Like it or not, new gTLDs are here and they’re here to stay. If it is still common to read that the ICANN new gTLD program was a failure and few users are using new domain names, numbers show the opposite. I recently read very rude critics addressed to new gTLD applicants but surprisingly, critics often come from “.com” investors and my understanding of this is that new domain names lower their margins ...since the domain name offer is now larger. This being said, the good point about new gTLDs is that they offer something that “.com” has never been able to offer: precision. Something more which is not questionable anymore about new gTLDs is the availability of these domain names.

I checked the numbers and listed new domain name registration figures according to 17 categories: catering, photography, cities, companies, law, finance, colors, sport, alcohol, real estate, singular and plural TLDs, French applications, religion, generic TLDs, cars, health and French TLDs. I extracted these figures each week and I wrote them “on the rock” so it is easy to notice which registry has increasing domain name registrations, which has less and which loses registrations.

Businesses related to Catering

There are 20 new gTLDs related to catering and very few registration volumes stick to the red but generally speaking, registration volumes are below 10,000 for most of these TLDs. The .RESTAURANT new gTLD is an interesting example of a very long domain name extension with a constant increase of registrations.

Businesses related to Photography

Many new gTLDs related to photography are above the 10,000 domain name registrations. There are 26 of them with a few Trademarks included. Most registration volumes are constant but the .WEBCAM and .GRAPHICS. I particularly like the examples of the .PHOTO and .PHOTOS which were not launched at the same time. If .PHOTOS was launched first, registration volumes show that the singular version generates more interest.

Cities

Note that this is not the list of Geographic Top-Level Domains but City names only. I also included two .CITY and .TOWN Top-Level Domains related to cities. You will also notice the .TOURS extension which is not related to the French city.

When comparing the list of city new gTLDs with another category of strings: we easily realize that all registration volumes are constant: new domain names such as .NYC, .LONDON and .TOKYO now have a lot of Registrants. Eight more cities are about to launch their domain name extension: .MADRID, .DUBAI, .STOCKHOLM, .HELSINKI, .BUDAPEST, .DOHA, .ABUDHABI and .BOSTON

Domain names for Companies

There is a list of 28 domain name extensions which make sense for Companies to secure their domain name(s) with. This actually is the only listing to which I added three legacy TLDs: .COM, .PRO and .TEL. Some of these extensions are .COMPANY, .EMAIL, .GLOBAL etc. They have high registration figures: seven of them have more than 100,000 registrations and up to almost 500,000 for the .SITE new gTLD. A few IDNs were added recently.

Businesses related to the Law

There a few extensions which deal with the law and all but two of the 10 extensions listed are below 10,000 registrations. Still many law firms do not seem to have discovered the existence of these new domain names and I think a .LAW domain name is of high importance ...for a law firm. I dug and found a report from the American Bar Association on Lawyer Demographics and there were 1,300,705 licensed lawyers in 2015 in the USA but there are 13,521 “.lawyer” domain names registered only.

Businesses related to Finance

This list of domain name extensions is one of the longest. With .BRAND new gTLDs, there are 81 extensions and almost half of them are Trademarks. Most major banks and investment corporations are listed and 3 have more than 100 domain name registered. This is a lot for a .BRAND new gTLD (a Trademark which does not sell domain names). The .BRAND concerned are .CITIC, .BNPPARIBAS and .BRADESCO. The other half of the list are extensions dedicated to selling domain names: some have very low registration volumes below 100 registrations; and up to more than 430,000 for the .BID new gTLD. Almost all extensions have constant domain name registrations, and 6 only have more than 10,000 domain name registered.

Businesses related to Sport

I extracted 43 of them but all are not sport names because, for example, you can practice a sport in Club so “.club” domain names have been listed too. Seven are Trademarks like .NIKE or .NFL. Registration volume are low and surprisingly, the Olympic Games did not help. Even the UEFA Euro Football championship didn’t help the .FOOTBALL domain name registrations to increase: they even decreased during this period! The .FOOTBALL new gTLD has 4,353 domain name registered.

Tip: having sport federations to offer domain names with the name of their sport as an extension would seriously help.

Businesses related to Real Estate

This list of extensions is long too. There are few Trademarks but when comparing with other lists, it is clear that many extensions are decreasing and losing registrations. A few like the .LOAN, .IMMO, .RENT or .PLACE never lost registrations in the past 20 weeks.

Singular versus Plural new gTLDs

This is an interesting listing which shows whether there are more domain names registered according to the singular or the plural version of the domain name extension. There are 22 of them with some applications which were withdrawn or which just won’t proceed for other reasons. One could imagine that registration volumes between versions are close one to the other but they rarely are except for .CAR & .CARS and .SUPPLY & .SUPPLIES. Some extensions like .GIFT, .ACCOUNTANT, .LOAN, .NEWS, .PHOTO and .PROPERTY are above the 20,000 registrations and keep increasing.

“Generic” domain name extensions

This is the list of new gTLDs which are generic enough to have the same use as a “.com” domain name. In this list of 12, none has below 20,000 registrations and .SITE and .ONLINE are above 400,000 registrations. In this listing, it is possible to see how many domain names were registered from a week to the other. We also admit that we keep a good eye on the “soon to launch” .CONTACT new gTLD.

There are more listings: colors, alcohol, French new gTLD applications, religion, cars, health and domain name with a French connotation.

In the total list of new gTLDs applications, not so many Registries are losing registrations and most of the domain name registration volumes are increasing. They increase slower than expected but they increase: isn’t this a sign that the ICANN new gTLD program is not only a success but was also needed to offer more choice to website owners and Registrants?

Domain name registration volumes are an indicator which clearly demonstrates if an industry or a business needs/uses domain names: an indicator to have a look at prior to submitting an application in Round two of the ICANN new gTLD program to take place in a close future.