Six new generic top-level domains were delegated in the last days of the year. These were: .VIDEO, .SALE, .FLOWERS, dot-brand .GGEE (registered by GMO Internet Group to promote its gaming platform G-Gee for smartphones running Android) and two city-domains - .ZUERICH and .AMSTERDAM. Thus, the number of delegated domains has reached 453. The number is quite impressive, one year is also enough of a period to draw first conclusions.
This was attempted by a well-known domain observer Andrew Allemann. In his blog he explains that 2014 without a doubt was a year of new gTLDs. But more so for the domain community than general public. Allemann gives examples of unfulfilled expectations in relation to the new gTLDs. First of all, this is true about a number of registrations. Many registries at the beginning of the year declared the planned dozens or even hundreds of thousands of registrations. In actual practice a milestone of 10 thousand registered names is insuperable for the vast majority of the new domains.
Also new domains haven’t sparked the anticipated interest in trademark owners so far. Sunrise periods in general brought a rather modest number of registrations. In the majority of the domains rights-holders haven’t registered even 300 names.
Andrew Allemann points to a number of objective reasons for this. Many very promising domains haven’t been registered due to name collisions. A lot of registrars were not ready for serious innovations proposed by registries. But the main reason according to Allemann is that new domains haven’t become brands just yet in the public mind.
He points out that in the .COM domain zone around 25 million names are registered annually and new domains could have claimed a significant part of them, if the general public was more aware of them. However, Allemann suggests that it is better to be optimistic about the future. Registries keep paying millions of dollars on the auctions for the new domains. And this is the most powerful argument that domain business believes in their future success. Although it will probably take longer for the bright future to happen than it was previously anticipated.
