it.com What Is a Brand TLD and Does Your Business Need It?

[it.com]

Brand domain extensions like .microsoft, .netflix, or .samsung definitely help winning some bragging rights for the business. However, having your own TLD (top-level domain) comes at a cost. Businesses face a dilemma: is it worth investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in creating your own TLD, or is it better to use existing domain suffixes for your websites?

Let’s explore all the nuances to better understand when a company needs a brand extension.

What Is a Brand TLD (or extension, or suffix)?​

A brand TLD is a customised top-level domain that is exclusively owned by a single company and is in line with their brand:

• .google;
• .apple;
• .bmw.

The goal of a brand domain extension is to enhance the brand’s visibility in the market rather than describing the company’s products and services. It clearly indicates the company’s ownership of the site and helps promote its image. For instance, Audi set up its own domain suffix and registered over 1,700 websites for its various products and dealer networks within it to strengthen its online presence and support its brand identity.

Branded domain zones are created through ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), as part of the New gTLD Program. The process involves submitting an application, checking for conflicts with existing brands, paying fees, and setting up the technical infrastructure.

Next, you need to pay an application fee. In 2012, the New gTLD program application fee was $185,000, of which $5,000 was a deposit. In the next round of New gTLD, which has already begun, the application fee will be $227,000.

Why Would Businesses Need a Brand TLD?​

There are many reasons for a company to opt in for registering its own domain zone.

1. Brand protection and countering cybersquatting​

Fraudsters often register domains with the names of well-known companies in the most popular TLDs such as .com or .net to mislead customers. This isn’t possible with a brand domain extension; it will only accommodate websites from a single company.

All resources in the suffix belong to the original owner, which can enhance trust in these sites. Brand TLDs enable companies to fully control their domain name space.

2. Digital ecosystem management​

For companies with multiple areas of business, a brand TLD can work as an ‘umbrella’ for product- or service-focused websites. By seeing the brand in the address bar, users can easily remember the connection between the product they are looking at and the company that makes it. Therefore, it would be a good idea to link sites with different services so that customers can solve all their problems in one place.

For instance, you could use:

• it.yourbrandname for IT solutions;
• cloud.yourbrandname for cloud services;
• support.yourbrandname for technical support.

This simplifies navigation and strengthens the association with the brand.

3. Unlimited choice of domain names​

Short and catchy domain names are easy to remember and can boost your SEO (search engine optimization). However, finding a name in .com or other popular TLDs can be challenging. They might already be taken or might cost a lot of money to purchase.

If you have your own TLD, you don’t need to worry about the domain names being taken. You can use any name you want.

4. No extra pays for domain names​

If you have your own top-level brand TLD, you don’t need to pay extra for registering domains under it. You can register as many domains as you need for personal use. The only fee you’ll pay is the annual maintenance for the TLD itself.

Why Might Brand TLDs not Be Your Choice?​

However, a brand domain extension is not for everyone. In December 2024, Bentley Motors Limited informed ICANN that they were planning to end the contract for managing the .bentley TLD. The company had registered several domains in the.bentley zone, including extraordinaryjourneys.bentley, service.bentley, and events.bentley. As of February 15, 2025, these domains were redirected to the company’s main website.

Other cases when the brands stopped to use their branded domain zones are:

• .canon – registered in 2016, but is almost never used.
• .mtv — MTV Networks domain was closed due to low demand.
• .suzuki — the company abandoned the extension, focusing on .com and .global.

While those companies do not disclose the exact reasons for discontinuing their zones, here are some typical ones that might discourage a business to consider a branded TLD.

1. Entry barriers. To obtain a brand TLD, you need to demonstrate to ICANN the technical and operational abilities to manage the domain. Additionally, you should show financial stability and ownership of the brand. Also, owning your own domain extension is mastering a whole new field: you need to know how to manage it, what nuances exist, and know the laws and regulations. In general, this is a big investment of time. Of course, there are services such as the Registry Service Provider (RSP) program, which help in managing domain extensions. It’s a system for managing domain extensions. With RSP, the domain suffix administrator can easily organize the registration of domain names and manage them effectively.
2. High costs (prices are presented for the 2012 New gTLD Program). Direct costs: application fee is $185,000 and annual maintenance is $25,000 ($6,250 each quarter). Associated expenses: setting up DNS infrastructure, training employees, marketing to promote the new suffix.
3. Rules. For instance, country names aren’t allowed in brand domain extensions. Also, if a brand name is a generic term such as car and home, there is a chance that the application will be lost to an organization that wants to create an open community based on that term.
4. Application windows. ICANN specifies windows in which you can apply for a brand TLD, and there may be years between windows. The first nTLD Program was in 2012 and the second one started in April 2025.

What Are the Alternatives?​

Sometimes it’s easier to use specialized domains that are already connected to their niche.

TLD	For whom	Examples
.it.com	IT companies, startups, Italian businesses	startup.it.com
.store	E-commerce	gadget.store
.io	Technological projects	platform.io
.cloud	SaaS services	storage.cloud
.bank	Financial institutions	online.bank

By choosing an existing TLD, a business can benefit from:

• Availability. Domain registration is much cheaper than registering and maintaining a domain extension per year.
• Variety of appropriate domain extensions. The ability to choose the appropriate option that matches the type of site and target audience. For instance, the .it.com suffix indicates that the company provides IT services or is based in Italy, thereby attracting the target audience.
• Improving site visibility. The right choice of TLD can improve the visibility of the site in search engines and help stand out from competitors.

Want to learn more about domain strategy in business? Visit it.com Domains blog and contact us on social media.

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