.club tops 25,000 names on day one
The new gTLD .club got to 25,776 domains in its first 10 hours of general availability yesterday.
According to today’s zone file data, that makes it the sixth-largest new gTLD by volume.
It’s the third-best launch day after .berlin and .在线, I believe.
The count does not include any substantial amount of premium or registry-reserved names. Registry CEO Colin Campbell told us yesterday that just 46 names in the zone are owned by the registry.
If .CLUB Domains still expects to beat .guru, which has 54,868 domains today, in its first week it’s going to have to sell something like 4,500 domains every day for the next seven days.
No other new gTLD has anything close to that kind of daily volumes during general availability.
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Hail to the power of advertising.
However, I don’t see this, in the long run, being a viable gTLD.
Clubs tend to be exclusive and see no need to advertise or set up websites.
I did not reg any, nor do I plan to.
But best to those who did.
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I believe .CLUB will be one of the more successful new gTLDs, especially if they offer a social networking tool like Ning. While many are snapping up good names, various clubs will still be able to get their desired name by simply affixing a adding other keywords that better define them, i.e.,www.montclairswim.club. So, while http://www.swim.club will be taken, variations on that keyword will still be available and attractive to existing clubs that want a more meaningful domain. The challenge will be to get these clubs to convert to a .CLUB domain, hence, the need for a Ning type offering.
Thus it’s back to 2000 and .com, same thing all over again, nothing changes, new opportunity is a sham.
Ray, how many .clubs you buy, I think you are over aggressive in your comments, and any new gtld has to be taken with some discretion. Given Godaddy gave them the front page, 25,xxx registrations is a bit on the weak side for one of the biggest gtld launches since the start of mankind, don’t you say?
I only have a handful of .CLUB domains for the reason I mentioned above. Unless it’s extremely attractive, others can do an end run around .CLUB domains by adding other key words that may, from my perspective, lead to a more meaningful domain. I believe that is the underlying basis for the registry’s projections (IMHO). With that said, can they convert? I believe registries will need to provide more services and products to convert users. Otherwise, they will suffer the fate of being a one trick pony.