Based on zone files, only two of Donuts’ second batch of TLDs to go through sunrise topped 100 registrations.
Last week I wrote about Donuts’ first seven sunrises, each of which typically resulted in about 100-200 registrations.
The next batch of seven domain names has concluded sunrise, and the numbers are markedly lower: only two reached 100 domain names, according to the latest zone files.
Now, as with last time, there are a lot of caveats with this data, and these numbers are the bottom range of the actual number of registrations. I’ve already found some domains, such as canon.camera, that weren’t in these zone files but are registered.
That said, these numbers don’t seem that far off from the first round given the topics this time around: lighting, camera, equipment, estate, gallery, graphics, photography.
The last batch was led by .clothing, and clothing brands are on top of brand protection thanks to counterfeits.
Here are the numbers I tallied from zone files:
Lighting 125
Equipment 125
Graphics 57
Photography 58
Camera 51
Estate 51
Gallery 51
Again, the numbers are actually higher than these, but it should give a good idea of the order of magnitude.
Here are some observations:
* By registry reserving some domains, Donuts avoided having what I’d consider some gaming going on around second level domains like cloud and realestate.
* Still, some seemingly generic domains were registered, such as cheap.lighting and cheap.photography.
* Apple participated in .photography, registering 8 domains: aperture., apple., facetime., imovie., iphoto.com, isight., photobooth. and retina. It also picked up most of these in .camera.
* Only a handful of real estate companies/sites went after .estate domains, including Zillow and ReMax.
* TD Ameritrade apparently hasn’t heard about Donuts’ Domain Protected Marks List, which would allow it to protect all of these domains for much less money. I can’t imagine the company ever using all of these domains it is registering.
Kassey says
Thanks for the hard work, Andrew. It appears there won’t any any rush into gTLDs.
Domenclature.com says
I’m thinking that some of these new Registries are making two fundamentally erroneous assumptions:
1. Domainers are dumb
2. There are a lot of domainers.
I say that because they spent $180,000 buying questionable extensions, and are very frugal when it comes to spending the money required to promote them; they only descended on domainer blogs with small talk, and no money. No consultation with our most ardent talents. Money talks, and bullshit walks. If you are out to fuck us, at least bring your wallet with you!
Secondly, they must think that there are millions of stupid domainers, who would careless about forward looking statements, Ebitda, and such, before investing their hard-earned cash. I have news for them, there may not be more than a couple of hundred “domainers” that visit these blogs, and domaining.com!
Andrew Allemann says
Has it occurred to you that maybe they don’t want your business?
Domenclature.com says
Actually haven’t looked at it from a personality point of view, no.Collectively, they have expressed that they want “OUR” business. What they don’t want is my scrutiny.
Andrew Allemann says
Many domain registries have said they aren’t going after the domain investor’s business. They just want end users.
I think they actually want domain investors, but this is what they’re saying publicly.
Bob says
We don’t think domain investors are dumb, quite the contrary. The majority are prudent investors who are knowledgeable in this space. Our preferred business model is based on a mix of registrants, mainly SMEs but with good participation from professional investors and some large corporates. Please keep in mind, we’re just seven days into general availability. We are very pleased with the results to date and expect the good results to continue.
We wish you and all the other investors nothing but success in your .ventures.
Bob Samuelson, Donuts
Domenclature.com says
Mr. Samuelson,
I appreciate your gentle inputs.
When you say “We are very pleased with the results to date and expect the good results to continue”, that is generally regarded as a “forward looking statement” that could entice investors to take the dip; it has to be correct to be proper; if not, and was relied upon by same investors to invest, it could cause problems later.
That is why, it is a great idea to provide the back-up data if possible; while you may judge the data in terms of “good” or “bad”, the investors use a different standard: True or False.
Bob says
We’re genuinely happy with the results. But it’s very early, the first week of business. Our goal is steady growth of these TLDs for years. Data on who is buying names and how many are bought is publicly available through the zone file and the WHOIS. We don’t share financial projections.
Bob Samuelson, Donuts
Domenclature.com says
Thank you, again..
Raymond Hackney says
Andrew I saw the TDAmeritrade regs and come on this is just a pure waste of money, I would rather see that money going to a foodbank in their city.
Andrew Allemann says
Raymond, the only thing I can think of on the TDAmeritrade ones is they’re worried that Donuts will transfer some of the top level domains to Rightside, which means they won’t be covered under Donuts’ DPML any more. But I believe Rightside is offering something similar.