Due in part to poor distribution, initial launches fail to garner same traction as other launched TLDs.
Frank Schilling’s Uniregistry released its first two top level domain names in general availability yesterday.
According to the latest zone files, there are around 2,000 registered .sexy domain names and almost 700 .tattoo.
Although zone files don’t include all registered domain names, these numbers seem to jive with initial tallies Frank Schilling provided on twitter yesterday.
Because of the timing of zone file publishing, this zone file doesn’t include the first full day of launch. It should include domain names that were pre-ordered, though.
Yesterday Frank Schilling tweeted:
As I wrote on Monday, Uniregistry’s domain names aren’t available at most of the big domain name registrars. This apparently has to do with Terms of Service and contract wrangling. There were also apparently some technical difficulties.
I know Schilling looks at new TLDs as a marathon instead of a sprint. At the same time, a domain that does well out of the gate can take on a life of its own and grow into a good business. .Sexy and .tattoo were handicapped out of the gate.
The good news for Schilling is he has plenty more domains coming out and time to figure out how to make them work.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering: I’m not the Andrew that registered AndrewIs.sexy.
It was a frustrating go out of the gate, many of the mid range names are reserved, or on a collision list, handicapping the extension a bit. It will be interesting to see what happens with the names the registry held back. I saw many domainers buying .sexy domains which really made no sense, and were more of a novelty purchase they thought they could flip.
I see this more as a fun extension, and most people do not want to maintain a fun page, that is what facebook, and other social sites are for, they take the work out of that. I can tell you there were many domainers on this register, trying to get domains, but the ones they wanted were not there for the taking.
The Name Collisions issue potentially will make a “second rush” for those that pay close attention to timelines.
“most people do not want to maintain a fun page, that is what facebook, and other social sites are for, they take the work out of that”
Although using domain forwarding, a person can have a fixed URL, and choose to forward it to whatever social networking page they want – Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram…. etc. As fads in those things come and go, the registrant can maintain a fixed point of contact. I am by no means a market expert of any kind, but IMHO the utility of a “fun” TLD can be a fixed pointer to those sorts of things.
As a registrar who deals with end users let me give you my perspective.
To someone in the domain business that seems like it makes a lot of sense. But we (and I personally) have tried to push that for years with .com and end users don’t see the value like you think they would.
To wit even back in the myspace days I suggested it to the lifeguard at a pool that I was at that I would give them (I guess as a “tip”) a domain that would forward to their myspace page. And they said “why do I need that though I have the myspace page and I just tell them to go there”. Tried it also with the local hardware store (figuring they would renew if they got a name for free). No interest.
True story but as I said I have not found end users to be snapping up domains (as much as you would think the market is) for that type of thing.
You’re definitely right. People don’t get it. That “it” being the value of domain ownership as such.
But good ideas remain good ideas whether people get them or not. Most won’t. Some will.
I don’t know if this is yours but there is a very poorly made webpage at
http://www.johnberryhill.com
I would rather have http://www.johnberryhill.tel with all my contact details, location map, pictures, even short video and all mobile ready cheap and easy to make in
5 minutes
I had no problem registering withe Name.com, bought 3 good names that are getting traffic already.
Getting traffic, like you mean more than 1 unique, that is pretty amazing…
WoW and MUM.
and more New ones coming out like there is no tomorrow….
Need Godaddy for these! For a monster success – need godaddy!
Can Franky justify why a friend of mine registered a geo .sexy domain only to see that it was later awarded to one of his employees?
Hi Abdu: We have no registration facilities or special deals. Names are awarded fist come-first served. I am sincerely sorry for any open day glitches. .SEXY will wind up being one of the biggest new spaces over the next year.
@ John Beryhill,
That’s an excellent point about utilizing a domain (even a fun novelty domain) as a fixed address over the years, while Facebooks, Twitters, LinkedIns, Instagrams, and MySpaces are born, grow old, and die.
eh.. while you guys are buying .sexy and .whatchootalkinboutwillis, im doing research and grabbing some pre 1996 .com’s that i can make real money from. thanks for the distraction boys.
thanks for that brief interlude of brilliance, mr rocket science!