With NamesCon 360° now a virtual conference due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the organisers have renamed their first-ever all-digital conference NamesCon Online, and moving it onto namescon.online.
Radix sold premium domain names in their new gTLDs to the value of $1.657 million in the second half of 2019, an increase of 22% on the previous 6 months sales of $1.36 million, according to Premium Domains Report for July to December 2019.
For the year, there was a total of $3 million in premium sales, which not unexpectedly was their best year ever with .online, .tech and .store being the highest-grossing of their new gTLDs for premium sales.
There were also over 220 domain names sold with a value of at least $1,000, including 10 over $10,000, with clean.tech the highest one-time sale in this period, selling for $30,000 through Sedo. 82% of the premium domains registered in or before 2018 were renewed.
The biggest grossing of Radixâs new gTLDs for premium sales was .tech with 208 premium sales valued at $208,746 followed by .online (198 sales valued at $167,155) and .store (146 sales valued at $104,875). These were the only 3 gTLDs that had more than 100 sales. But of the top 9, the new generic top-level domain with the highest mean value sale was .fun with 43 sales valued at $51,013 for an average of $1,186 each.
For renewals of premium domain names, Radix had revenue of $903,687 for 807 domains with .online providing over a third of that with $328,132 followed by .tech ($151,538) and .store ($149,175), the only 3 gTLDs with renewal revenue in the 6 figure mark.
Radix, the company behind the .tech new gTLD, announced recently that at least 170 start-ups using .tech domain names have raised over $2 billion in venture capital funding between 2017 to 2019. According to Radix, these start-ups are spread across industries such as auto, crypto, mobility and energy, among others. Based on an analysis of start-ups that are listed on Crunchbase, the source of the information, as of June 2019, there are over 250 new top-level domains that are in use by start-ups. However .tech is the most popular being used by over 650 start-ups.
Speaking about .techâs popularity amongst start-ups and investors, Suman Das, Director of Brand Operations at Radix, said, âSince its launch, there has been a steady organic uptake across the tech industry with start-ups, small tech businesses, thought leaders, pioneers, and communities adopting .tech domain extension for branding their online presence.â
There are currently 262,000 .tech domain names according to nTLDstats and according to Radix around 41,500 websites using .tech domain names, which are registered in 106 countries.
.tech boasts of a wide array of usage from top-notch industry pioneers such as Consumer Electronics Show, CES (ces.tech), Viacom (viacom.tech), and Intel (insight.tech), to name a few. The domain extension has also garnered significant interest from coveted social media influencers such as Austin Evans (AustinEvans.tech with 12M+ social reach), Edgar Oganesyan (DealSource.Tech with 1.8M+ social reach), and Dom Esposito (Dom.tech with 500K social reach), amongst many others.
âOur primary focus has always been to ensure that .tech is presented as an enabler of tech and product innovation to the growing community of technology enthusiasts, and to increase awareness of not just .tech but also the new top-level domains industry on the wholeâ, Suman Das further added.
With this in mind, .tech has supported over 17K students of technology through hackathons, and thousands of other developers across the globe through exciting partnerships with premier tech schools, and leading tech platforms such as GitHub. Github was acquired by Microsoft last October, and to be associated with such reputed brands is definitely a step in the right direction to add more credibility to .tech and other new top-level domains.
Based on independent market research conducted by Radix among tech professionals and tech students in North America in June 2019, one in two respondents (with a Confidence Level of 95%) were found to be aware of .tech domain extension. In addition, .tech was found to be most associated with attributes such as credibility, uniqueness, and suitability for tech businesses in the context of domain names.
Speaking about the future plans of the brand, Suman Das added, âWe will continue with our efforts to amplify the visibility for .tech amongst the tech ecosystem. With high-impact partnerships and adoption across the spectrum, we wish to make .tech the most sought-after domain extension in the global tech industry.â
.tech, which was 4 years old in August, is one of the premier domain extensions in Radixâs new top-level domains portfolio of 9 new gTLDs, including .store, .site and .online, with 4.958 million domains under management, the most of any new gTLD operator.
Radix released a report on the sale of premium domain names across their new gTLDs from January to June this week, with over 80 domain names sold for more than $2,500, and 3 for more than $10,000, and overall grossing $1,360,865, a similar figure to the second half of 2018.
Radix, which according to nTLDstats, is the largest new gTLD registry with 4.704 million domain names under management across their 9 new generic top level domains. They have 2 new gTLDs with more than one million DUM: .site (1.577m) and .online (1.295m).
Unsurprisingly, these 2 were among the 3 highest-grossing new gTLDs with respect to premium sales selling 61 domains for $65,7600 for .site and 183 domains for $156,320 for .online, the other being .tech (158 domains for $151,936), which is their seventh largest with 252,000. For .space, there were 101 sales totalling $40,922.
The report also shows new premium registrations contributed to around 40% of the total premium revenue for this period and the highest new premium registrations were attributed to GoDaddy at 46% of total premium sales.
Thereâs also a decent renewal rate for premium domain names of 78% for those registered in or before 2018 and over half (54%) of premium domains registered in the first half of 2018 were renewed.
During the first half of 2019, gaming.tech was the highest one time sale selling for $20,000 through Sedo.
In the latest Domain Pulse Q&A, we talk to Karn Jajoo, Head of Premium Portfolio at Radix, the registry behind successful new domain extensions such as .TECH, .STORE, .ONLINE, .SPACE and .SITE. Radix is one of the worldâs largest nTLD portfolio registries with over 4M domains under management.
Jajoo discusses Radixâs impressive growth in 2018, the positive impact of the EUâs GDPR has been itâs spawned privacy discussions in developing countries with local data privacy laws, how registries should be deploying a long-term strategy now and keep away from the practice of trying to sell as many names as possible and instead focus on sustainable growth and usage and that the wider industry is developing products to support. Not unsurprisingly, Jajoo is excited about the prospects for the new generic top-level domains.
Karn Jajoo: 2018 was a great year for new domains with some solid premium sales across top nTLDs, and two premium name sales over $500,000 that have set a new benchmark. Good meaningful names in suitable extensions will continue to find end users willing to pay a premium price.
Many globally popular brands warmed up to using new domains with the industry experiencing increasing adoption across different verticals globally.
There was also a 25% YoY growth in overall new domain registrations from registrars outside China; in fact, there were a total of 10 million registrations in 2018 vs 8 million in 2017. Specifically for us, it was a great year as Radix grossed $16.95M in total revenue in 2018, a 30% rise over its revenue in 2017. Radixâs net profit also grew by 45.6% in comparison to last year.
One of the biggest challenges for the new domains industry still remains to be the mindset within the domain industry. While there has been a gradual but definite shift in the perception of nTLDs within the domain industry, I think for many folks, an inherent conflict of interest leads to skepticism. Such biases need to be checked given the success of so many good nTLDs and plenty of use cases that continue to thrive.
KJ: Much like others within the domains industry as well as other industries across the globe, the exercise to implement these changes in processes was challenging, and often confusing. Although, I donât think we could classify it as good or bad. Instead of a binary judgment, we should look at it as a welcome change as far as the protection of private data is concerned.
On one hand, the domain industry seems to have coped well with the regulations that came into effect last year. On the other hand, DNS security agencies and counter abuse efforts have suffered a setback with redacted WHOIS information. The one positive effect of GDPR has been that data privacy discussions have spawned in other developing nations leading to the formation of local data privacy laws.
KJ: As Radix, we are looking forward to becoming the biggest nTLD operator globally, and at the current growth pace, that could happen soon! We are already the only nTLD portfolio registry that has two of its TLDs with over 1 million domain registrations each.
We are also excited about the increasing number of startups that are investing in and using new gTLDs. Owing to the booming startup ecosystem globally, we can expect a lot of room for growth in new gTLDs in 2019. Our Startup League initiative now has 300+ startups that we are actively supporting.
As top nTLDs get more mainstream, their usage and acceptance would steadily increase, and so will the value of premium domains on nTLDs. We expect to make some big-ticket sales in 2019 and beyond.
KJ: Registries should be deploying a long-term strategy now and keep away from the practice of trying to sell as many names as possible and instead focus on sustainable growth and usage.
A big positive for this industry is that partners such as domain marketplaces, brokerages, etc. are building more products and allocating time and resources towards marketing and selling new TLDs. Site builder SaaS platforms of all sizes are also starting to enhance their domains play and are understanding the importance of domain names as the gateway to more sales of their products.
KJ: Most extensions have been active for 2-4 years now and there is adequate channel and customer feedback on various aspects such as market segmentation, geographies, pricing etc. There has been considerable consolidation in the industry and many extensions that shouldnât have existed in the first place are either declining in registrations or have ceased to exist, while meaningful extensions that offer customers genuine value have continued to grow.
Customer awareness and acceptance continues to be a challenge and an opportunity. We will continue to see a growing number of new domains spotted âin the wildâ. We have a high decibel digital marketing campaign targeting end consumers running through various media channels for our flagship generic TLD, .ONLINE. We did similar campaigns for .STORE and .TECH last year and we can see their impact on the business.
I feel registries should be doing as much as possible to increase the pace of building awareness by communicating their value proposition.
KJ: I think domain names are more relevant now than ever. Trust between social media and consumers was shaken many times in the last couple of years and businesses realise that they need to âown their propertyâ i.e. their touchpoint with their customers or followers. If they only rely and build upon the property of someone else, they will always risk losing control of that relationship. Such dependence on social media has impaired many businesses which relied heavily on them for revenue or growth of the community. A good domain is an investment into your own brand and thus the best names will continue seeing higher valuations and interest in the coming years.
Previous Q&As in this series were with:
If youâd like to participate in this Domain Pulse series with industry figures, please contact David Goldstein at Domain Pulse by email to david[at]goldsteinreport.com.
Three years and 3 months after entering general availability, Radix’s .online has become their first new gTLD to hit the one million registrations mark, and the fifth overall. Today there are 1.012 million .online registrations according to nTLDStats, 604,00 of which are parked, the highest proportion of the top 5 new gTLDs by registration numbers. Continue reading .ONLINE Becomes 5th New gTLD To Pass 1 Million Registrations, and Radix’s First
Radix, the fourth largest new gTLD operator by domains under management, has released some sales data for August to October this year. During the period they sold premium domain names in their new generic top level domains worth over $137,000.
The one-time sales that were announced were sold through Sedo and via their top registrar partners. Names that fetched maximum value were across .online, .space and .fun TLDs and included design.online for $57,500; king.online for $17,250, air.space for $17,500; inner.space for $15,000 and have.fun for $11,500. All of these were sold on domain marketplace Sedo. Radix sells a majority of its premium domains through the tiered model, wherein registrars sell premium names at a smaller, recurring premium fee per year.
âOur partnership with Radix has been mutually beneficial from the start and weâre enthused to see this more profitable boom for them supported by our marketplace and brokerage servicesâ Tobias Flaitz, CEO, Sedo, said. â.online, .tech and other Radix extensions align perfectly with Sedoâs vast global clientele, including small businesses, startups, and as such have resulted in these stand out sales. Our goal is to support our Premium Registry Partners with marketing and sales offerings tailored to their needs, increasing exposure and interest for their new domain extensions (new gTLDs), all leading to a higher rate of conversions to sales.â
Radix also sold chefs.online through GoDaddy Domain Buy Service for $10,000 and wiz.host through Namecheap for $3,000, while spb.tech and jvm.tech were sold for $3,500 and $3,000 respectively by the registry directly. Some third-party sales in .online were also reported in the same period on Namebio with transparency.online selling for $10,000, dmv.online for $5,100, and Datenschutzmanagement.online (privacy management in German) for $1,000. Soar.tech was sold to a Scottish tech company for $2,390 in aftermarket through Sedo.
âIt is encouraging to see the growing trend of aftermarket sales across our TLDs,â said Sandeep Ramchandani, CEO, Radix. âIn addition to our direct one time sales, the third-party sales on Sedo indicate that our domains deliver great value even in the after-market.â
âRadix premium domains are being put to qualitative use by their buyers. While both, king.online and design.online, have been purchased by Australian furniture brand King Living; Inner.space has been purchased by a wellness organisation that offers next-level meditations.â
The premium domain jvm.tech has been purchased by Jung von Matt group, an advertising agency based in Hamburg, Germany, that works for clients such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Vodafone, and Adidas.
âWe chose jvm.tech for our new agency to prominently show what we stand for: delivering products based on first-class technology,â Matthias Rohmer from Jung von Matt/NEXT ALSTER GmbH said. âItâs no surprise that jvm.tech is one of our most favourite domains ever.â
Radixâs primary premium names revenue comes from the tiered model of premium names, which has generated over $1.5M in premium revenue this year. While catering primarily to start-ups and micro SMBs, who are able to launch their project on a short, high-recall brand URL, at much lower upfront investment and risk, Radix has also consistently made 5 figure sales through registrars via this model â a recent notable sale in August was edu.online, which sold for 77,000 RMB/year (about $11,000/year) on Alibaba. This continued momentum in premium sales owing to innovative pricing models, evolving marketplace infrastructure and support, increasing awareness, and growing usage of meaningful new domains have propelled Radixâs extension for incremental growth YoY.
The biggest reported domain name sale for the week ending 5 August was maq.com, which sold for $49,999 through BrandPros/Afternic, while second and third respectively were coin.store ($26,705/Radix/Alibaba) and AirConditioning.online ($19,500/Radix/GoDaddy), according to the Domain Name journal chart.
However the interesting aspect of this weekâs chart is that non-.com sales outnumbered .com sales. There were 9 .com sales, more than that of any other top level domain. But the remaining 11 sales were made up of 3 .tech, 2 .de and one each for .store, .online, .com.br, .net, .org and .nl.
Sedo, as usual, dominated the aftermarket outlets with 12 sales. There were also 5 sales that Radix were involved in for new gTLD domain name sales â 2 of which FBS Turkey collaborated on while Alibaba, GoDaddy and Tucows helped with one each.
To check out the Domain Name Journal chart of top reported sales for the week ending 5 August in more detail, see:
http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2018/20180815.htm
Minds + Machines has just had 4 more of its 27 new gTLDs approved for use in China, adding to the prior approval for .vip. This now makes 5 of its extensions approved by the Chinese government regulator, MIIT – .vip, .law, .work, .beer and .è´ç©(shopping) – with a further four currently still going through the MIIT approval process.
The Company will announce the release schedule on the newly approved top level domains for the Chinese market in due course.
Commenting on the approval, MMXâs Chief Executive, Toby Hall, speaking on the domain industry at Alibaba event ‘The Computing Conference’ in Hangzhou, regularly attended by over 40,000 delegates, said:
“We are greatly honoured to be the first western registry to receive a second round of approvals from MIIT. China accounts for over half of global registrations in new gTLDs and from a revenue perspective it is important for the Company to have a dominant position in this market.”
MMXâs 27 new gTLDs have almost 1.095 million domains under management, the largest being .vip with 762,000 followed by .work with 116,000 and .london with 75,000 according to nTLDstats.
Another new gTLD registry, Radix, also had 4 of their new gTLDs approved for use in China according to a Domain Incite report. Their new gTLDs to get the nod were .fun, .online, .store and .tech.
Additionally, this week saw the General Availability launch of .boston. The new generic top level domain launched on 10 October and saw over 2,000 registrations being made in the first six hours and approximately $100,000 of billings already booked. According to nTLDstats, registrations are now over 2,150.
The .online new gTLD went online in late August 2015 and now has well over half a million registrations according to nTLDstats.com.To commemorate its year online, Radix Registry recently published an infographic on the new generic Top Level Domain’s achievements.Today there are 514,180 registrations, although there were around 480,000 at the time of publishing the infographic. The gTLD is the no.1 new gTLD in the Alexa 1 million list, and the most popular extension in Europe.The gTLD was the first to reach 38,000 registrations in the first 24 hours of General Availability, has registrants in 207 countries with the top three being China with 15% of all registrations, USA (12%) and Germany (8%).For more of Radix’s one year .online statistics, see the infographic below.