be used sparingly and only where needed - which provides a nice segue to the next topic:

2018 was also the year of big hacks and data breaches, which underlines the importance of the protection of data and the need for companies to only keep the data that they actually need and for them to archive it as soon as possible. Aadhar in India, Marriott/Starwood, Quora, MyHeritage, Facebook, Google, T-Mobile, Saks are only a few companies that reported breaches this year. Consumers should also think about which data they share with whom. I expect data breaches to continue and increase over the coming years.

The amount of domains seized by governments worldwide has reached over 1 million domains. I wonder if they included those in the count that they accidentally took and then handed back to the owners after a while. Seizing domain names has developed as a go-to method for many countries when it comes to suspected copyright infringement.

New gTLDs continued to mark their territory in the domain space, along with some notable premium sales. Verisign is regaining the right for price increases for .COM as of 2020 - which will then be another topic in next year's review.

Sales of premium domains have grown everywhere and continue to gain acceptance and understanding. With the release of new gTLDs, registrants have started to understand that domains may cost more. This helps networks such as SedoMLS and registrars to offer their customers what they need

Looking ahead to 2019...

The impact of the GDPR discussion will continue. An ICANN working group just met Toronto to figure out how the rules for registrars need to be adjusted once the temporary specification runs out in May. The Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) is making slow progress in bringing stakeholders together, and the registrars will need time to implement any changes resulting from this process. I believe this is a discussion that we will see continue well into the year.

As premium domains continue to increase in acceptance by the public with the help of registrars and the new forced Whois privacy, sales networks like SedoMLS gain more importance to get domains in front of the eyes of buyers. I expect more registrars to be implementing SedoMLS and existing partners to expand their relationship as more features and inventory, such as for example auctions & expiring domains, become available.

Domains will remain important, as it is what people remember; the brand. But where sites start has changed. What used to often start with a domain, can now as easily start with a website builder. I believe that in 2019, the hosting and domain industry will continue to improve on the path that helps a business or an individual to get to their website, away from a feature and technical data based sales approach.

New gTLDs will also continue in this year - and the questions as to when the next round will get louder towards the end of the year, as critics will continue to ask if this is necessary at all. While .COM and ccTLDs remain king, there are more and more active websites on new gTLDs. I'm looking forward to seeing what will be launched this year and if there will be a resolution to the disputes about .WEB, .MUSIC and .AMAZON, to name just a few.

The year starts off with what looks to be the last NamesCon conference in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, I'll be skipping this year, but I wish all of the attendees a great event. I hope to see many of you at the ICANN meeting in November, here in my hometown of Montreal and maybe some other conferences or events. Have a great 2019!

Braden Pollock
Angel Investor
Owner, Legal Brand Marketing

Single word domains continue to increase in value - both .com and .net. Additionally, generic two-word .com names have gotten more popular. Deep pocketed companies and well funded startups are continually increasing their budgets for solid one-word .com names. For those businesses that don't have the budget for their .com of choice, I see them increasingly opting for the .net or choosing a two word .com name instead. 

CHiPs really took a beating in 2018. Both, short number and letter names dramatically decreased in value leaving a lot of investors (who bought at the top of the market) with inventory they can't move. We're all hoping for a rebound.

With few exceptions, I did not do well selling new TLDs to end users. That said, I see the registries selling lots of names, I assume to investors. I keep reminding myself that it's a marathon not a sprint. So I'll keep waiting for this aftermarket to develop.

They say "Whatever goes up, must come down" but that doesn't seem to apply to real estate nor premium domains. The big names will increase in value in 2019 and beyond. At least until the internet and email radically changes.

In 2019 the new gTLD registries will continue to consolidate, especially as their sales decline. And I can't image that parking will ever improve as long as Google controls the ad feed. Someone needs to build a better mousetrap. Any takers?

Michael Castello
Domain Investor
CEO, Castello Cities Internet Network

The most important event last year was the downward value of crypto-currencies. The perception of crypto is very similar to domain names. While both have importance in the future of technological advances and adaptation, .com, ccTLDs and nGTLDs have a better hierarchy in their use, sustainability and valuation. What is now more obvious is that generic and brandable .com have been consistent in their use and that is evident on a global scale. Crypto is still trying to find its legitimacy in day to day commerce and those challenges are growing. That could change. I would like to see its continued growth, but I have still not invested in it.

With respect to 2019, what was once old is once again a new beginning. Those that study history knows that there are cycles that repeat themselves. The Internet's foundation and functionality are based on addresses or IPs. Domain names are basically addresses that are easy to remember, market and navigate. It is what makes the internet grow and function. It’s simple and easy to understand once we strip away the manipulation and confusion.  

192.155.81.178 is an IP that creates no emotion

or action, but Daycare.com does. Both will bring you to the same destination if you type it in your browser address bar. That is simply what makes the internet functional and profitable. Invest in it for the future. It will continue to grow.  

The internet now functions on IPv6. On scale-that allows for every blade of grass on earth to have an IP. That’s a lot of IPs that are going to need a domain name.  

The top money-makers and influencers in the world like Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, AT&T, Twitter, etc., would not function without their Internet address. They all just happen use .com. These billion-dollar companies use the 5 tenets of the internet (WWW, FTP, E-Mail, Gopher-Search and Telnet) to dominate the field. With a simple domain name, everyone has the same advantages and abilities as these companies.  

Creating your own place on the web, using a domain name, is like having a homestead in the 1800’s. Back then, those with very little money took the opportunity and learned how to use that land and create independence and success for their families. Over the years that property was worth much more.  

New GTLDs still has a pulse. They, like the others, are an address that is searchable and can offer products and services to those that navigate to them. They can be branded but will cost much more to do so. Some of these new extensions have a bad reputation from their use by spammers and hackers. The registries and registrars are free to charge whatever renewal rates they choose.  

Whether you are creating a portfolio of names or creating a business on a domain name, there is a wealth of information at your fingertips. I am currently receiving a lot if interest in my domain names and my online businesses are continuing to make a good profit again. My company has taken the time to adapt to the monopolies that are taking huge market share of previously profitable verticals. I’ve invested in VR and educating myself on how it may change the geographical landscape of commerce on the internet. Whether its in choosing the right name of developing a website and business, you must be prepared to put in the time to find out what works. Eventually you will make money and even enjoy working at it every day. Good luck in 2019!

Mike Mann
Founder, DomainMarket.com

Mike Mann is one of pioneers of the domain investment and sales business. The outspoken original founder of BuyDomains.com now operates the DomainMarket.com sales platform. Mike has also been involved in some of the biggest domain acquisitions and sales of all time and he has been the subject of two DNJournal Cover Stories - the first in our first year of operation back in 2003 and the second in 2007. 

.Com locks in permanent status, while gTLDs are a permanent failure. Endless monopolies and scammers and racketeers in the industry need to be flushed. Also every decent .Com domain needs a professional appraisal. Can you imagine for example if Godaddy owned millions of used cars, or pieces of fine used jewelry, or art, wouldn’t their shareholders be concerned of the actual market values of their assets vs. what they are going out the door for, and the cost to maintain them and overhead?  There is no such thing as a

valid automated domain appraisal, not even remotely close, it’s a terrible joke since its so costly to asset holders and amounts to fraud. Follow me on social for the full scoop!

Deepak Daftari
CEO, eSiksha.com

A major trend in 2018 was the change in perception/mindset of the End user at the lower end of the chain. End users in that segment are mostly wary and scared to spend a good amount of money to acquire an exact match Domain Name for their businesses but that’s changing significantly now, especially in the Asian and European markets. More and more 1 word and 2 word .com’s are going into the hands of end users for actual usage rather than sitting in the portfolios of Domain Investors. 

The 5N.com market has crashed and has lost a majority of its peak prices but at the same time 4N.com’s are getting pricier and rarer to buy. Prices crashed similarly for the LLLL.com market especially the ones traded among the Chinese domain investors but quality LLLL.com’s are still priced well, increasing in value and are in constant demand.  

A significant change was the continued movement of LL.com names from US portfolios to Chinese portfolios and quite a few names changing hands this year too. Chinese and other Asian companies

are paying big money to acquire their exact match names and the thirst for acquiring similar names will only get more competitive from here on. 

Lastly the demand for CCTLDs like .IN's is increasing at a rapid pace and hundreds of transactions are happening on a regular basis without the majority sales data getting reported.

Looking ahead to 2019...

• Continued consolidation of bigger portfolios

• More portfolios getting into fewer hands

• More names being cornered by their respective registries e.g. the .CO registry

• 1 word .com’s, 4N.com’s getting out of the reach of the smaller Domain Investors

• Continued consolidation of the LL.com’s and NN.com’s, towards the Chinese Market

• Continued rise in 6 and 7 figure sales by end users

• More sales being reported for CCTLDs especially .IN’s

• Newer products to be offered by the varied market places

Howard Neu
Domain Attorney

As a Domain Defense Attorney, I find that there are more and more decisions by WIPO Panels finding Reverse Domain Name Hijacking or, as they say, abuse of the process.  Even the Forum is grudgingly finding RDNH in more cases than ever before.  Also, I have been very busy this past year litigating under the AntiCybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) in 3 different Federal Courts.  In one of those cases, the Judge determined that Sovereign Immunity does not apply to a Government Agency which has submitted to the jurisdiction of the Federal Court in a UDRP action.  Additionally, my fellow domain defense attorneys have been successful in 17 cases in the past 6 months in getting Panels to deny spurious complaints.  Please see my latest polls of WIPO and FORUM Panelists who have denied complaints in the past 6 months at NeusNews.com.

The domain investment "industry" has historically been a small niche industry since its start, and fortunately, or unfortunately, depending upon how you look at it, the "industry" hasn't really grown that much in the last 20 years.  Yes, new investors, traders and developers have come in to the industry, but they are offset by the old ones

who are no longer actively involved.  This is best exemplified by the domain shows that continue to operate, but have had to diversify to ancillary fields in order to keep attendance and interest up.  Take a look at the Namescon schedule for this year and compare it with previous years and you will find less and less domain investment content.  MERGE!'s success has been more due to interest in Joomla, bitcoin, blockchain, subscription boxes and other ancillary functions than in investing, trading and developing domains.  This is not necessarily bad for the industry, but is a necessity of the reality of the business that we are in. 

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) has done a tremendous job representing our interests in Washington and at ICANN, thanks to Zak Muscovitch and Kamila Sekiewicz. But getting mainstream recognition of the legitimacy of domaining is still an uphill battle.  Membership has increased and that is extremely helpful for the ICA to be recognized as the spokes group for the "industry".

We have come a long way since the very first T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference that Rick Schwartz and I put together in 2004, but we still have a long way to go.  The most important recognition that I believe that we have accomplished, even to a small extent, is for the general public to understand the difference between an internet domain investor and a cybersquatter.  However, with the vast majority of the cases at both WIPO and the FORUM granting complaints to transfer domains, there are still a lot of cybersquatters trading on the good names of trademark holders.  Until those numbers come down, we will always have that stigma attached to the industry. As Pogo used to say, "we have found the enemy and it is us!"

Karen Bernstein
Bernstein IP

Karen Bernstein is a seasoned Intellectual Property Attorney and Principal of Manhattan based Bernstein IP, which counsels and represents both transaction ally and in litigation matters on patent, trademark, copyright, Internet, First Amendment, defamation, and right of publicity matters. 

In 2018 it was GDPR. No doubt that the European General Data Protection Law has made it much harder to find out who owns a domain name for not only lawyers but for potential domain name buyers to find owners of domain names. 

As for the new year - I said it in 2015 in DN Journal’s State of the Industry and still believe there will be more consolidation in the industry. Particularly, for gTLDs. Some companies didn’t realize what a challenge it is to launch a gTLD and to keep registrations from not renewing. Other more experienced and savvy players will continue to acquire these types of gTLD operators.