The first city new gTLD launched yesterday and .Berlin did over 31,000 registrations.
.Berlin first day total was 31,956 making it immediately the 2nd most popular new gTLD only to .Guru which has around 44,500 registrations.
By contrast .Guru only did 9,500 registrations on its first day of general availability.
According to InterNetX a German based registrar, 20,000 registration were done in the 1st hour of availability.
.Berlin, as we have told you was one of the groups that really pushed ICANN to open up the domain name space which has became the new gTLD program.
A .Berlin domain registration retail cost is around $60 a year depending on the registrar you use, assuming a $50 wholesale cost the registry .Berlin registry took in over $1.5 million in its first day, which is not bad for the $185K investment.
Unlike some cities, .Berlin has no residence requirements or nexus requirements to the city so its available to be registered to anyone in the world
We always expected that the city new gTLD’s would be the most registered new gTLD.
There are 50 cities that applied for their own domain name extension although only a few are located in the United States.
In the US the city Geo domains are limited to .NYC, .Boston, .Vegas and .Miami
Other major cities around the world that have applied for their own new gTLD include .London, .Paris, .Tokyo., Rome and .Vienna.
31,645 including the TLD as this morning’s zone. It is quite impressive and should kickstart some interest in the new gTLDs. Up to now, it has been largely an North American affair. What is surprising is how few .berlin domains are on Godaddy’s nameservers and on Sedoparking. 1&1 is leading the registrations. The big one, for the US market will be .nyc. The thing about the city/regional new gTLDs is that they will follow ccTLD dynamics (mix of business name/generics/local geos, andsome speculative registrations) rather than new gTLD dynamics (business names, speculatives and some geos).
I don’t think .berlin will have the most registrations of the new gTLD’s – .web or .shop should have more, or .nyc, .london etc (much larger cities). I think it will soon have more than .guru!
The start looks kind of impressive, day one and already position two. Were was .guru at day one?
But then: The domain count is no measure for the impact of a TLD at all. .info has some 6 Million registrations – but honestly: When has it been the last (or only) time that any of us has used or even just SAW a .info in “real life”? Me I am using it daily (one of my main email addresses is built on .info) but then I am .info fan!
I got a nice .berlin domain yesterday. Dreamed the last nine and a half years about it. Finally it is mine.
Alexander.berlin
Huge numbers. U.S. cities that did not apply will be kicking themselves, and clawing at ICANN for round 2.
New York City resident domainers are going to have a boon. There are probably some setting up physical locations in order to qualify for the nexus.
The fundamental difference between a city and a general generic gTLD is:
In a general generic gTLD you can (and will) observe a registration curve that initially is extremely steep (domainers sign on) then flattens and should remain quite flat thereafter!
In a city TLD you will see a similar effect initially. After the first few month the inhabitants of that city will start to SEE and FEEL (experience exposure) these “new domains”. E.g. because the city stats to use them for their city governance. Companies and some media start to use them. It doesn’t take much phantasy to imagine who more and more inhabitants of that one city get in contact with that new phenomenon “.berlin – domain”. It’s smth you talk about: “Hey, have you seen, we are one of the first cities in the world with their own domain extension”. People like it – it makes them feel proud. Berliners are PROUD to live in Berlin – they love the City the live style. It’s a way of live an expression of individualism.
And then a trend starts: Businesses, organizations and private individuals which are affiliated with the city want to be part of it. Obviously you need a “critical mass” of life websites that create TLD awareness. The curve rises again!
At some point it turns in a “must have” – the curve rises even steeper. Until there is a natural saturation and it will go flatter again.
General new gTLD’s mostly have the registrar channel as marketing tool. A TLD like .berlin (or .gay) has a whole freaking city as marketing tool.
That was my theory in 2004 (.berlin) and 2009 (.gay). Time will show whether it was a wise theory.
Sorry, I misspelled “life” a few times with “live” – but can’t find the “edit” button!
English = not my native language.
@Alexander What you are describing is the classic ccTLD model. People do not have to remember the TLD string on a ccTLD because it is “their” country. They identify with the country. As the momentum builds, people no longer have to remember the country string and they expect that everyone has a ccTLD domain. It is like the way people remember where their local shop or bar is located. Most other non-city/non-regional new gTLDs don’t have that potential for strong end user identification with the TLD string. While their website might be .com, the .com TLD is not “their” TLD.
Did they put a lot of their premiums in the zone?
Apparently .berlin domains are free for Germans for the first year from 1and1.de?
Congrats Alexander on getting your name.
101 Domain on usage
Do I need to provide additional information for Berlin, Germany .berlin? YES
One of the contacts (Registrant, Admin) must have a valid address in Berlin (no P.O. boxes). Domain name shall be in use within 12 months, content shall be related to eligibility.
Details Does .berlin domain have a special use? YES
Exclusively use by members of the .BERLIN Community which are natural persons, legal persons, organizations or associations of persons, if they can demonstrate an ecomic, cultural, historical, social or any other connection to the German capital Berlin.
Id this is true .US should be the biggest selling extension known to man. Some of us like Ron jackson and myself, know this is an accident waiting to happen- hiding in plain sight. But if .US can’t make it, forget about the chances for all the others.
I disagree 100 % Owen, there has never been any real community or grassroots support for .us. .COM is the country code of the United States.
People who live in New York City will be more interested and probably take greater pride in owning a .nyc than a .us.
Certainly Germans have taken great pride in .de and it is no surprise those in Berlin would get behind .berlin.
Any careful observer would classify the German name space as vagabond, unsystematic, without purpose, perhaps even schizophrenic, and mimics the ways of a homeless person; they cherish their .DE, yet they love .COM, and yet they like dashes, and absurd long word, and weird looking words, such as groß, Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän…( and that may not be das längste deutsche Wort) now, they’re crazy for free city New G’s.
Are we now supposed to emulate the German peripatetic German domain name space? No, the new GTLDs are Betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung!
One key limitation is that businesses that house their websites on one of these city/geo gTLDs is that there is a built-in locational boundary that could impose perceptual limitations on expansion outside of the specified city. For example, if “MariosPizza.NYC” wants to expand to Jersey, Philly, or even White Plains – the .NYC gTLD could create confusion for consumers in those new markets.
With so many businesses wanting to grow, these geo gTLDs impose a potential growth obstacle. As do ccTLDs for global businesses. This is one reason why the biggest corps build on .COM – it crosses boundaries and does not impose any ‘built-in’ growth restrictions.
Another concern I have with some of the new gTLDs is the potential for confusion regarding place/product choice. Example, Mario could choose MariosNYC.PIZZA or MariosPizza.NYC. Local consumers have to remember or consider multiple possible gTLD options for even local businesses on the new gTLDs.
This problem is compounded for gTLD categories with duplicative product types: .construction/.contractors/.plumbing/.kitchen; .lawyer/.attorney/.law/.esq; .clothing/.luxury/.shoes, etc. Many of these are equally applicable in certain industries, and thus will be competing for consumers’ memory/recall.
Question: If the world invented Hi-Fi STEREO Radio before AM Radio, do you AM Radio merchants would’ve had a chance?
.COM = Hi Fi Stereo
New G’s = AM Radio
.Com = dinosaurs
New TLDs = the next evolutionary stage
.berlins showing the way. It’ll be interesting to see the real heavyweights like .London and .NYC enter the fray.
I suspect even .berlins sterling performance will pale in comparison.
@Poph,
I’ll take a dinosaur over an ant any day. Perhaps create a create Jurassic Park like Spielberg of 1993 and rake in millions.
The dinosaurs died out. The insects went on to thrive.
It looks like the Gravy Train slowed down significantly….
.Berlin
36,423 up 11%
While .gurus still under the lemming effect:
45,491 up 14%
source: ntldstats DOT COM
Much of the early registrations may have been pre-orders. This morning’s .GURU figure was 44,744 whereas .BERLIN was 36,052. There is still a mini-landrush in effect on .BERLIN but the new registrations figure on .GURU is slowing down. It is still a bit early for .BERLIN but the next few weeks should be interesting. As it is a quasi ccTLD, domaining with just .COM experience is going to result in some expensive mistakes.
One huge caveat for the reseller market would be the residence requirements…isn’t?
Would .nyc coming out with restrictions also?
.us big FAIL comes to mind…
.London & .NYC are prioritizing applications for residents of the cities. Unlike .us, there’s a more easily defined affuliation with a city regarding business identity as well as social application for individual domains.
The slowdowns not really an issue as long as the registrations build up over time. The major expenditure for the registrys has already taken place, so now its about benefittibg from the high margins on each domain.
The figures over the next few months should give us a clearer picture but i definately would not be betting against the geos.
Yep. But these city TLDs have big enough markets (theoretically) to operate as ccTLDs. If the old .COM valuation rules (because the domain is worth $n in .COM, it is worth $n/guess in .TLD) are used then it will be a mess. There are nexus requirements with .NYC and there is (from what I remember) a No PO Box rule (a P.O box is not sufficient to establish a connection with NY).
The .US problem is that people use .COM and .US was never properly promoted.
thanks for the clarification…
Another comparison could be .LA ( a monster of a city ) and No reg restrictions…
how did the extension fare? in terms of end-user acceptance
Although Germany it is own market it does its own thing…
look at .DE
The .LA is a repurposed ccTLD. I don’t think that it was as popular as the .COM is the de facto US ccTLD. It faced the classic newbie domainer problem of registering a domain name and then trying to create a meaning for it on a huge scale. With .LA, it already had a country and the target market for the repurposed version was .COM dominated. (Even .US had local subdomains for the state and, I think, the city.) The important thing about these city TLDs is that the city government, bureaucracy and businesses all get behind the venture and start using the TLD. Without that scale of local buy-in, they don’t work.
I understand .la it’s a Country Code but it was marketed as the Almighty Los Angeles…
Simmilar to .TV
Time will tell on these Geos ….
@frank.schilling:
Nope, the premiums are (just like the collision list) just on the registry reserved list – not in the zone.
And while I have no access to that list from some research I assume that there are several ten thousand really good keys hiding – in fact all the best keys of course.
Alexander.berlin
@ Domenclature.com:
“.com” is absolutely NOT “loved” by Germans. Maybe some domainers buy them up. But no company right in their mind would present themselves under “.com” – with the exception of those who want to look “international” – but aren’t really. Of course all international operating companies have their .com as well – but they ONLY use that for their international presence – NOT for their US presence and MOST CERTAINLY not for their German presence.
An example would be Audi:
– audi.de for the home market
– audi.com as international site (not affiliated with any country)
– audiusa.com for the U.S. market
Of course soon all this is past as they own .audi!
@Alexander Schubert
Have you checked out AlexanderBerlin.com? It is something else.
Everybody wants to look international, even mom & pops, students, small business, while maintaining local cred.I say the number is huge, 90-95%, so you can’t dismiss that so cavalierly by stating “– with the exception of those who want to look “international” – but aren’t really”. That’s almost everybody.
Plus, I see a lot of German words sell in .COM on Sedo. I wish you could elaborate on why the “dashes” doesn’t hurt the users in Germany. How come some one will shell out a lot of money to buy names such as Pro-Wrestler.DE or Pro-Wrestler.com, wouldn’t a lot of the traffic bleed to ProWrestler.DE or .com, just like it would happen anywhere else? Do Germans have special keyboards or what?
@John McCormac
You are very good in positive spinning…
@Domenclature.com It is not positive spinning. I am basing the comments on the numbers and on how ccTLDs perform. The large city new gTLDs have the potential market sizes of small ccTLDs. Many of the new gTLDs are answers to the market of 2008 and being really cynical, they are extensions of domain tasting patterns. There will be casualties. However a few new gTLDs may gain critical mass but it is still a crapshoot on which of them gets to 1M registrations first and when. The current trends suggest that most of them will struggle to break 100K this year.
The German market is overwhelmingly .DE (15.751M) and .COM domains on German nameservers are significantly lower. The February 2014 figures for identified German nameservers were COM: 4,081,150 NET: 956,591 ORG:620,252 BIZ:193,253 INFO: 632,667 MOBI:42,752 ASIA:20,225. Now you may say that everyone in Germany wants to look international but that opinion is not supported by the figures. It is a classic .COM way of looking at a ccTLD dominant market.
In many markets where there is a strong ccTLD, the .COM TLD is at best a “must register” extension in that many registrants will register their ccTLD domain and its .COM equivalent if it is available. But when a country becomes overwhelmingly ccTLD, the .COM becomes more of a legacy TLD but it still beats all other gTLDs in terms of registration volume. The focus shifts to the local ccTLD and the mom and pop businesses tend to develop and brand for that ccTLD.
@John McCormac
The nature of name servers favors the .DE to be easily identifiable as German contrasted with .COM; it’s easy to count all German .COM name servers as American, than the other way round.
Yet, the ration of almost 3:1 .DE to .COM use there qualifies for a lot. But, I do appreciate your numbers/fact based approach. I learn a lot from such comments. Thanks.
Can you take a whack at the third point I made, regarding the dashes? Why and how could the Germans benefit from dashed domains when it is taboo ere, with good reason, it leaks traffic to the non-hyphenated?
The German market can be quite complex when it comes to nameservers as some of the largest European hosters are German based (Hetzner etc). There is also a mix of TLDs used for nameservers (COM/DE/EU/NET etc). Even with the large number of German hosted .COM domains, a lot of them will be using 301/302 redirects to .DE websites.
The German language often merges two or more words to build a single word. The hyphens might distinguish some of these domains from composite terms/words. This is just a guess though.
John McCormac says
” But when a country becomes overwhelmingly ccTLD, the .COM becomes more of a legacy TLD but it still beats all other gTLDs in terms of registration volume. The focus shifts to the local ccTLD and the mom and pop businesses tend to develop and brand for that ccTLD.”
I second that. From a chronological standpoint it is actually reverse: In the beginning there was ONLY “.de” in Germany – and no one even THOUGHT about “.com” – as it was perceived as the “American TLD”. Only once the .de space got crowded some had to sidestep – just like in the US: In Germany people sidestepped to “.com” in the US they sidestepped to “net” (and a little bit .org).
“.la” is a ccTLD of a banana state and one day a new minister of information technology might simply hit the “reset” button and all registrations are gone. And every single company in L.A. knows that – hence no desire at all to create an internet presence built on quick sand.
The .berlin registration curve is developing exactly as I predicted:
– Initially it looks like in all the other new gTLD’s
– Then it slows down dramatically
– brand awareness builds up once the first Berlin entities start to use and market their new domain
– then the Turbo cuts in and people wake up
@ Dr. James Wright
In some cases your limitation scenario might be accurate. But in the overwhelming number of usage scenarios it doesn’t. Examples:
– local media like papers, TV, radio, etc
– local Government (eGovernment) – which is a HUGE market!
– all private entities which use the domain for private purposes.
– all small businesses which will 100% NOT expand anywhere.