Wow
How lucky can you get.
Right now there are 4 shows on TV using one of our domains (domains acquired way before the shows were announced.
Right now finishing up its first summer run is Wipeout on ABC, a game show which did very well in the ratings. We own Wipeout.com
On USA network another new show is finishing up its first season, In Plain Sight. We own inplainsight.com
Coming on the air in a few weeks on Fox is another game show, hole in the wall, which we own holeinthewall.com
Finally we own the domain GotTalent.com. There is America’s Got Talent in the US, Britain’s Got Talent is a hit in the UK and a new spin off the World’s Got Talent just got the green light in Britain as well.
Sometimes its good to be plain lucky
Congrats Michael!
Did any of the networks have the brains to contact you to purchase any of them?
Did you see a rise in traffic at all?
Jamie
Traffic is up on all of these domains.
The only network that contacted us and identified themselves is Universal who owns “In Plain Sight” They offered $9,500 for the domain.
That of course is well less than one 30 second commercial on the show.
I only had a tv show come up once as a domain that I owned, but the show was short lived. Cavemen, but I own the .org not the .com. Traffic did go up when the show started as well for me, so it just shows that people search for the domain and it depends on what’s on the .com . Clearly people were hitting up the .org as well which did kind of suprise me.
Show titles are the biggest opportunity for domains- where the money is. If they had any brains they’d buy a name and build a show around it rather then choose a name and wait for the show to take off to realize they need to spend 6 figures or more to must have it.
Of course only 5% of the shows piloted ever make it past 3-4 episodes so maybe the theory is it’s cheaper to wait because the advertising revenue will make the price a mute point if successful, if not successful they are stuck with an expense.
The other issue in Hollywood is who owns the show versus who owns the site.
When American Idol finally sprung for americanidol.com- it was bought by Simon Fuller, not Fox.
I think your site would be an excellent place for them to shop for future shows. If you subscribe to alerts at domain tools for GE, paramount etc, it’s very easy to see what they are going to need long before the public knows anything of their plans.
You are a lucky “duck”
Very impressive, Michael.
A while back, the Playboy Channel had a show called Wednesday. We own Wednesday.com and expected to hear from them, but never did.
Exciting news!
I am happy for you Michael.
If there is no sale, at least you will generate more ppc incomes and the names will get more value.
This is NOT about luck.
We will say luck if Michael has one or maybe two names in a TV show.
But Michael has FOUR!
It’s not about luck it’s simply the proof that Michael is probably one of the BEST domainers.
Chapeau Michael.
What’s too bad about it is that the execs probably still regard you as the cybersquatter who owns “their” domain name.
Andrew
Probably true
Congratulations Michael.
My question is, if we register and own a domain name before a show is piloted or aired, can the producers go after the domain owner?
Will
Assuming no trademarks registered, if you have a domain name before there is a show announced I see no problem.
My company owns DownLoadMyShow.com. recently the owner of DownLoadMyshows.com put a YouTube video out that included their company name (plural version of DownLoadMyShow)
Traffic to our DownLoadMyshow.com information page skyrocketed.
I thought the name was quite valuable when I bought it and now I am even more convinced it is.
Scott
Congrats
The secret is as always buy domains that mean something and have value and others will see it that way too