.Brand domains are making progress
Presentation at ICANN meeting shows slow progress.
Like many things in the fresh top level domain name program, the launch and acceptance of .brand top level domain names has been slower than a lot of people hoped. But slowly but surely, fresh websites on domain extensions matching brands are finding their way to the internet.
The .Brand Registry Group, an advocacy group for .brand domain names, gave an update during the ICANN Abu Dhabi meeting earlier this month.
Of the 1,930 fresh top level domain applications, 1/3 were for .brands. 44% of the fresh TLDs delegated are .brands, the group calculates.
267 .brands have more than just nic.brand registered, and a total of 8,154 second level domains are registered under all .brand TLDs. The group states there are 1,239 active websites under .brand domains.
The presentation (pdf) highlights some of the early uses of .brand domains, counting Amazon’s BuildOn.aws.
Despite numerous firms that applied for fresh TLDs in the first round backing out, there still seems to be demand for .brand domains in subsequent rounds.
The .Brand Registry Group is advocating for changes in future rounds to benefit .brands. The initial applicant guidebook tried to shoehorn .brands into a program originally designed for generic domains open to the public. Some changes that would benefit .brands include a reduction of financial disclosures, restricted zone file access, and allowing the use of protected geographic domains at the second level. (See comment below. I believe this is also something the brands want, but the reference in the presentation was related to domains like .Amazon at the top level.)
