It is now time to look at the renewal rates for the first of the new gTLDs to hit General Availability back in March 2014. Donuts have been publishing updates on their first gTLDs to hit GA each day and on the third day of renewals for the first of their gTLDs, the renewal rate is sitting at an impressive 74 percent.This compares to a .com and .net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2014 of 72.0 percent compared with 72.7 percent for the same quarter in 2013.Speaking to this writer back in November, Donuts co-founder and Executive Vice President Dan Schindler said he always expected the renewal rates for domains registered in gTLDs operated by Donuts to be high.Back then Schindler said he was confident there will be high rates of renewals and continuing success. For starters, Schindler stressed every one of the one million plus domains registered in their gTLDs has been paid for. And most were registered and paid for by early adopters, so Schindler says Donuts is confident they will have high renewal rates.”They were registered for longer term investments. There is not enormous type in traffic so speculators haven’t entered the market on a large scale – they were bought for longer term investments,” Schindler believes.And twelve percent of domains registered across Donuts’ gTLDs back then were “already living breathing sites. That is really encouraging. With more being used, use begets use.”In a blog posting on the Donuts website on 23 March, Donuts’ COO Richard Tindal wrote that “up to and including Sunday March 22 2015, 29,262 Donuts domains have passed through the auto-renew grace period and hence their final renewal status is definitively known. Most of these names are from the .BIKE, .CLOTHING, .GURU, .HOLDINGS, .PLUMBING, .SINGLES and .VENTURES TLDs, but some are Sunrise names from .CAMERA, .EQUIPMENT,.ESTATE, .GALLERY,.GRAPHICS, .LIGHTING, and .PHOTOGRAPHY.””27,214 of the 29,262 names were registered after the Sunrise period. The renewal rate on the 29,262 names is 74%. Tomorrow an additional 8,595 names will join the cumulative total.”It appears the renewal rate for domains registered in the Sunrise period is higher than for those registered during General Availability.Commenting on the day one renewals on the blog, Tindal wrote Donuts “expect the blended renewal rate on those names to be in the mid eighties (it will drop from today’s percentage due to the declining proportion of Sunrise names in the cumulative total).”