New gTLDs: Experiences & the Way Forward

Michele Neylon

Who am I?

Michele Neylon

- Founder / CEO Blacknight

- http://mneylon.tel

- @mneylon

- http://michele.me/blog

- http://mneylon.social

- IIA Net Visionary 2013

- On most other social networks ..

Who We Are..

• Ireland’s largest hosting provider

• 40 staff (in 3 countries)

• Clients in 130+ countries

• ICANN accredited registrar

• Accredited with multiple ccTLDs

• Own data centre

EMAIL

HOSTING

SUPPORT

MAINTENANCE

SPIN OFF SERVICES

SSL

AFFILIATE SALES

BRAND PROTECTION(MORE DOMAINS)

Perspective ..

• “Pure” registrar is quite rare

• Domain is part of bigger range of services

• Small businesses => get online + email

• Upsell other services <<< this is KEY

The king hasn’t changed

Our Experience..

• Offering 300 new TLD extensions

• Registrations in less than 100

• Selling more ccTLDs + legacy gTLDs (a LOT more)

Some Thoughts

• “Cheaper” sells more (for now)

• The “sexier” extensions are only launching now (.blog and others)

• Renewal rates are an “unknown”

• Integrating with 100s of TLDs takes time … payback is SLOW

Once Upon A Time …

• Local ccTLD

• .com

• Neighbour ccTLD (Irish companies with *.uk)

• Regional TLD (?) (eg. .eu)

Now?

• 500+ new TLDs (including .brand)

• “legacy” gTLDs

• ccTLDs

Challenges

• Onboarding 100s of new extensions

• Contracts x 100s

• Technical integrations

• Weird EPP stuff

• Funding registry accounts (wire transfer delays + forex charges + cash flow)

• Displaying them ..

• Conflicts with local law (privacy/ whois etc)

What Do People Want?

How Do You Choose??

.com.ie.eu

.photography.photos.gallery.photo.media

.equipment.pics

.camera.pictures

How Do You Market them??

This week

Total new gTLDs – 4,683,382(.xyz accounts for 812k) (source: nTLDstats.com)

Not All TLDs Are Created Equal

.club – 187,861

.wed- 184

What About Aftermarket Sales?

wine.club – $140k

Fight.club - $13.5k

Coffee.club - $100k

Entire TLD Sold

.reise sold for undisclosed price

(reports suggest $400k)

Big Headline

.app acquired by Google for $25 million

Michele Neylon- mneylon.tel

- @mneylon

- blacknight.host

- michele.me/blog

Thank You

Michele Neylon

- Founder / CEO Blacknight

- http://mneylon.tel

- @mneylon

- http://michele.me/blog

- http://mneylon.social

- Winner IIA Net Visionary 2013

- On most other social networks ..