Demand from Chinese investors in new gTLDs remains strong and is largely responsible for the recent 200,000 new registrations in .vip, valued at $1.3 million, the registry MMX (Minds + Machines) has reported.
The announcement comes as registrations for the 1215 new gTLDs to have been delegated passed the 29 million mark on 31 March, according to nTLDstats.com. The largest remains .xyz with 6.617 million followed by .top (4.510m), .loan (1.954m), .win (1.193m) and the only other with more than one million registrations, .wang (1.091m). It is interesting to note there are currently almost 2.995 million domain names in the “upcoming deletes” status.
The orders for .vip comprise both standard names and premium names, including 61 premium domain names sold via the recently completed eName auction. The order contracts also ensure high renewal rates for the new registrations and a guaranteed minimum of $1.3 million of income payable to MMX over the life of the contracts.
It is expected that the registrations will show on industry sites tracking new gTLD registrations, such as nTLDStats.com, over the next ten days and will take total registrations in .vip to in excess of 800,000. Currently nTLDstats.com shows .vip with 796,000 registrations and is the seventh biggest new generic top level domain by domains under management.
“The latest registrations underline the ongoing vibrancy of the Chinese domain name market and the long-term potential of .vip both in China and potentially the wider Asia region,” said Toby Hall, CEO of MMX. “It also bodes well for the upcoming first-year renewals season following the industry breaking first month launch of .vip last May. Management is confident of its ability to exceed the 2017 one million registration target set for .vip.”
MMX has identified a number of factors which it believes is driving .vip’s growth in China, namely:
- domain investors recognising the long-term relevance of .vip web extensions for China’s burgeoning SME market as well as the region’s established corporates
- the first mover advantage generated for .vip in China via it gaining MIIT regulatory approval (announced December 2016)
- the supportive entrepreneurial environment within the China’s fast growing internet industry
- the strength of MMX’s in-country management team and in-country distribution partners.
MMX also announced that a Heads of Terms agreement announced on 21 March 2017 regarding mmx’s geographic TLDs has now proceeded to contract on the first of the geographic TLDs with the second to proceed in due course. The Directors believe the agreement will lead to a material increase of registrations in the two relevant geo TLDs over the next twelve months.
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