Three Percent Of New gTLD Domains Contain Business Websites, 41 Percent PPC

Three percent of domain names registered in new gTLDs contain business websites, Verisign has found after analysing the common usage of websites using new gTLD domain names.

This compared to a similar study by EURid for eight established gTLDs that found that 30.5 percent of domain names contained business websites on a slightly tighter definition.

The Verisign analysis published a couple of weeks ago “also found the most common use of domain names in the new gTLD space is Pay-Per-Click (PPC), with roughly 41 percent of all new gTLD domain names serving up PPC websites. A PPC website contains little user-generated content and almost exclusively advertising links.”

Verisign noted that “the prevalence of PPC websites in the new gTLD space can likely be attributed to:

heightened speculation in the new gTLD space
the practice of several new gTLD registries to register their own domains which are still technically available at premium retail pricing, and several campaigns that provide domains from the new gTLDs at little or no cost to end users (some reportedly without their prior consent), and at least one campaign which automatically creates PPC websites on those provided domain names.”

In their conclusion, Verisign note that “while it is still early days for new gTLDs, this analysis offers an interesting snapshot of the first few months of new gTLD general availability. It will be interesting to see how website usage evolves over the next year as more gTLDs become available for registration.”

To read the full blog posting from Verisign on their analysis, see:
blogs.verisigninc.com/blog/entry/website_usage_analysis_in_the

Have Questions About the ICANN Accountability Process?

On 14 August ICANN posted the Enhancing ICANN Accountability and Governance: Process and Next Steps. Since posting, we’ve received some questions that are compiled here together with items perhaps useful to be addressed for the community.

These Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) are to assist in your understanding of this process and of the ways you can participate, and will be updated to be responsive to community questions during the process. The FAQs and other process resources also can be found on a new Community Wiki space.

The Accountability Process ICANN has launched is critical to the successful transition of the IANA Functions Stewardship from the US Government to the Internet’s multistakeholder community. All of us who are part of the ICANN community are responsibility for our accountability – for assessing the mechanisms – what works and what needs to be improved. It’s important that you contribute. We hope you do.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2014-08-22-en

“Chat” ccTLD Domains Take Top Two Positions On Aftermarket Chart

A couple of “chat” domains, chat.fr and chat.de, took out the top two positions on the Domain Name Journal chart of top reported domains for the week ending 10 August. The domains sold for €99,999 ($133,999) and €65,000 ($87,100) respectively through Sedo.

It’s an interesting result with a significant difference between domains sold in the same week for the German and French country codes. What it means, I don’t know. But is it because chat is more popular in France? Or the aftermarket is stronger in France? Or luck? Or something else?

Shipped.com came in third for the week, selling for $37,500 in a private sale.

Sedo had a good week, taking out 19 of the top 21 positions (a tie for 20th). Two in three (14) of the top 21 were .com sales while there were two .de domains, and one each for .fr, .club, .org, info and .ru.

To check out the Domain Name Journal list of top reported sales for the week ending 10 August, go to:
dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2014/20140820.htm

DotHIV Launching With A Social Purpose, To Raise Funds For AIDS-Related Projects

The launch of dozens of new gTLDs has seen a range of business plans and aims. And one that is quite unique is dotHIV, which has the launch of its General Availability on Tuesday 26 August at 14:00 UTC. Every .hiv domain name registered and every .hiv website visited will see a part of the registration fee going towards raising awareness and funds for projects around the world working to prevent the transmission of HIV and end AIDS.

“Imagine simply using .HIV as you use .COM. Each time you visit website.HIV, buy a ticket on movies.HIV, or shop at store.HIV, a small donation would reach HIV and AIDS projects,” said Carolin Silbernagl, co-founder of dotHIV and CEO of the TLD dotHIV Registry.

The unique, inbuilt micro-donation capability is the main innovation of .hiv domain names. Every time a user clicks on a .hiv website, dotHIV donates 0.1¢ and thus releases funds to help support HIV projects across the globe. These micro-donations do not come at further expense to the user or the website owner.

For brands, the easiest way to use a .hiv domain name is to simply redirect visitors from website.hiv to their standard .com homepage. No need to run an extra website, the content remains the same, only now it has a social benefit. This “Digital Red Ribbon” not only helps generate web traffic but shows social responsibility as well as commitment to digital innovation. And it involves the website visitors: Every click on a .hiv domain is doing good.

“Beginning today we will stand with other TLDs like .com and .org. It will now be possible to click on .hiv addresses like amazon.hiv, gmhc.hiv and sport.hiv and make a difference in the fight against AIDS,” says Carolin Silbernagl, co-founder and CEO of the dotHIV Registry. “A .hiv address is available for a starting price of $17 a month. This is not simply the right thing to do, it is a good investment as the money flows to projects that provide access to HIV medicaments. .hiv addresses save lives,” continues Silbernagl.

“Worldwide, approximately 35 million people are living with HIV. Worldwide, 2.5 billion people use the Internet – .hiv unites them all. “Companies and organisations over the world can use .hiv as their ‘Digital Red Ribbon,’ as a symbol of solidarity and one that contributes to organisations helping people living with HIV,” says Ina von Rosenstiel, Managing Director of the dotHIV charitable association.

The website for the initiative is click4life.hiv and below is more information and an FAQ about dotHIV.

Money raised through registrations and website clicks will support innovative projects that commit themselves to better access to life saving treatment and to projects that use new digital technologies for their work with HIV and AIDS. The focus is on small, community-based organisations. Local initiatives know best what the needs of their populations are but often lack the resources to do what they need to as effectively as possible. Initial projects are organisations in Rwanda, United States, Turkey and South Africa.

In future, HIV and AIDS organisations worldwide can apply for funds from dotHIV on a regular basis, which will then be voted for by the internet community at click4life.hiv.

ICANN: Public Comment Invited: Board Working Group Report on Nominating Committee

Purpose (Brief): The ICANN Board has directed that the report prepared by the Board Working Group on Nominating Committee (BWG-NomCom) relating to issues of size and composition be posted for public comment.

Public Comment Box Link: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/bwg-nomcom-2014-08-21-en

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2014-08-21-en