.pw claims 50,000 domains registered in three weeks
Directi’s recently relaunched .pw top-level domain has racked up 50,000 domain name registrations after just three weeks of general availability, according to the company.
The number, which will put a smile on the faces of many new gTLD applicants, relates to GA only and does not include defensive registrations made during the ccTLD’s sunrise period, Directi confirmed to DI.
“Our goal was 100,000 names for the first year,” Directi CEO Bhavin Turakhia said in a press release. “The feeling of achieving 50% of the goal within the first three weeks is surreal.”
As previously reported, there were 4,000 .pw domains registered during the first half hour of GA.
Directi (running .pw as .PW Registry and/or Radix Registry) signed up 120 registrars to sell .pw names, which it brands as “Professional Web”.
It’s really the ccTLD for Palau, a small nation in the Pacific.
The registry is going for budget buyers, with registry fees and retail prices coming in a little lower than .com.
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This begs the following question. As more spectrum is added to the Internet via new gTLDs, or rebranded ccTLDs, will consumers care less about the characters to the right side of the dot if a shorter and more meaningful set of characters can be obtained to the left side of the dot (assuming they can easily associate themselves with the right side of the dot)? As for myself, the answer is a definite yes with .pw. I think the answer may be yes for others in the .pw space, hence, the number of domains sold thus far. I would also not be surprised if this type of behavior is observed when the new gTLDs are released.