Middle East DNS Forum presentation slides: New gTLDs: Experiences & the Way Forward

1. New gTLDs: Experiences & the Way
Forward
Michele Neylon

2. 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 ..

5. 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

6. EMAIL
HOSTING
SUPPORT
MAINTENANCE
SPIN OFF SERVICES
SSL
AFFILIATE SALES
BRAND PROTECTION
(MORE DOMAINS)

7. 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

8. The king hasn’t changed

9. Our Experience..
• Offering 300 new TLD extensions
• Registrations in less than 100
• Selling more ccTLDs + legacy gTLDs (a LOT
more)

10. 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

11. Once Upon A Time …
• Local ccTLD
• .com
• Neighbour ccTLD (Irish companies with *.uk)
• Regional TLD (?) (eg. .eu)

12. Now?
• 500+ new TLDs (including .brand)
• “legacy” gTLDs
• ccTLDs

13. 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)

14. What Do People Want?

17. How Do You Choose??
.com
.ie
.eu
.photography
.photos
.gallery
.photo
.media
.equipment
.pics
.camera
.pictures

18. How Do You Market them??

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

24. Not All TLDs Are Created Equal
.club – 187,861
.wed- 184

25. What About Aftermarket Sales?
wine.club – $140k
Fight.club - $13.5k
Coffee.club - $100k

26. Entire TLD Sold
.reise sold for undisclosed price
(reports suggest $400k)

27. Big Headline
.app acquired by Google for $25 million

28. Michele Neylon
- mneylon.tel
- @mneylon
- blacknight.host
- michele.me/blog

31. 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 ..