More Than 10 Years Of New Top Level Domains (nTLDs): A Success Story

By Neal McPherson, Head of Domain Products, IONOS

Today, we have the luxury of choosing from more than 1,400 domain names such as .art, .blog and .cafe to best describe our businesses and help with branding and differentiation. This vast selection provides nearly limitless possibilities for organizations and individuals to create their unique presence and identity on the web.  

However, just over a decade ago, until October 2013, the number of available domain names was still very limited to generic top level domains (gTLDs) such as .com, .net or .org, and country code top level domains (ccTLDs) such as .de, .fr or .co.uk. Back then, most web hosting companies supported fewer than 20 top level domains (TLDs). This limited availability of top level domains, combined with an imperative for most organizations and many individuals to have a website, created a veritable “traffic jam” of websites limited to so few domains, and a challenge for organizations and individuals to create and secure a catchy and memorable domain name that wasn’t already taken.  

By allowing a new TLD application process in 2008, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is responsible for a range of policies and technical work relating to the internet, paved the way for the expansion of the domain space. Practically any term could be registered as long as it did not violate ICANN’s policies or sound too similar to another TLD.

The official nTLD application period began on January 12, 2012 and was extended from its initial closing date of April 12 to May 30, 2012 due to technical issues. Organizations had to pay a US$185,000 application fee to apply for an nTLD, with no guarantee that their requested domain would be accepted and launched. Even with this significant financial barrier to entry, ICANN announced on May 4, 2012 that it had already received  approximately US$350 million in application fees. On “Reveal Day,” June 13, 2012, ICANN announced that 1,930 nTLD applications were submitted. The first new TLDs went live a year later on October 23, 2013. 

New top level domains help support the ever-expanding registration of domain names. Research firm Research and Markets projects a 3.2% compound annual growth rate of registered domain names, from an estimated 362.6 million domain names registered in 2022 to 464.8 million domain names registered by 2030. 

Restrictions of nTLDs

Although nTLDs exponentially widened the possibilities for creating top level domains and for organizations to enhance their brands, there are certain restrictions. For example, exclusive new top level domains are reserved for particular communities or companies. The types of exclusive top level domains include: 

• Geographical TLDs such as .boston or .nyc represent the geographical location of individuals and organizations. Applicants must prove to domain registrars that they operate in the location to receive geographical TLDs.
• Topic and industry-specific TLDs such as .bank, .cpa and .law are granted to those with demonstrable ties to specific topics or industries.
• Brand-specific TLDs: such as .amazon, .apple and .americanexpress are limited to websites with a direct connection to specific brands. 

The next round of nTLDs

The next round of nTLDs is planned for April 2026. The goals of the next round include promoting competition in the domain space and ensuring the security and stability of the internet. The domain space also will be expanded to include developments and technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and crypto, which were obscure 10 years ago. The next round of nTLDs will further widen the opportunities for organizations, regions and individuals to use TLDs to establish, promote and differentiate their brand as part of their digital strategy.

ICANN also reports that the next round of nTLDs “will give businesses, communities, and others the opportunity to apply for new top-level domains tailored to their community, culture, language, business, and customers. A TLD can be a branding opportunity for a business, but the commercial opportunities are endless, allowing businesses in countries, entire sectors, or niche markets to develop a unique label on the Internet. The next round of new gTLDs will also offer opportunities to create a more multilingual and inclusive Internet for the billions of people who speak and write in different languages and scripts and are yet to come online.”

Although ICANN has not yet determined the application fee for the next round of nTLDs, the pricing will ensure that the round is fully funded by application fees and not by ICANN’s operating budget. In its next round FAQs, ICANN referenced the 2012 application fee of US$185,000, which may imply that the the next round of nTLDs will be at least similarly priced if not higher after 14 years from 2012 to 2026.

The next round of nTLDs underscores the success of nTLDs for nearly 11 years, and further ensures that there will be unique, appropriate and catchy domain names to establish and support brands for decades ahead.

About The Author

Neal McPherson is the Head of Product Management for Domains, DNS and SSL at IONOS. In this role, he is responsible for portfolio management of IONOS’ 400+ domain endings. He also drives product strategy, innovation and marketing.

Neal has over 12 years of experience in the domain industry. He started his career at IONOS in 2011 as Product Marketing Manager and has also worked in the areas of Business Development and Product Management of Domain Names. He graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in Business Development and Economics.