New domains are changing the nature of the domain business

The issue of new domains, which was first raised during the opening of the TLDCON 2014 conference, was discussed in detail by the panel, New gTLD, First Results, which was moderated by Andrei Vorobyov (RU-CENTER). The panel brought together participants representing the registries of new domains and ICANN. They shared their views on the program's progress and prospects. Vorobyov said that it’s still too early to sum up the initial results of the program. Open registration hasn’t yet started in most domains, so program participants can only share their first impressions.

Marina Nikerova (TCI) talked about changes in the relationship between registries and registrars over the last year, as well as the growing role of specialized technical service centers. TCI is one such center, supporting seven Russian domains. In addition, Nikerova presented to the conference participants a cultural and linguistic domain, .TATAR. Its priority registration began on August 28. Intended for the global Tatar community, the domain receives strong support from the government of the Republic of Tatarstan. The history of the .РФ domain shows that such support could play an important role in promoting the new top-level domain.

Dmitry Burkov (.MOSCOW / .МОСКВА), Irina Daneliya (.ДЕТИ), Patrick Jones (ICANN), Tatyana Ivanova (.САЙТ, .ОНЛАЙН), Fyodor Smirnov (.РУС) and Ronald Schwärzler (.WIEN ) also joined the panel discussion.

Supporting and promoting top-level domains requires concerted actions by registries and registrars. Olga Alexandrova-Myasina (ccTLD .RU / .РФ), moderator of the Interaction between Registries and Registrars, encouraged the participants to talk about the things the registries do to stimulate marketing programs, and how they stimulate registrars to sell domain names that are specifically in their domains. The question was not accidental, since many registrars that have the capability of offering clients names in new top-level domains have focused their efforts on this program, and pay less attention to promoting traditional domains.

The meeting participants shared their experiences in this area. Vuksan Rajkovic (.ME Registry) spoke about the policy pursued by the ME domain registry, which positions this domain as being international and personal. Francesco Cetraro (Afilias) said that traditional domain registries must learn to live in a new world, where new domains allow unlimited choices for users. He believes that the success of a registrar’s business largely depends on its ability to choose the right domain for the client. The .ДЕТИ domain registry – the work of which was presented by Irina Daneliya – in addition to traditional marketing programs, offered registrars in the domain joint participation in the World of Childhood exhibition, where the .ДЕТИ domain put up a large stand and offered a program for visitors. Fyodor Smirnov’s remarks (.РУС) caused great interest from participants. The .РУС domain has not yet been delegated, so the registry can take advantage of the experience of other new domains as it drafts a program to promote this domain. Maxim Alzoba shared his experience in promoting the domain .MOSCOW / .МОСКВА.

Discussions about how registries and registrars will operate in new market conditions continued at the Registrar Business, New Models of Interaction with the Users panel, which was moderated by Mikhail Anisimov (ccTLD .RU / .РФ). According to the participants, traditional domain areas often get lost among the multitude of new domains offered on registrars’ websites. Therefore, the nature of the registrar business is being redefined, since registration of domain names is not profitable enough, and there’s a need to develop new services, such as legal protection of domain names. Andrei Vorobyov (RU- CENTER), Viktor Kustein (Regtons.COM), Alexander Overchenko (Sedo), Clifford deSauza (LogicBoxes) and Fyodor Smirnov (Webnames) shared their vision of future business development.