Domain marketplace and monetization provider Sedo today unveiled a report titled “.CO Market Report: A Look Back at Three Years of .CO on the Domain Name Market”, which shows significant growth and success of the .CO domain extension within three years of its launch.
The .CO domain extension was launched on July 20, 2010.
There are more than 1.5 million .CO domain names registered by individuals and businesses in over 200 countries worldwide. Along with high registration rates, .CO has also achieved strong average sales prices, brand awareness, widespread domain development and impressive performance on the secondary market, says the report.
Having SMBs and start-ups as its niche market, .CO has recently met with success on enterprise level too with major brands like Walmart (Goodies.co) and Twitter (Vine.co) choosing .CO for their new projects.
In an Interview with DailyHostNews a while back, Lori Anne Wardi, Vice President, .CO, said “To get a pat on the back and passive endorsements from companies like Vine.CO and goodies.CO is really exciting for us and we work hard to make sure that we live up to the faith they put in us. We do everything to keep this faith as clean as possible and make sure that there are no real security threats like phishing, farming, cybersquatting etc.”
Some of the key points revealed in the .CO Market Report are:
- The total value of .CO sales at Sedo since July 2010 is $2.6 million USD.
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.CO’s started with a mean average sales price of $1,819 USD in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, the average sales price of .CO domains ranged between $1,700 – $1,800 USD, reaching $2,486 USD in 2013, up 37 percent since the TLD was introduced.
- The YTD average sales price of a .CO domain surpasses the most well-established legacy TLDs, including .COM, .NET and .ORG.
- The YTD median sales price of a .CO domain is $570 USD, up 14 percent since 2010, and higher than all the reported TLDs except for .COM.
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.CO is currently the 10th most frequently traded domain extensions out of nearly 160 in the Sedo marketplace.
- .CO Membership Program has seen 10% month-over-month growth since its launch in 2012.
– Lori Anne Wardi, Vice President, .CO Internet.
Lori Anne Wardi, Vice President,.CO Internet.
“It’s exciting to see that .CO is already achieving average and median sales prices on the secondary market that are on par with – and in many cases surpass – industry heavyweights like .COM and .ORG,” said Lori.
“This said, we recognize that we are still a young TLD with a lot to prove, so we plan to redouble our brand building and community engagement efforts, working even more closely with Sedo and our other partners to build the long-term value of .CO,” she added.
53% of .CO domain registrations come from registrants in the United States. Approximately 10% of .CO domain registrations come from the United Kingdom, 9% come from Colombia, and about 4% each from Australia and Canada. The remaining .CO registrations are spread throughout the world.
Several big brands are also using .CO domains to complement their existing web addresses with branded URL shortners to connect with their customers via social and mobile media.
Some examples of such companies are: CISCO (CS.CO), American Express (amex.co), Virgin America (virg.co), Starbucks (sbux.co), Nissan (nssn.co) and Home Depot (thd.co).
“Our work with .CO – from creating a successful launch period and promoting and selling premium .CO domain names, to using consumer marketing and community building around the TLD – is a great case study of what it takes to successfully launch and build a new domain extension,” said Tobias Flaitz, CEO, Sedo.
“As we prepare for a slew of new TLDs, .CO not only shows that there is life beyond .COM, but also that a solid strategic plan, value-added benefits, and partners who have a global outlook and great strategic insight, are important factors for building any new TLD into a successful extension,” he added.
To download the Sedo’s full report, click here: .
