New gTLD Videos

Since new gTLDs (generic Top Level Domain) names have been released, registries and many others, have created videos trying to explain to the general public what new gTLDs are about and why they are important. I think it will be a good idea to collect as many of these in one place as I can just so I know where to find them when I want them. Hopefully this will be a good resource for you too.

Update 2017: I’m going to begin adding other videos here about domain names, DNS, and the Internet:

This one is a great basic explanation of what ICANN does! I have been attending ICANN meetings for 18 years. Most people find it difficult to understand. This video puts it all in a nutshell:

This first list of videos is a collection put together by ICANN featuring new gTLD applicants (those that applied and will be running the new domain name registries). I’m starting with a good friend, Ray King. If this works right you will be able to see several that follow (about 10 or so on my last count).


This one is also put out by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Names & Numbers). I like the accent. It’s called “The Dot is Making New Friends”.

This global focused video was put out by Afilias. It’s a good generic explanation of TLDs in general. Very basic and nice explanation. It has about 5900 views as I write.

What Does ICANN Do? I couldn’t resist posting this one just because so many people wonder what ICANN does. It’s pretty cool. I love this lady’s accent. The video has about 7000 views.

People at ICANN made a lot of fun of this video but I think that was the point. It was put out by the applicants for .CEO. It has about 1700 views. Domain Incite called it the worst new TLD video ever. I kind of like it. :-).

Update: As of 2017, this video is not longer available. It used to be here: www.youtube.com/embed/y69zzv5Pc0E”

This video called “Hitler Finds Out ICANN’s TAS Is Down” is an inside joke. You have to be deep into new gTLDs to get it. I’ll leave it at that. If you aren’t into new gTLDs and don’t know what Digital Archery or TAS means, don’t bother watching it. It does have 4000 views.

A company called Donuts is the largest applicant for new gTLDs in the world. They applied for over 300 of them. Their nicely done video has over 10,000 views on Youtube.com.

Update: As of 2017, this video is not longer available. It used to be here: www.youtube.com/embed/eZY9HpEsSJ4

Donuts came up with a way to help brands stop cybersquatters from registering new gTLDs by promising to block all of the domains that they will eventually carry. The product is called the Domains Protected Marks List (DPML). The product is also being offered by another large registry called Rightside.

Update: As of 2017, this video is not longer available. It used to be here: www.youtube.com/embed/6hPze9-tEhY?list=UU2LWfic9acXO5syI_TBl5Ug

This video was put out by the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH). It is part of many “rights protection mechanisms” designed to help brands to protect their names in the new world of gTLDs. This one has about 8000 views.

This video is one that I’ve been looking for for a while. It makes fun of the new gTLD process and, sadly, is quite true. New gTLDs can become very confusing. Most of the crazy examples he gives in this video are really going to become possible. :-). I’m surprised that there are only 3000+ views.

On a more somber note, here is my creation for 101domain.com. We did a series of videos explaining new gTLDs and explaining how to understand them using our website. Wow, I got 300+ views!


This fun video put out by Domain Diction and .global looks like an epic film trailer. It was put out a few weeks ago and only has 20 or so views but it’s kind of fun.

Domain Diction has a few more here: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIny7kDbU1g1tqaqtNUzi9g

This is a serious one and worth watching if you care about true global expansion. It was put together by the people at TLD Registry and is called “The Future of Chinese Domain Names”. It is translated into Chinese as it moves along so it is a little slow but, I think worth watching. TLD Registry is responsible for creating one of the first two Internationalized Domain Names in the Chinese language. They are important TLDs because the Chinese government will be using them for city and regional names going forward. They are fully Chinese top level domains (on the right and the left of the dot). I have met some of their executives and am intrigued. They have more videos worth checking out here: http://www.youtube.com/user/tldregistry

Here is a website (not a video) put together by the new Domain Name Association at http://thedna.org. I think it’s worth including here because the site is done so nicely and is dedicated to new gTLDs.


This one is a cute one put out for brand names by Wise Dot. It’s one of those animated robot-type videos but interesting to watch. It focuses on the dot brand domains. Yes, many companies like IBM and Canon and Deloitte will have their own domains (.IBM, .Deloitte, and .Cannon). This video has about 1600 views.

Update: As of 2017, this video is not longer available. It used to be here: www.youtube.com/embed/PxpgQipzJCw

Does anyone remember .nxt? This group was a forerunner in the space but seems to have fizzled out. They sponsored a few good conferences and events. They did this nice explanatory video over two years ago.


Here’s an interesting video that includes foreign language testimonials about Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in several foreign languages. I found it at http://thaiurl.com, on of our resellers. I’m really happy that it includes a spoken credit to Tina Dam, who is a personal friend and who worked relentlessly while at ICANN to help make IDNs a reality. She deserves that credit given from Rod Beckstrom, the former CEO of ICANN.

Update: As of 2017, this video is not longer available. It used to be here: “http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1”

Dot.uno is a pretty aggressive registry that is targeting the Hispanic market with a lot of gusto. They have also put together some pretty nice videos to help people understand new gTLDs. Here’s one that we shared on our 101domain.com site.

Here is a video put together by Peoplebrowsr, the company behind .ceo, and .best. They’ve done a nice job in creating these. I’d vote these some of the nicer new gTLD videos…

This guy does a lot of videos, most not related to new gTLDs but I liked his contribution to the field…

This is a video that anyone interested in buying domain names for a profit should see. Mike Zappolin is one of the most successful domainers in the world. He’s made the process of buying domains and building businesses on them an art form. Watch, learn, and get excited…

 

Ok, that’s all for tonight. Please send me links to the videos I missed. I’ll collect them and update this when I have time. Thanks for watching.

Joe

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Coupons.com IPO Values Company at $2.2 Billion

    “Their first big expense was $1.3 million, plus some of the  equity in the company, to buy the Coupons.com domain name.”
WSJ, 3/8/2014

I’m always encouraged when I read stories about business success that begins with the purchase of a .COM domain name.  COUPONS.COM went public raising $168 million dollars and valuing the company at $2.2 billion.  The story is a cut-out example of big businesses built on the benefits of natural Internet traffic produced from a generic domain name.  Big companies like BODYBUILDING.COM and WAYFAIR.COM were built in the same way, using memorable, generic domain names like STROLLERS.COM and LUGGAGE.COM to build their businesses. Type either domain name in and see where it leads you – they own hundreds of generic .com domain names and forward them to their central Wayfair branded pages.

Coupons.com IPO - $2.2BOf course, all of these companies built their businesses with more than just a domain name.  They were smart, focused, and were good at running their businesses.  Coupons.com ignored the craziness going on during the Internet boom of the early 2000s and spent that time just building a business.  It certainly has paid off today.

According to their website, Coupons.com operates a promotion platform that connects brands and retailers with consumers through Web, mobile and social channels. The company is transforming the multi-billion dollar promotions industry into the digital world.

Over 2,000 brands from more than 700 consumer packaged goods companies, or CPGs, and many of the leading grocery, drug and mass merchandise retailers, use their platform to reach consumers at the critical moments when they are deciding what to buy and where to shop.

They deliver digital coupons to consumers, including printable coupons, save-to-card coupon and coupon codes for e-commerce. They also sell advertising for their online and mobile properties. They have built out the largest network of retailers and publishers, spanning more than  58,000 store locations in North America and approximately 30,000 third-party websites.

Their main site, Coupons.com, receives more than 17 million unique visitors a month on average, and millions of consumers use their popular Coupons.com and Grocery iQ mobile apps. Coupons generated revenue from over 1.3 billion transactions in 2013.

Domain names do matter. Obviously, .COM domains are best because they are so well known and they tend to bring in the largest amount of inexpensive Internet traffic anywhere.  But there are exceptions and hundreds of very successful large businesses have been built on other-than-dot-com domain names.  In many countries, country-code domain names such as CO.UK and .CN are the places where the largest businesses reside.

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The New TLD Opportunity You Shouldn’t Miss

 

dot-id-logoWith all the clamor about new gTLDs, it will be easy to overlook another important new development, the release of .ID at the second level. .ID, although technically for Indonesia, can be used in many interesting ways.

The New .ID extension is currently in Sunrise. The price for Sunrise is quite high, but you trademark holders probably already have a .WEB.ID or .CO.ID domain name and therefore qualify for grandfathering.

The Landrush and GA pricing has not been finalized yet, but the Sunrise and Grandfather pricing has been posted. The company I work for, 101domain, has prices posted at:

  • Sunrise $150 setup + 699 reg
  • Grandfather $100 setup +399 reg
  • Landrush $100 setup +399 reg
  • GA $120

You might need trustee services. There are some limitations but I think that .ID carries as much promise and utility as many of the new gTLDs. For more information see:

http://www.101domain.com/id.htm

 

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KPMG Moving Their Brand to the Root of the Internet

kpmg“Indeed, KPMG’s application states that the .KPMG domain will act as a “clear signpost” for Internet users to genuine KPMG domains and associated content.”

In an interview with World Intellectual Property Review, KPMG, one of the largest professional services companies in the world providing audit, tax, and advisory services, stated that they will be moving their brand to .KPMG (DOT.KPMG; away from DOT.COM). I really enjoyed this article and I think it makes a great case for big brands to make the move to their own new gTLD. I’ve been preaching for years that new gTLDs hold the highest benefit for brand managers that want to create a laser-like focus on their brand names. IMHO nothing will do that better than a brand’s own top level domain name.

The model that KPMG outlines also agrees with what I’ve been saying, that brands should continue to use their .com domains to point to their new TLD but stop advertising it. In other words a brand that moves to its own TLD should begin advertising the new TLD and use their .com to forward to their real asset (their own new TLD). It’s going to take time for people to understand branded TLDs so in the mean time, using your .com address is very important. Only time will tell how long it will take for consumers to understand and see the value in branded TLDs.

“We had a very clear understanding from the outset that we were not applying for a domain name—we were applying to operate a secure registry system at the world root of the Internet. There were several advantages to applying, but the primary motivation was to operate a registry system, because it can provide a number of operational and technical advantages.”

Critics of new gTLDs state that people will always want to go to .com domains and there is truth in that. Old habits don’t die easy. What they may not be counting on however is that with social networks available today, new ideas travel faster than they ever did before. Time and the movement of ideas has compressed. Ideas that took generations to spread during the 80s and 90s, spread virally today.

In fact, I think that consumers will some day soon equate a brand’s own TLD with confidence and largeness. Brands without their own TLD may come to feel inferior. Regardless of your viewpoint on new gTLDs, this World IP Review article is worth a read. I think that KPMG is right on the mark with their assertions and plans.

Read more… | Source: World Intellectual Property Review | Date Posted: 12/27/2013

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