New gTLDs have lost 2.3 million domains in the past 8 weeks

[domainking131]

New gTLDs have lost 2.3 million domain names in the past 8 weeks. There are now about 22 million new gtld domain registrations.

According to Namestat.org there have been 4.3 million domain names removed from zone files while there have been 2 million new registrations.

The domains that have been deleted were mostly from the .XYZ promotion that ran last year offering domains for as low as 1 cent. That was a promotion that was loosing money for the registry so it was far from sustainable.



Source

 

[JackD]

Wonder why they thought that giving away domains for a loss at $0.01 each was a good idea?

 

[Parth]

Hoping to build loyalty? Luring people in by listing cheap domains and hoping they'd see a more expensive option they wanted? Selling cheap domains, but making money off other services? Pulling people in for a penny then auto renewing the next year at a much higher price? It's a darn good question you've raised, JackD. I'd like to know the answer.

 

[Branko Jovanovic]

They have tryed to give something for almost nothing, but "the free lunch" is never free, they had some strategy behind the offer.

 

[Jeff]

I think a lot of the dropped domains were in Chinese pump and dump extensions - .xyz, .top, etc.

 

[wot]

There will be a lot more joining them in the coming months.