.global a victim of new gTLD launch cluster?
Poor GA-day results from .global are being blamed on registrars being swamped by a cluster of new gTLD launches occurring in close proximity.
Dot Global added 1,074 domains in the first seven hours of .global’s general availability, bringing its zone to 1,637 names in total.
CEO Rolf Larsen told us the number of registrations yesterday was actually closer to 1,200.
The numbers aren’t great for a first day, considering that .global is in place at about 80 registrars, but Larsen said that the lack of a long runway of pre-registrations was to blame.
“We are not unhappy with the 1,200, but unhappy to not have had months of pre-regs to make that number higher,” he said.
“Most registrars don’t even do pre-regs,” he said. “Those who do have had a hard time keeping up with all the launches. Our launch was in a very busy period, so difficult to get on board with all those registrars early. Some, including GoDaddy did pre-regs for us, but over just a few weeks instead of months like with many other launches.”
Go Daddy was the biggest registrar yesterday, he said.
Dot Global has a number of plans to increase its marketing over the coming weeks and months, by itself and in conjunction with its registrar partners.
These plans include broad promotions to registrars’ existing customer bases as well as targeted mailings to companies that already have the word “global” at the second level of their domains.
What did pre-regs have to do with this poor performance?
And all new gtlds have competition is was not only .global that had one.
If they didn’t like the timing why didn’t they just changed it?
Binding pre-regs boost day one performance, you know that mate.
Yes but they are talking about months of pre-regs so they are talking about not paid EOIs. We all know that these meant nothing at all.
All Donuts paid/binding pre-regs are done in the past 1-2 weeks before launch at the most. This is the same for most New gTLDs.
If they wanted they could have a 3 month landrush but they didn’t. Not that it would have changed anything.
.Global had more coverage than the average New gTLD had yet it didn’t perform.
Sorry but they can’t complain and have such excuses. They have a weak extension that is on the wrong side of the dot. Simple as that.
I still don’t get this, if one extension catches fire, then their is an entire shift in how end users, and consumers view URL navigation.
Isn’t it an all or nothing sort of mindset, even bad extensions have some highly targeted terms.
I agree after reading about the .global auction, and seeing what some of those names went for, opening day was literally a bust. They got the big fish to bite at the auction, but that is about where it ended.
From a domainer perspective it does look like domainer fatigue has set in, and they are really not bothering as they did with some of the earlier, and weaker rounds. They might come back in, if an end user aftermarket shows up, and gobble up this excess inventory, or they may not, this is at least 3 year waiting game.
Given the price and use cases for the domain, I don’t think first day reg’s were that bad.
Very likely indeed. But whether that was the case for .global or not, launch cluster will make victims… luck is a very nice ally to have for your business plan.
We decided an earliest launch date even if we could have a more optimized higher launch with pre-regs by the main registrars some time ahead. Its mostly brand holders that go for .GLOBAL, even if we have are getting an increasing demand for premium generics.
As .GLOBAL is higher priced than the consumer focused names, we have done well revenue wise. With 100 k USD in premium sales prior to GA, a decent sunrise and about 1200 names in the first 8 hours, we have outperformed many of the launches so far measured in revenue. There is a great need for an extension like .GLOBAL, and the numbers will follow the awareness outside the industry. Go GLOBAL 🙂
I agree, as noted in my comment above.
.Global is somewhat generic (not vertical) but it also has a limited potential registrant base. Tack on a relatively high price point and I would have been surprised to see many more first day domain registrations.
I think 1,200 domains is not weak by any means, compared to other domains. This domain could potentially get to 5k or so registrations in the near future.
@Rolf There is a seasonal cycle in the domain business. At least it didn’t go to GA during the Summer months when demand is lower.