4 interesting things Tucows stated on its conference call yesterday
Selling domains, letting some expire, and the impact of fresh top level domain names.
Domain name registrar Tucows released its first quarter 2014 earnings yesterday. The investor conference call included four interesting comments/facts regarding the domain name side of the business.
1. Tucows is testing ways to sell more domains through parked pages.
The firm states it has launched an “aggressive program of experimentation” on landing pages for its domain names to push more sales leads to network partners.
I just went to six of the firm’s domain names. They were all parked with DomainNameSales.com and included a header banner with phone numbers and a link to BuyDomains.
2. The firm is letting some of its surnames domain names expire.
Tucows owns a lot of surname domain names thanks to its 2006 buyout of Mailbank. The firm stated that it let registrations on some of these domains lapse during the quarter.
This may not be the first time the firm has done this. Take a look at what happened with Jeffers.com.
3. Fresh TLDs are now getting 6.5% marketshare of fresh registrations of .com/.net.
Tucows looked at fresh TLD registration numbers and compared them to public data from Verisign regarding .com and .net. Tucows calculated the fresh TLD market share of fresh registrations (with the market defined as fresh gTLDs+.com+.net) at 6.5% of this base.
I suspect this includes fresh TLD registrations activated by the registries themselves, which means the actual market share was a tad lower. Still, Tucows’ Hover recorded regarding 6.5% as well, validating this overall number. Hover also didn’t participate in any landrush periods.
Note that this is merely a comparison to .com/.net. When you add in ccTLD registrations and other gTLDs the market share is lower.
4. Tucows is adjusting its domain search to a fresh reality with fresh TLDs.
Here’s Tucows CEO Elliot Noss discussing domain search on Hover.com:
For years, we have assumed that most Hover visitors would not find a suitable domain in their first few attempts and therefore, focus much of the client experience and helping them find the right one. With the launch of fresh gTLD’s, we now believe most people will be able to find a suitable domain quickly and we’re rethinking our search results accordingly. This work will continue through the year.
Could this mean more focus on fresh TLDs and less on premium aftermarket domain name sales?
