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Summary of the domain name industry in 2007 as published by DNjournal.com
Full article can be found at : http://dnjournal.com/cover/2007/january.htm
Written by: Ron Jackson, DN journal editor/publisher
- The industry that today includes over 13,000 participants and is dominated by ârandom trafficâ PPC monetization will evolve into a more concentrated industry whose participants will have made substantial investments in technology and developed primarily vertically-focused portfolios that combine a variety of monetization activities (CPA, CPM, pay-per-call and PPC) to remain competitive.
- In the registrar space, late 2006 witnessed large companies like Google and Microsoft partnering with registrars such as eNom to provide name registration services to their users. Stahura said more large companies will do this. Having global internet leaders like them exposing millions of potential new customers to the benefits of owning a domain name should add fuel to the already hot registration and secondary sales markets.
- âWe will also see even more clearly the intersection of the domain name space and the media space,â Stahura said. âTake .tv for example. With the explosion of video content on the Internet, I think we will see the .tv top level domain grow the most compared to other TLDs.â Of course, Stahura now has a special interest in .tv since registry owner Verisign turned management of that extension over to eNom in the final quarter of 2006.
However, Stahura isnât alone in predicting better things for .tv. Those who were at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East conference in Hollywood, Florida in October will remember keynote speaker Tom Gardner of the Motley Fool predicting .tv would be the sleeper hit of 2007 (a pronouncement greeted with stunned disbelief by his audience, but one that now seems prescient to some).
-The past year also brought the longest string of sustained portfolio consolidations in our industry's short history and this trend will continue into 2007, although probably at a slower rate due to the reduced inventory of remaining quality portfolios. Additionally, the overall valuations (and expectations of valuations) of domain portfolios seem to have somewhat leveled off in 2006. Whereas individual domain prices have been consistently and steadily rising, whole portfolio valuations are leveling off. I believe that this is primarily a function of the more sophisticated investors bringing money into the space, employing more traditional financial analysis models and valuation methods. Sellers may not necessarily be getting the multiples that they had been dreaming of, but they are getting liquidity,â Kubba said.
-Oversee.net (operators of PPC leader DomainSponsor.com) is one of the major companies that got involved in purchasing portfolios in 2006. Their Director of Business Development, Ron Sheridan, commented on the move into domain ownership being made by traffic aggregators like DomainSponsor âThe great consolidation of the domain space this past year, with aggregators acquiring significant portfolios, is a signal of more and different types of consolidation to come. I expect there to be a continued number of domainers looking to cash out at what they perceive to be the peak of the market. Still, many will hold and see where the industry goes.
- Sheridan sees another potential bright spot in the year ahead. âIDNs (International Domain Names) could be big in 2007. Weâre already seeing a rush to scoop up generics in this category. The recent release of the IE7 browser has a lot to do with the boost of interest here, with its ability to support non-Romanized characters. Parking services will need to cater to these domains with relevant foreign language keywords and ads,â Sheridan noted.
- âParking revenues overall will gradually increase in 2007, with the potential exception of high-risk names and portfolios. Publishers will continue to demand higher levels of consistency and performance from their parking vendors. Those with technical expertise, disciplined management and financial strength will continue to force the weaker players out,â Sheridan said.
- I see a more and more aggressive stance being taken by trademark holders who, taking the lead from litigation such as that involving Dotster (and bowing to pressure from IP counsel in need of billable hours) will become more aggressive in enforcement,â Keating said. âThis should in turn lead to a general "cleaning" house by registrants and parking services. Because of the inherent cash-flow benefits of trademarks, I believe this will in turn will lead undoubtedly to a concentration of registrants holding "challenged" portfolios (those containing domains with potential trademark conflicts) in intelligent and risk-managed structures.
Full article can be found at : http://dnjournal.com/cover/2007/january.htm
Written by: Ron Jackson, DN journal editor/publisher
- The industry that today includes over 13,000 participants and is dominated by ârandom trafficâ PPC monetization will evolve into a more concentrated industry whose participants will have made substantial investments in technology and developed primarily vertically-focused portfolios that combine a variety of monetization activities (CPA, CPM, pay-per-call and PPC) to remain competitive.
- In the registrar space, late 2006 witnessed large companies like Google and Microsoft partnering with registrars such as eNom to provide name registration services to their users. Stahura said more large companies will do this. Having global internet leaders like them exposing millions of potential new customers to the benefits of owning a domain name should add fuel to the already hot registration and secondary sales markets.
- âWe will also see even more clearly the intersection of the domain name space and the media space,â Stahura said. âTake .tv for example. With the explosion of video content on the Internet, I think we will see the .tv top level domain grow the most compared to other TLDs.â Of course, Stahura now has a special interest in .tv since registry owner Verisign turned management of that extension over to eNom in the final quarter of 2006.
However, Stahura isnât alone in predicting better things for .tv. Those who were at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East conference in Hollywood, Florida in October will remember keynote speaker Tom Gardner of the Motley Fool predicting .tv would be the sleeper hit of 2007 (a pronouncement greeted with stunned disbelief by his audience, but one that now seems prescient to some).
-The past year also brought the longest string of sustained portfolio consolidations in our industry's short history and this trend will continue into 2007, although probably at a slower rate due to the reduced inventory of remaining quality portfolios. Additionally, the overall valuations (and expectations of valuations) of domain portfolios seem to have somewhat leveled off in 2006. Whereas individual domain prices have been consistently and steadily rising, whole portfolio valuations are leveling off. I believe that this is primarily a function of the more sophisticated investors bringing money into the space, employing more traditional financial analysis models and valuation methods. Sellers may not necessarily be getting the multiples that they had been dreaming of, but they are getting liquidity,â Kubba said.
-Oversee.net (operators of PPC leader DomainSponsor.com) is one of the major companies that got involved in purchasing portfolios in 2006. Their Director of Business Development, Ron Sheridan, commented on the move into domain ownership being made by traffic aggregators like DomainSponsor âThe great consolidation of the domain space this past year, with aggregators acquiring significant portfolios, is a signal of more and different types of consolidation to come. I expect there to be a continued number of domainers looking to cash out at what they perceive to be the peak of the market. Still, many will hold and see where the industry goes.
- Sheridan sees another potential bright spot in the year ahead. âIDNs (International Domain Names) could be big in 2007. Weâre already seeing a rush to scoop up generics in this category. The recent release of the IE7 browser has a lot to do with the boost of interest here, with its ability to support non-Romanized characters. Parking services will need to cater to these domains with relevant foreign language keywords and ads,â Sheridan noted.
- âParking revenues overall will gradually increase in 2007, with the potential exception of high-risk names and portfolios. Publishers will continue to demand higher levels of consistency and performance from their parking vendors. Those with technical expertise, disciplined management and financial strength will continue to force the weaker players out,â Sheridan said.
- I see a more and more aggressive stance being taken by trademark holders who, taking the lead from litigation such as that involving Dotster (and bowing to pressure from IP counsel in need of billable hours) will become more aggressive in enforcement,â Keating said. âThis should in turn lead to a general "cleaning" house by registrants and parking services. Because of the inherent cash-flow benefits of trademarks, I believe this will in turn will lead undoubtedly to a concentration of registrants holding "challenged" portfolios (those containing domains with potential trademark conflicts) in intelligent and risk-managed structures.
