So what portion of .XXX domain name registrations were defensive that is purchased or registered to either block the domain name or for other reasons that to use the domain actively in the adult space.
Two stories are out on the topic today.
According to one report, the registrar 123-reg.co.uk says that “48% of registrations weren’t from those in the porn industry at all, but regular businesses hoping to protecting their brand and reputation.”
The story does not say how the registrar came up with that percentage.
According to a separate story today, NameNewsletter.com, says they ran a report based on the .XXX Zone File and concluded that “83% of the total registrations are defensive (inactive). The runners-up are default registrar name servers like Godaddy or Enom. These account for roughly 6%. ”
“The .xxx TLD can be said to be much more defensive than speculative.”
“Two specific name servers immediately stand out with 83451 domain names assigned to them: nsb2.icmregistry.net and nsb1.icmregistry.net.”
“These are the name servers for reserved (protected) domain names (example: Disney.xxx).”
“Domain names using these name servers resolve to a standard placeholder page provided by the registry.”
“These two name servers alone account for a staggering 83% of the whole zone file.”
I know for a fact that some .XXX domains that have been purchased still have ICM servers on them for example Orgy.XXX which we purchased with partners at TRAFFIC still have ICM servers and would be included by this report as “defensive registrations”.
Also I’m not sure how the Sunrise domains that are subject to auctions that start in January are treated in the Zone file either.
ICM has not supplied any stats on defensive registrations
We do know that there were around 80,000 sunrise applications which included applications for Trademarked domains and trademark blocks but also including matching existing domain names in other extensions and we don’t know the break down of those.
Of course other companies including a many colleges registered defensive .XXX registrations after Sunrise as well.
95%
I’m actually not looking for guesses just reporting on some stories on some numbers I read on the topic.
Any inside story on Vatican x x x ?
Disney shows pretty much the same 2021 expiry date ans the same email contact but it looks like some people think someone has already bought it.
There’s an article in reuters and businessinsider today
“Despite a spokesperson from the Vatican denying that it had purchased the domain, Reuters says that it is unclear whether the Holy See even attempted to acquire the web address. It is still a mystery as to who has bought the address.”
businessinsider.com/someones-just-bought-the-vaticanxxx-web-address-and-its-not-the-pope-2011-12
Whois shows
Expiration Date:01-Dec-2021 20:40:13 UTC
registryescrow(at)icmregistry.com
Thank you very much for writing this article. It seems a bit strange that the registry (ICM) wouldn’t provide some stats themselves. It also strikes me as odd, that the registry will not publish their list of reserved names.
The real number is over 99%…and the story is in the process of being broken by a major news outlet…facts are being collected…that’s all for now.
MHB, do you plan on eventually becoming a .xxx reseller with buyxxx.com?
Seems you’ve spent an inordinate amount of time covering this extension similar to your coverage of Demand’s stock price.
Tony
No plans for buyxxx.com
I count 12 stories on Demand Media stock this year, it is one the largest companies in the domain space and the only one to go public this year.
.XXX its again one of the top domain news stories of the year and a huge subject of interest based on traffic to the blog from search engines.
We will continue to follow the hot stories and those that get lot of interest in the domain world.
Do you think these could be a good portal for .xxx?
GTLDxxx.com
RegistrarXXX.com
Rightxxx.com
I own about 17 .xxx names with some LLL.xxx. Do you see any value in LLL.xxx?
FOP.xxx – Free Online Porn
FMP.xxx – Free Mobile Porn
FOG.xxx – Free Online Girls
FPV.xxx – Free Porn Videos
Let me know what you think.
Dave
Either way the numbers are pretty embarrassing.
Let’s take the lower number which is basically 50%.
At best, that means for every 2 .XXX registered, 1 is a defensive registration.
At the higher number more than 4 out of every 5 registrations are defensive.
I would suspect the number is actually somewhere in between.
ICM of course has really embraced the “protect your brand” marketing angle.
Since the adult industry does not support the extension.
Who else are they going to sell domains to?
This is a perfect template of what brand owners are so afraid of with the new TLD program.
Brad
ICM’s marketing strategy is like a dirty diaper……………..a mess!
David,
Hate to burst your bubble but if I want free porn, I don’t need to visit a .xxx site when there’s Youporn.com, Porntube.com, Pornhub.com, etc.
The extension is 10 years too late. The industry is mature and saturated on dotcom as of years ago.
.xxx performed exceptionally poorly. Looks like final total will be several hundred thousand registrations, most of them one time defensive fees. Most of the others will drop after one year. A year from now there will be under 50,000 paid registrations, in a few years under 10,000.
“ICM of course has really embraced the “protect your brand” marketing angle.
Since the adult industry does not support the extension.”
Agree, I really like the look of .xxx domains but the way its been promoted and handled has been pretty bizarre.
So one story has factual evidence, presents a copy of their findings and methodolgy and their calculations can be repeated by anyone with a copy of the zone, while the other story has no evidence and is based on speculation/opinion.
Lo and behold, the story based on factual evidence reports 83% inactive domains. And plenty of other parking in the top nameservers (sedoparking, cashparking, etc.).
Is this a successful registry?
Depends on how you measure success.
Do you measure by content, by traffic or by how many registrations you sell?
Is anyone surprised at what .xxx is doing?
Now if we could only get a copy of the .co zone.
How much content is on .co domains as a percentage of the registry as a whole?
Is this is a preview of what we can expect with new gTLD’s?
Soon or later regular businesses will give up registering .xxx domain for defensive purposes!
It is getting ridiculous now.Domain names have been badly hit by this farce .XXX
Most defensive registrations in XXX will not see a repeat in new gtlds. Universities and others will not see the need to protect their image from damage in .DENTIST etc.
Also, where the adult community is against XXX, many new gtlds have the support of their sponsoring communities, cities, industries.
Why do some people keep bleating on about the porn industry ‘not accepting’ .xxx? The porn industry like any other evolves with new players (nice pun eh?) entering (another one) the space. Who can say what they want?
Only got two .xxx domains – both generic porn niches with good search vol – so my position is virtually neutral, but I’ll say this; there aren’t any top names being touted for sale – which means the owners believe in them long term. Not seen that with with other new TLDs.
My take on all this is that all the .xxx news stories has taken porn to the main stream.
I remember seeing a CNBC interview with Stuart Lawley about .xxx and porn in general.
Love it or hate it, .xxx is bringing the conversation about internet porn to the masses.
Who Owns The Vatican.xxx Web Address? Not The Vatican
huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/mystery-buyer-acquires-vatican-xxx_n_1163261.html
just a big gift to the p0rn industry
“Any inside story on Vatican x x x ”
It was on a list of sensitive names that were on an automatic reserve list set up by ICANN.
Tim
Don’t think there is an inside story, ICM put together a restricted list of thousands of sensitive terms, celebs names etc and didn’t allow them to be registered.