The number of new gtld registrations stood at approximately 3.7 million to close out 2014. Our poll question for March is where do you see that number for 2015 ?
The poll just went up and we did provide for choices that would show a contraction, so far half of the very small sample size has voted that way. Today according to nTLDStats the number is sitting around 4.4 million. It certainly makes sense that a lot of robo – registrations will not be renewed, some of the premium renewals will not renewed either as domain investors took a one year gamble to see what they could do with these in the aftermarket.
Feel free to leave a comment on why you voted what you voted.
Don’t know about others, but I’ve registered a total of 36 domain names with new gTLD’s, and I’m not renewing any of them. Most of them were an impulse purchase. What a waste.
One year plan for new gTLDs would not make sense. I have bought few but considering 5 to 10 years plan , yes i might not renew all every year.
There’s been a predictable precedent set years ago in which the best keywords in a new tld release will get taken by investors. With so many additional tld’s now, many of the once popular long tail domains will not get registered as investments since their rarity & value has been seriously diluted. However, there will still be demand for premium keywords … particularly ones that fit the new gTLD like a glove. This is the best investor & development space, i.e. where the keyword + tld creates a superior, incomparable internet web address. I’ll estimate this averages from 1500 to 8000 premium keywords within any tld namespace.
I expect some attrition at renewal year one for non-premium registrations. There’s no question that the current total stats are inflated due to robo registrations or freebies. This is unfortunate really.
Leading domains for business, imo, will be the best strategic play – especially niche markets. This is category-defining domains and generic product or service domains that have the ability to offer outstanding value when the .com is already taken. This is why we went into .business and .energy. The space is perpetually relevant and business-centric.