If you could use the domain Scifi.com or Syfy.com what would you chose.
I would guess that 99.999% of domainers would go with Scifi.com (the .001% goes to the owner of syfy.com).
However that is just what the scifi channel announced they are doing this effective July 7th.
The Scifi Channel, owned by Universal, which also owns NBC, is as a Major Media company as you can get, made the announcement on Monday that they were changing their name from the SciFi Channel to Syfy.
As part of the switch in its name, it also announced its official site would change from scifi.com to syfy.com
Saying that scifi was too “geeky” of a term, holding the network back.
Of course to domainers, syfy.com would be a domain you might only consider if scifi.com was not avalaible for purchase, those Madison Avenue suit type continue to demonstrate that they don’t get it when it comes to domains.
Universal also owns USA Network which made a poor 4 figure digit offer last year to acquire a domain we owned, inplainsight.com AFTER season 1 of that show started. That show turned out to be a ratings hit.
Season 2 of InPlainSight starts on April 19th.
Scifi.com for syfy.com?
Strike 2 for Universal.
Boggles the mind.
I guess there might be future for domainers as consultants……if one day big corps realize they just are not good at picking domains.
Another thing, this sounds like a developer made this decision.
And we all know most developers know nothing about domains.
.
I wish I was at the meeting where this was discussed!! Crazy.
I used to work for NBC and many times tried to preach the gospel up the ladder – meetings with bosses, emails to the top domain person at GE etc. – but no luck.
But this doesn’t bother me. They are trying to rebrand so they can expand their offerings and their audience- (see Country Music Television, Outdoor Life Network, The Learning Channel).
Sometimes we in the domainer world don’t see the big picture just like others don’t see the big picture with domains. What they are saying is that their name has become a HINDRANCE to their growth.
They are trying to lose (or at least lessen) being labeled “geeky” by potential viewers, and this name change can help that.
Is scifi.com a better domain for a science fiction channel for geeks? Of course it is.
Is syfy.com a better domain for the #13 rated cable channel that wants to have a chance to break into the top 10? It sure is.
this has nothing to do with type ins. This is something on a scale much larger than that, with many millions of dollars more on the line.
Crazy?? Once the “old wood” is out of the system hopefully some of the newer ad executives and marketing people will integrate these obvious domains into the right ad campaigns. SyFy is alright as a referring page for those that speak and spell phonetically. The English language is changing all of the time but for a major corp like that to use a misspelled acronym is actually funny! I had a good laugh when I read it. Thanks for the post!!
Cheers!
ps. I don’t think the name scifi was hindering their growth, it is their ad executives that are not utilizing the name properly. That’s what is hindering their growth, old wood, old ideas.
But this isn’t about domains. This is about a big, big business who is making a decision on how to grow their company long term.
If they wanted to rebrand (which is a different discussion altogether) then they need to rebrand the domain as well. Simple as that.
I agree w/ Gordon. It looks dumb from our standpoint, yet they are trying to broaden their audience to REALLY REALLY DUMB people. This re-branding will help say “hey we’re just as stupid as you are, come watch our really dumbed down spacey shows. You’re not a nerd, you just don’t have a life.”
I still think losing or neglecting the natural traffic that will flow to scifi is a waste. As mentioned using syfy as a “fun” or “experimental hip” whatever would be an ok to supplement to the natural landing page, SciFi.com . IMO . Broadening their audience can be achieved with the current domain.
As Gordon mentioned it’s not about the domain, its about an ineffective marketing campaign.
I would pick scifi for sure if I had to choose.
Cheers!
Steve,
This has NOTHING to do with domain traffic, type-ins or anything. And it has nothing to do with the landing page.
This is a TV channel that is rebranding. A TV Channel that believes they can make tens of millions more if they can somehow get people to not think of them as the super geeky channel. A TV channel that goes to pitch the media buyers at Sachi, but far too often hear “our client doesn’t want to identify themselves with the science fiction fanbase”.
anything these guys can do to solve these problems will be well worth it down the road. The fact that they have a good domain name is (as it should be imho) at the bottom of the list.
Yes rebranding involves many things, domains are just a part of the whole effort. Losing natural prequalified eyeballs is a mistake, I think. The geeks won’t know what syfy is and they are a pretty solid base I would guess, with cash. Expanding out from that base should include the current viewers as well as introducing new viewers to the brand.
Cheers.
Guys
I don’t see any benefit from re branding from something incredibly descriptive and memorable for something that is neither.
Reminds me of Microsoft moving from live.com to kumo, doesn’t make any sense
Steve – They won’t be losing any eyeballs. They will redirect and be just fine. And the few eyeballs they may lose will mean nothing to them in the grand scheme of things.
MHB – that’s the thing – they are trying to get away from that descriptor for a specific purpose.
Just like Outdoor Life Network said “this name sucks if we want to show anything besides hunting and fishing” (they became versus), and Country Music Television” said “this name sucks if we ever want to go beyond Country Music” (they are now CMT) and just like The Learning Channel said “this name sucks if we ever want to do a show about some lady with 8 kids who henpecks her husband all day” (now TLC) – the scifi folks wanted to be able to expand. The new name still has it’s roots in science fiction, but it opens things up a bit for them on several fronts.
I agree with Gordon. I can understand the decision to rebrand, but personally I wouldnt choose syfy.com
Gordon,
I appreciate your analysis of the SciFi name change
and the reasons for the change but I think their
is a problem.
You showed some examples of other TV Channels
that changed their name to broaden their horizon…and their audience.
Outdoor Life Network became Versus.
Country Music Television became CMT.)
The Learning Channel became TLC.
And now:
SciFi will become SyFy.
You also said:
“The new name still has it’s roots in science fiction, but it opens things up a bit for them on several fronts.”
Yes the new name still has it’s roots in science fiction
but the problem is:
The new name sounds EXACTLY like the old name.
SyFy is also not a real word or even an acronym here.
If you show the word SyFy, your audience will not know what it is without explanation.
If you say the word SyFy, your audience will hear SciFi.
How can changing the spelling but keeping the sound possibly help them broaden their offerings?
wow!!! Look at it from this angle. If you were the previous owner of syfy.com, and you received an anonymous offer for $2,500 on it would you have taken it? I would have. Who would have known that it was the SciFi channel looking to rebrand their entire company with this new name. Goes to show, always ask for more because you never know. I wonder what they paid for syfy.com, anyone know?
I wonder if they are going to let scifi.com expire? They are clearly not geniuses at the wheel.
“SciFi” is Science Fiction to anyone with more than a fifth grade education. This is a bad move especially because the two sound exactly alike. That compounds the rebranding problem many times over. Like using “2” for “to”, or “4ever” for “Forever”. It will not convey well by word of mouth.
Patrick,
You make some very good points about the new name, and it seems like this has officially moved to a branding discussion from the original point of NBC being dumb for changing a domain name.
For the same reason that Country Music Television picked CMT instead of RXQ – Sci Fi probably didn’t want to abandon their current brand entirely.
A change in brand is rarely easy, and i’m sure they brought up a lot of the points from this thread in the (i’m sure) long and detailed discussions about the change.
Gordon, yes they many lose some eyeballs but a home run on a new marketing campaign would more than make up for it. I just hate confusing things even more when the real problem was branding, not domain names. The marketing team should be able to put a new, all inclusive, cool, fun, interesting, inviting new ad campaign together to include everyone, I just think utilizing natural traffic is a good idea. If a new web surfer was looking for sci fi info they as mentioned won’t know what syfy is or what it stands for without help. That is not semantics and semantic based keyword domains are proving to be a natural advertising tool that offer amazing potential. The answer was always in front of them they just had to put a new and better spin on it. Take advantage of the natural traffic, spin a new fresh ad campaign that includes the original core customers and invite new ones into the fold. imho If I wanted to sell more shoes I wouldn’t change from shoes.com to shoez.com , no way. It would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Great discussion, all the best!
What an obvious mistake. Amazing!
The main push for the change was for trademark reasons. They couldn’t trademark scifi in any way because it was such a common word. Now with SyFy, they can trademark the name and own it.
“They couldn’t trademark scifi …”
Tony,
They could certainly trademark “SciFi Channel” or
“The SciFi Channel”.
Trademark disclaimer:
“NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE ‘SciFi’ APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN ”
SciFi = no education.
SyFy = lots of education.
Radio announcer says”
“Watch the new smash hit ‘Aliens vs Michael Jackson’ 8PM
tonight on the SyFy Channel.”
Radio listener hears:
Watch the new smash hit ‘Aliens vs Michael Jackson’ 8PM
tonight on the SciFi Channel.”