Thanks, China!
Few would have predicted that the big story this year was going to be China, especially once the Chinese stock markets crashed. Surprisingly, the crash marked the beginning of one of the biggest and fastest booms we've ever experienced in the domain name industry.
Chinese domain name investors have pumped tens of millions of dollars into the industry this year. A rising tide lifts all boats, but not all boats are rising equally.
Here are some of the winners this year:
Domain name marketplaces including Sedo, Afternic and NameJet are cashing by in brokering sales of two, three and four letter .com domain names, plus numeric domains. Sales at Sedo have
spiked in the past couple months, with volume up hundreds of domains per week compared to earlier this year. NameJet continues to
set records.
Domain name registrars have also profited as Chinese have registered millions of domain names that were previously viewed as almost worthless. However, this money has mostly flowed to Chinese domain name registrars rather than the big, U.S. registrars.
Registry Verisign is a clear winner,
easily topping its predicted Q4 domain base numbers. But new TLD registries have also cashed in.
.XYZ and
.Club, which have done a good job targeting the Chinese market, come to mind.
I'm sure this has also made it a good year for the China consulting firm Allegravita.
Some domain name investors will have plenty under the Christmas tree this year, too. Three-letter domain name owners can easily sell domains for $50k or more that would have barely grabbed $10k a few years ago. This money is flowing to other parts of the industry as they spend cash on new domain names.
Great Podcast episodes you might have missed.
Have you listened to the latest and greatest episodes of the Domain Name Wire Podcast? Here are some good ones to download and take with you over the holidays:
Paul Stahura discusses his
long journey in the domain name business, from eNom to Donuts.
Happy holidays!
