by Ken Hansen, Neustar
[A big hurdle for new top level domains is getting attention as potentially hundreds of competitors are launched concurrently in the near future. In this guest post Ken Hansen, Senior Director of Business Development at Neustar, explains that getting good distribution from domain registrars is key. Neustar Registry Services operates the global registry for .biz and .us and provides back-end registry services for .co, .tel and .travel. -Andrew]
Will new gTLDs will be successful? The answer I’ve always given is, “yes and no†and, “it depends on how you define successâ€. For some gTLDs, success simply means serving the needs of a specific community or advancing a cause, while generating enough cash to support ongoing operating expenses. Applicants for gTLDs with broad mass market appeal like .web on the other hand, are likely to define success as millions of registrations. Brand owners will measure success based on incremental brand awareness, advertising return-on-investment, or market share. One measure of success, although certainly not the goal at the very beginning, is simply staying in business. Based on that criterion, not a single gTLD introduced in the past has failed.
Regardless of how success is defined, with so many new gTLDs coming to market at the same time, some will be successful and others (perhaps many others) will not. Although there will be many factors that determine which gTLDs will “succeedâ€, with the exception of brand gTLDs, for most distribution will be critical.
Like most products in the brick-and-mortar world, getting on store shelves is an essential step in building a new gTLD business. With hundreds of gTLDs coming to market, the competition between gTLDs for prime shelf space will be fierce. So how do you ensure your new gTLD will gain the distribution required?
For those seeking broad distribution of a new gTLD, instituting policies and processes that are consistent with other gTLDs is recommended. Anything “non-standardâ€, unless it adds substantial value to registrants, and therefore drives demand, will require Registrar development and create an obstacle that could result in fewer channel partners. Unless your gTLD is compelling for some other reason, make your gTLD registrar-friendly by sticking to what is familiar to them and their users.
It is also advisable to work with a registry that is already connected to a large number of registrars. With hundreds of new gTLDs coming to market, registrars may be hard pressed to find the time and resources to integrate with a registry they are not currently working with. Turning up a new gTLD with an existing registry partner is a relatively simple task for a Registrar. A registry partner that knows and works with a large number of registrars can also be very helpful in terms of making registrar introductions. Also look for registry partners with significant experience working with the distribution channels to launch new gTLD through the sunrise, land rush and first-come-first-serve phases.
Some gTLDs, particularly those targeted at narrowly defined niche markets, will find it very challenging to get broad distribution. Even if they are successful in attracting registrar partners, they may be relegated to the bottom of drop-down menus or several clicks deep on a registrar site. Some gTLD applicants, for this reason, may even prefer to work with one or a few registrars for which their gTLD is an important revenue stream. Indeed, the needs of niche gTLDs could be addressed by the emergence of new registrar channels that are focused on single gTLDs and their target markets (e.g. focused on the Music or Sports industries). Existing registrars might also deploy gTLD specific sites and marketing initiatives.
Of course, no one distribution strategy is right for all gTLDs. Many factors other than distribution will also influence whether an individual gTLD will be successful. Those factors include: market size; market maturity; growth rate; segment dependence on the Internet; number of alternative gTLDs choices; and, the number of attractive premium names in a gTLD. One thing for sure; given the number of new gTLDs expected to come to market, having a well thought out distribution strategy will be critical in determining whether or not your gTLD will be the next .co!
You can contact Ken Hansen at [email protected].
John Berryhill says
A key component of “a well thought out distribution strategy” would appear to be keeping a good supply of ammonium salts handy, for the purpose of reviving TLD applicants when they find out how much of a take GoDaddy is expecting for favorable placement and promotion.
The situation is strikingly similar to to the way that Wal-Mart worms its way up through the internals of manufacturers who are looking for shelf space there.
citizen says
Mr. Hansen, what in the world is Neustar doing with it’s stewardship of the .US registry????
This is an incredibly valuable national space/resource that fits right in with global ccTLD and local/national trends, yet your company has done nothing to promote it, this makes no sense does it?
Doesnt every country’s ccTLD deserve full time attention to promote its national name space?
John Berryhill says
@citizen
The terms by which Neustar manages the .us ccTLD are largely determined by the contract which they were awarded by the NTIA as a service provider. In that role, Neustar is a service provider, and not a TLD operator (as that term is used to distinguish between the TLD operator and a back-end registry services provider).
citizen says
Who then was set out as TLD promoter in the agreement, if those aspects were split?
Are Neustar’s statements that they will promote the registry, their periodic reports on their achievements and .kids and other silly efforts merely gratuitous? Why bother if they are strictly back-end?
Who is responsible to promote America’s ccTLD if not Neustar? NTIA?
Thanks and dont mean to be accusatory.
citizen says
I just looked btw and Neustar is indeed ‘exclusive Registry Operator for the usTLD’ according to their site, and the Statement of Work from NTIA itself provides that promotion to increase .us usage is specifically required.
Jim Fleming says
The DNS software is going to change substantially. SCUBA – Self-Contained UNIX Broadband Appliances will start appearing for people’s Home Theaters. Many people will “think” their Internet comes from their TV.
The THIN-CLIENT Internet, with Central COLOs will not be where the action is.
Unfortunately, it is going to be very hard to see what consumers see, without purchasing your own SCUBA gear.
Constantine Roussos (.MUSIC) says
The success of new TLDs will not be determined by shelf space competition. That will only yield a small advantage if any. Availability is not an issue. The sole determinant of success is whether specialized TLDs are adopted as the industry standard for web domains in their corresponding industries. For open TLDs, such as .web, domain speculators will invest and it will be akin to mino-.CO landrushes. So these registries will make some money and call it a day, not really caring if anyone uses the domain or not.
This advice is probably the worst advice you can give further aggravating the underlying problem. Distribution alone can not make your TLD a success and shelf-space on Godaddy is the worst strategy for success I have ever heard. Look at the music industry. The labels controlled distribution and they were the gatekeepers before the Internet. Once you open the Internet up (file-sharing/P2P) and get many options to take up your leisure time (movies, games, social networking), then your distribution model is not as effective. Why would new TLDs be different? If so many will flock the market and so many will be competing for user attention, then distribution is a thing of the past. It is easy. People search google and they will find their TLD of choice and who sells it.
This is coming from someone who believes that vertical integration is the way of differentiation, innovation and value added. If you want to be successful, do not rely on registrars to do the work for you. It is not a recipe for success because registrar’s goal is to sell their whole TLD extension list and maximize profits. There is no long term loyalty there. Competing just on the novelty name alone will ensure that your TLD will have at best, a moderate success.
This is the reason why many new TLDs have not been successful. Relying on 3rd parties for the success of your business is not a sound business model. That is not a strategy.
My expectations for most new TLDs is the following: Launching the TLD, try to get shelf space (and pay for the luxury of doing that in some cases) and then auction premium domains to speculative domainers. Have any of these TLDs who have adopted this methodology been an overwhelming success? Maybe in the first 6 months when they are auctioning and landrush. What happens next?
Constantine Roussos
.MUSIC
GooStation says
.
Q: “Will New gTLDs Be Successful?”
A: no, there are already too much TLDs
I’m for a giant CUT of the less used TLDs
.
Jothan says
I think Constantine and Ken are both correct… Some TLDs will be measured by registration volume. Some will simply be successful if they accomplish their objective.
For the volume TLDs, distribution will be key.
Not all the TLDs are going for volume, though .music will certainly attract some attention.
But .CAT, for example, sought to make a linguistic/cultural space on the internet for the Catalan community. They have just past 40k registrations and a number of registrars that support it worldwide.
It is considered a success, although one would have to visit Barcelona or other beautiful cities in Spain to see how widely it is in use prominently on bus panels, billboards, tv, newspapers, radio, magazines, and other media.
While in .COM, 40k registrations is potentially a rounding error, .CAT is glad to have such adoption.
Bartles says
I see its been 5 years since the last comment and the gtlds have come out but have not done particularly well in the interim. To me, they seem to be floundering aimlessly. Only benefactors I see in 2015 is icann. Maybe GoDaddy but I suspect that they, too, are disappoiinted with the lethargic reaction. No consumer interest, no adoption, no marketing, no buzz. Lots of clashes. Losts of overlap. Way too many choices. Too much money for what is universally viewed as an inferior product with too many characters. Practically all of them are withering on the tld vine. IMO, the gtlds have proven to be a complete and utter waste of cyberspace.