thorsten eining, "state of the domain name industry"
TRANSCRIPT
State of the DomainName Industry
Thorsten EinigManaging Director EuropeTucows/OpenSRS
About OpenSRS
Largest domain wholesale provider12,000+ resellers worldwideIndustry leading in various product lines:
Domains: gTLDs and a wide range of ccTLDsTrust: SSL from top 5 vendors, Sitelock, TrustePublishing: GoMOBIEmail
Offices in Canada, USA, UK, Germany, Netherlands
Developments in the Domain Industry
1. It’s still growing! 2. It’s on the brink of a massive address explosion3. It’s gone mobile
State of the industry:
1. It’s still growing
“Haines argued … companies' interactions with their customers could take place so often on Facebook that company Web sites would fall by the wayside.”
-CNETStephen Haines, Commercial Director, Facebook UK
The end of domain names….
… is nowhere near!
The Overall Market: More than 215 million
But in fact: growing and growing
ccTLDs: Almost Half the Space
The Stars!
Strong Growth in Eastern Europe (example .EU)
euRID Quarterly Progress Report Q1 2011
State of the industry:
2. It’s on the brink of a massive address explosion
New Top Level Domains
“Right of the dot” will finally matterBroken into three categories:
.BRAND TLDs: .OPENSRS, .GOOGLE, .FACEBOOK
GENERIC TLDs: .SEARCH, .WEB, .BLOG, .HOST
COMMUNITY / SPECIAL INTEREST TLDs: .TORONTO, .PARIS, .ECO
Expectations and Timelines
January – April 2012: Applications acceptedApril 2012: Cards turned overNovember 2012: Applications approved
Application fee: $185k (if successful) Partially refundable Legal fees, marketing fees, etc. (potentially
contentions, auctions, clarifications)Approx. 400 – 1,500 applications expected
What are the Opportunities?
A new game with a new deck will startWiden your targets:
new customers by selling new extensionsnew markets with hundreds of new extensions
(geographical or verticals)Secure your brand and community!
With your own TLD?Follow developments and make your choices
State of the industry:
3. It’s gone mobile
Mobile is Mainstream
Google: 15% of web traffic is now mobile 30% (!!!) of all restaurant queries are mobile
Not having a mobile presence is like closing your site for one day per week
More hosting companies now offering mobile products and tools
Tucows’ Experience
Offering GoMOBI since beginning of 2011Hosting customers want separate sites aimed at
mobile users – not their existing site crammed into a mobile device
Are willing to pay several dollars a monthFree trials convert like crazyOften attach another domain to it
Key Points
The domain market is still growingccTLD sales are booming (and profitable)New TLDs will change the perception of
domainsMobile products and services are gaining
traction quickly and add further to the growth of the domain market
