DotBerlin Has Strongest New gTLD Launch

31,644 .BERLIN domains

[jmccormac]

Looks like .BERLIN has had one of the strongest launches yet with 31,644 .berlin domains in the zone this morning. (31,645 including the TLD). Just looking at the domains and they look (with a limited knowledge of German) somewhat closer to a ccTLD than a gTLD. If this registration volume is sustained then it is going to overtake .GURU and .PHOTOGRAPHY quickly.

Regards...jmcc

[Webwork]

jmcc, is the .Berlin gTLD restricted in any way, such as ".Berlin may only be registered by established locally incorporated or owned" businesses?

If not, does the data reveal a trend of individual enduser registrations dominating or clusters of speculative registrations?

It's been my loosely confirmed observation that Germans are either the second or third largest group of domain speculators.

[jmccormac]

These are the nexus requirements for .BERLIN:
[dotberlin.de...]

Proxy registrations are allowed. There is a 12 month usage clause which is quite interesting. (Actually quite smart and should be worth watching to see how it is enforced.)

The .BERLIN gTLD is almost completely dominated by local German registrars. Surprisingly, sedoparking.com has a very low share of the new registrations but they may be pre-orders as 1&1 is well ahead of the rest of the hosters. Sedoparking is not as prominent as it is on other gTLDs but some of the new registrations may be PPC parked using registrar landing pages or Javascript includes for registrars.

Regards...jmcc

[gpmgroup]

Initial volume may be a function of the time limited and localized version of the .tk pricing model

[jmccormac]

Possibly. This morning's zone count was 36,053. It is going to be a tricky one to predict as it is a quasi ccTLD rather than a gTLD.

Regards...jmcc