Company to air two commercials during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

One of the last remaining advertising spots in Sunday’s Super Bowl was snapped up by domain name registrar GoDaddy. The commercial will air near the two minute warning in the fourth quarter of the game.

GoDaddy, a perennial Super Bowl advertiser, asked the public to select which of two commercials to run during the company’s first quarter 30 second spot. The company settled on a Danica Patrick spot called “Shower”. Now that the company has a second spot it will run the other ad which also features Patrick. GoDaddy founder and CEO Bob Parsons also appears in the second spot.

GoDaddy was a little known domain name registrar earlier this decade, but supplanted incumbent Network Solutions thanks to its aggressive marketing including Super Bowl commercials. The company was able to garner significant media attention as a “dot.com” running an expensive ad after the dot.com crash.

The company has over 30 million domain names registered in its family of companies, more than three times the closest competitor. It claims a 45% market share of new domain name registrations.

Sale of $1.8 million not that great of a return.

The big domain name news today is the sale of Fly.com for $1.8 million to Travelzoo (NASDAQ: TZOO). That’s a big number, especially in today’s economy. But it’s not a great return for the seller.

It was almost 10 years ago that the domain name reportedly changed hands for $1.5 million. So in about 10 years the domain name appreciated less than 2% per year. Of course, 10 years ago the dot.com bubble was at its peak, so the $1.5 million purchase price was probably paid at the top of the bubble. The value then declined before coming back up. The owners of the domain name have been monetizing it, too. So the total return is greater than 20%.

The domain name was listed in September’s Great Domains auction at Sedo with a reserve over $2 million. The domain was transferred to Travelzoo on January 20, 2009.

Regardless, this is a fantastic sale to a public company. News like this will get the mainstream media talking about the value of domain names, which can only help the industry.

Domain name auction pulls in under $700,000, but mid range domains continue to sell.

Yesterday’s DOMAINfest Global live domain name auction wasn’t pretty. With under $700,000 in domains sold, it may have set a low point for a general Moniker live domain auction. The mood in the room was somber as domain after domain was passed.

But the news wasn’t what was going on in the room, but what was going on outside the room. I ran into a couple people that usually bid heavily in live domain name auctions. They were outside the auction room, sitting on the sidelines. If they were in the auction room, the total would have topped a million dollars. (I expect the total after the silent auction to run into seven figures.)

Here’s what’s happening. People that bought domain names indiscriminately over the past few years are beginning to analyze what they’re doing. For the first time, many companies are having to create things called “budgets” and “business plans”. For the past few years, they could make mistake after mistake and still make money.

I also talked to several people who used to live off of domain parking revenue. Now they are barely covering their business expenses. A year ago they used their PPC revenue to buy domain names; now they are using it to pay their domain renewal fees.

A year or two ago they would have bought domains that have little end user business potential but are one word, such as Reducing.com and Bribes.com.

But I’m not worried. It’s bad news for the folks at Moniker, who have to spend as much time organizing an auction that sells $700,000 as one that sells $10,000,000. But the market will turn around. And sales of “non-speculative” domains, especially those below $10,000, are still robust. Now is a great buying opportunity, if you are smart about it.

Google’s Hal Bailey discusses domain parking at DOMAINfest.

In what can only be described as an awkward session, Google Adsense for Domains’ Hal Bailey discussed the future of the domain channel at DOMAINfest Global today in Los Angeles.

The good news for domainers is that Bailey said the company is committed to the domain channel and believes it adds value to domainers. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) will not exit the domain channel “any time soon”, he said. He also said Google does not want to compete with domain parking companies and views them as a value-add.

“We value our partners,” Bailey said. “They provide value to us and they provide value to [domainers].”

In 2008, Google focused on traffic quality, and that will continue.

The session started turned awkward once the floor was opened up for questions. It was awkward for a couple reasons. First, some of the audience’s questions didn’t make sense or where about Google products unrelated to Adsense for Domains. Bailey’s group doesn’t actually manage the Adsense for Domains “direct” product, and only works with partners such as Oversee. Second, the audience was generally hostile to Google’s perceived lack of transparency. Bailey dodged many questions stating he couldn’t comment on them. When I asked Bailey what, other than the economy, was driving down domain parking revenue, he replied it was the economy.

Bailey will be at the networking session this afternoon to meet with domainers face-to-face.

DOMAINfest draws crowd despite downturn.

Official attendance at DOMAINfest Global 2009 has topped 600, solidifying its position as the largest domain name industry conference. There are over 30 sponsors and 20 exhibitors.

Yesterday evening most conference goers headed out to Universal Studios for an exclusive event. They were treated to studio tours, dinner, and drinks. Even better, DOMAINfest reserved two of the rides exclusively for attendees (no waiting in line).

After returning from Universal Studios, at least a hundred people joined up for an impromptu gathering at the Renaissance Hollywood lobby bar.

Although many people are already looking past today’s events to the party at the Playboy Mansion tonight, today’s programming will be excellent. At 11 am Google will take the stage to talk about traffic quality and its view of the domain channel (check back for coverage later). Then the Moniker live domain auction kicks off after lunch, and at 5 pm Google and Yahoo representatives will be on hand to talk one-on-one with domainers.

Chatter at the event is mostly positive. A number of people have commented on how professional the conference is. For example, the sessions are all starting on time — imagine that.