One of the outstanding contested gTLDs from the 2012 application round looks set to be delegated finally, after the winning bidder signed its Registry Agreement with ICANN. Merck Registry Holdings Inc is now the officially contracted registry for .merck, and it appears the intent is to be a dot-brand jointly controlled by two unaffiliated chemical […]
The post Straggler gTLD signs first ICANN contract for years first appeared on Domain Incite.
A domain hosting a fun little video game for Lidl staff was the highlight dot-brand domain registration in July. There were 210 registrations in dot-brands in July 2024, spread across 34 individual TLDs. As usual, the largest registrant was German financial services firm Deutsche Vermögensberatung, which gives .dvag domains to its agents, with 90 new […]
The post AI and games among July’s interesting dot-brand domains first appeared on Domain Incite.
If somebody told me that this blog spends altogether too much time shitting on dot-brand gTLDs, I probably wouldn’t argue with them very long or hard before conceding they probably have a point. So I thought it might be useful, in the interests of balance, to occasionally (perhaps monthly) highlight some of the more interesting […]
The post Eight interesting recent dot-brand registrations first appeared on Domain Incite.
Indian consumer goods firm Dabur has told ICANN to turn off its dot-brand for the second time, having had second thoughts a few years ago. The company, which mainly sells Ayurvedic alternative medicine products, had originally asked for its registry contract for .dabur to be terminated in 2021, but changed its mind shortly before ICANN […]
The post A dot-brand so unloved they killed it twice first appeared on Domain Incite.
The number of domains registered to Germany-based dot-brand registries crossed the 10,000 mark in the last few weeks, thanks to a handful of enthusiastic registrants.
That’s almost half of all the domains currently showing up in dot-brand zone files, which stands at just over 21,000, according to my database.
German companies have been the most-prolific users of dot-brands, with the financial services company Deutsche Vermögensberatung (DVAG) currently accounting for over 7,500 domains.
As well as having several corporate web sites on .dvag domains, DVAG gives out firstname-lastname.dvag domains to its network of financial advisors, with each domain redirecting to a personalized, template-driven digital business card on dvag.de.
Car-maker Audi, part of Volkswagen, is the second-biggest user, with over 1,700 current .audi domains connecting its network of dealerships and many domains for individual car brands. Its dealers also get template-driven brochureware web sites, but there’s no redirect to a different TLD.
Fellow car-maker BMW and retailer Schwarz Gruppe, owner of the Lidl supermarket chain, are among the other dot-brands with hundreds of domains to their name.
The post Germany crosses 10,000 dot-brand domains milestone first appeared on Domain Incite.
