The new gTLD program has struggled to make a significant influence on the overall domain name landscape. While the launch back in 2012 created a lot of buzz and saw many brands handing over $200,000+ to secure their piece of the Internet, the roll-out was slow and the program lacked big early adopters to generate momentum.
Of the 1,930 applications received, almost 644 applications were withdrawn. Many brands abandoned their .brand gtld, and this month three more companies have informed ICANN that they wish to terminate their dot-brand top level domain names:
- Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) applied for .RMIT. When it first started the university created next.rmit, which was a place for students, faculty and other stakeholders to discuss the university’s future. However, the program never went any further and with financial pressure on universities around Australia, RMIT decided to end the program.
- Swiftcover Insurance Services Limited registered .swiftcover, but never actually used it recently cut their losses and informed ICANN of their intent to terminate.
- Dabur, which registered .dabur, a consumer goods company in India managed to launch social.dabur and doctor.dabur, but didn’t realize the expected gains from the program so likewise, gave notice to ICANN about their intent to cancel both .brand domain name spaces.
The expense & complexities of implementing and then managing a .brand new gTLD have proven too much for many businesses. With discussions happening about a round two new gTLD program, businesses should take stock of the many case study’s of failed .brand domain names before taking the leap.
About brandsec
brandsec is a corporate domain name management and brand protection company that look after many of Australia, New Zealand and Asia’s top publicly listed brands. We provide monitoring and enforcement services, DNS, SSL Management, domain name brokerage and dispute management and brand security consultation services.
