Parking Revenue Down, But Not Out: Survey

Many domain owners see a drop in income, but few take big plunge.

With all the horror stories out there of domain parking revenue down 50%, self-noted results from the 4th Annual Reglike Survey show parking revenue isn’t that bad.

To be sure, 45% of people stated their domain parking revenue was down in 2008 and only 16% noted an increase. But 40% stated their parking revenue on a domain-by-domain basis was stable, and only 13% saw a decline of 50% or more. If only we could say the same regarding the stock market.

The graph below shows how people fared in domain parking over the past year:

Skewed to the left? Obviously.

But with one public firm reporting a nearly 50% drop in parking revenue on its own portfolio, you have to wonder why a survey of 400 domain owners doesn’t show the same. Maybe that firm does a bad job of optimizing its domains. In private conversations with domain parking firm owners, I’ve deciphered that a 50% drop is certainly outside the typical 2008 experience.

Domainers think domain parking revenue will continue to fall in 2009. 44% expect lower RPMs, while only 21% expect better results than in 2008.

See more results from the 2009 Reglike Survey.