All 1,616 applications and replacement strings will be revealed next Thursday.
Next week brings a major milestone for the domain industry: ICANN’s long-anticipated Reveal Day for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). On October 7 at 18:00 UTC, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will publicly disclose the full set of 1,616 applications submitted for new TLDs, along with the replacement strings associated with them.
This disclosure will include the public portions of each application and all known contention sets. For registries, registrars, investors and anyone tracking namespace expansion, this is the moment when broad plans and private filings become part of the public record.
Over recent months many applicants have voluntarily shared details about the strings they sought, but a significant amount of information has remained private. Reveal Day will close much of that gap: it will show the exact primary strings each applicant requested and the replacement strings held in reserve. It will also clarify which announced candidates from companies such as Link Freedom Group were listed as primary choices and which were designated as alternates.
We can also expect clarity about the portfolios of larger applicants. Organizations like Identity Digital and GoDaddy have been linked to numerous strings in public reporting; the official files will confirm which exact labels they pursued. Reveal Day will therefore be important not only for anyone watching specific brands or communities, but also for analysts tracking who is targeting generic terms, geographic labels, brands or niche communities.
One key focus of the disclosure is contention. When multiple applicants apply for the same or confusingly similar strings, those applications form a contention set. ICANN will make known which strings are contested and publish the public aspects of the competing applications. That information determines the options available to applicants going forward, such as private settlement, auction, or choosing a replacement string.
Replacement strings play an important procedural role. Applicants can list alternate strings they are willing to accept if they lose their first-choice label to another party. From October 8 through October 21 applicants will have the opportunity to formally opt to accept a replacement string instead of their primary string. However, replacement strings are subject to a critical restriction: an applicant cannot select a replacement if that string matches another applicant’s primary or replacement string. This rule preserves the integrity of contention sets and prevents simple swapping that would bypass competition rules.
The public disclosure on October 7 also opens a brief window for additional transparency: observers will be able to see which applicants listed multiple options, how crowded particular namespaces are, and which strings attracted corporate interest versus community or geographic interest. That visibility helps domain investors, branding teams and end users understand potential future availability and the competitive dynamics around certain terms.
Following the October opt-in window, ICANN will update its records to reflect any choices applicants make about replacements. Those updates and the resolution of some contention matters will be incorporated in the revised dataset ICANN plans to publish on November 17. That final list will provide an updated view of contention sets and the strings moving forward in the process.
Finally, Reveal Day will also expose any applicants whose filings were not what they seemed. While many submissions are legitimate commercial or community initiatives, publicly released applications sometimes reveal entities that are no longer active, speculative filings, or proposals that lack substantive backing. The community will quickly spot which applicants appear to be serious registries and which ones might be placeholders or dead weight.
In short, October 7 is a pivotal date for the domain name ecosystem. The public release of 1,616 applications and their replacement strings will sharpen the picture of how the namespace might expand in the coming months and years, who is competing over valuable labels, and which strings may still be available after the October opt-in window and the November update. Stay tuned to ICANN’s announcement at 18:00 UTC on October 7 for the complete disclosure.