Interesting Facts About .CO Domains

The .CO Registry is celebrating its third anniversary next week, and Sedo published a market report (pdf file)  about .CO domain names that I think is very interesting. Some of the figures quoted by Sedo were a bit surprising to me, and I think they may surprise you as well. If you don’t love .CO, there is plenty of other information in Sedo’s market report you’ll probably find interesting.

Whether you’ve invested in .CO domain names, or if you are like me, primarily an observer, I think we can agree that the team at .CO has done an exceptional job of branding itself. Their focus is on marketing to startups, but through their marketing efforts, they’ve also drawn attention to domain names and their importance to brands. I am seeing more .CO domain names used by start up companies, and it’s not a surprise based on the Registry’s outreach and marketing efforts.

Before .CO domain names were sold to the public, the Registry went on something of a publicity blitz within the domain industry. Many people predicted .CO would lead to more cybersquatting and other nefarious activity, and many predicted .CO would be a failure. I have been surprised by the few UDRP complaints against .CO domain name owners, especially given the number of registered domain names. Ultimately, I believe .CO has been good for the domain investment space.

With that said, I want to share some interesting facts that were reported by Sedo this morning:

  • More than 1.5 million .CO domain names registered
  • Registrants live in over 200 countries
  • 10th most frequently traded domain extension on Sedo
  • Year to date, the mean average sales price of .CO domains at Sedo is $2,486 (compared to $1,819 in 2010)
  • Year to date, the median average sales price of .CO domains at Sedo is $570 (compared to $500 in 2010)

You can read the press release below, download the market report pdf file, and you can also have a look at a blog post written by .CO Registry’s Lori Anne Wardi, who has been involved in the domain investment space for quite some time.

Press Release:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jul 17, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Sedo, the world’s largest premium domain marketplace and monetization provider, today unveiled a report, detailing the growth and success of the .CO domain extension three years after its launch. Sedo has monitored the extension since its debut on July 20, 2010 and analyzed transaction data from its marketplace to compile the report, which is the second annual report published by the company on the state of .CO.

There are currently over 1.5 million .CO domain names registered by people in over 200 countries. Beyond high registration rates, .CO has achieved strong brand awareness, widespread domain development and impressive performance on the secondary market.

Data revealed in the .CO Market Report includes the following highlights:

— The total value of .CO sales at Sedo since July 2010 is $2.6 million USD.

— The mean average sales price for .CO domain names on Sedo’s marketplace is high, 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.

“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 Anne Wardi, Vice President of Brand for .CO. “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.”

With hundreds of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) slated to join the existing extensions in the second half of 2013, .CO is one of the most recently launched TLDs for new registries to study and learn from as they establish themselves in the market.

“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, Sedo’s CEO. “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.”

To download the full report, titled “.CO Market Report: A Look Back at Three Years of .CO on the Domain Name Market,” visit: http://bit.ly/11TU7bP.

About .CO

In the three years since its launch, the .CO domain has become one of the most successful top-level domain extensions in history, with more than 1.5 million web addresses registered by people and companies in over 200 countries. From start-ups and small businesses to big brands and multinational corporations, .CO is increasingly becoming the web address of choice for innovators and entrepreneurs the world over. For more information about .CO, please visit http://www.go.co/ or follow us on Twitter @dotCO.

About Sedo

Sedo, an acronym for “Search Engine for Domain Offers,” is the leading domain marketplace and monetization provider. Headquartered in Cologne, Germany and with offices in London, England and Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world’s largest database of domain names for sale, with more than 17 million listings. The success of Sedo’s model has attracted a global base of more than 2 million members. For more information, visit www.Sedo.com.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

16 COMMENTS

  1. “More than 1.5 million .CO domain names registered
    Registrants live in over 200 countries”

    1.5mm : 200 countries = people aware of the extensions nowhere

    “10th most frequently traded domain extension on Sedo”
    If you are serious, intelligent investor you do not choose 10th but first maybe second or third traded extension.

    .Co Registry had more than 1mm registrations within the first 11 months so I would not say I am impressed by the current number. I remember they were saying about 3 millions after 3 years.

    The report like that is only to increase the co renewal.
    Go and take a look how many their two letter .co domains got bids or go to sedo.co and take a look at their domains – they are for years there. Only few bids, no interest.

    • “If you are serious, intelligent investor you do not choose 10th but first maybe second or third traded extension.”

      Sedo sells quite a bit of ccTLDs (like .DE and .CO.UK domain names), so being 10th on the list isn’t as low as it might appear.

  2. Its a good idea to increase chances as much as possible while investing in sth. Going down the list to 10th extension is def. not good strategy.

  3. Now just think how hard it will be for new extensions to compete. Look how many services people jump on for free.

    About 3-5 extensions are going to be giving away domains along with email, hosting and everything else. Guess who it going to be? The ones with money.

    How is anyone going to sell a new extension for 30 bucks when you one on the other end giving it away for free.

    You just can’t compete with them. Why even try.

    This is just common sense thinking.
    Wait until the big boys start offering free domain names in your email box.

    Big companies will still buy .com while your individual person will pick up a free domain name with another extension, but remember just like email nothing is free.

    This is where .com separates itself from free domain names. When you don’t have a .com your telling the world your company can’t afford it right now. So going with a secondary extension is ok. Fake it until you make it..Nothing wrong with that do what you gotta do. But fake it with a .net and maybe .co under certain conditions..

    DonnyM

  4. “About 3-5 extensions are going to be giving away domains along with email, hosting and everything else. Guess who it going to be? The ones with money. ”

    That what unregistry plans to do..

    free domain dot whatever with $1/yr hosting.

    GD already has free domains with 99cent hosting.

  5. Now is a good time to dump any .co inventory you might have left. Once the new extensions come rolling out, the prices can only drop along with the registration numbers.

  6. They say “.com is king” or “.com forever” bla bla bla. But, on the other hand there is an obvious need for an alternative to overcrowded .com world. If the .co isn’t the perfect one what is?

  7. I bought some .CO domains and have been following the discussions from time to time.

    I often wonder why some of the pro .COM folks are defensive when .CO domains are discussed?

    Clearly something is driving that need to speak negatively about .CO domains.

    Personally I think they know, and can see, the progress .CO is making. On some level the change scares them.

    Does anybody else see this happening?

    • Tom C,

      If you believe in .co it’s quite alright.
      I have some .co’s I want to sell, and keep just a few.

      I am oferring you:

      Kri.co
      Vdf.co
      Divider.co

      If you are interested at great prices, click on my name and use the Zopim messaging at bottom of the page to contact me.

  8. “Personally I think they know, and can see, the progress .CO is making. On some level the change scares them.”

    I think it’s more people are good natured by heart and are just trying to help the noobs out.

  9. The .co domain extension has been gaining popularity very slowly. These things tend to have a huge explosion for demand when you least expect them to. I made sure to have my own .co domain for when this explosion occurs. And I know that 5-10 years down the road they will be in high demand because .com will be too crowded.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recent Posts

Handoff to Dan on Imported Leads Can be Confusing

0
I've been using the lead import option at Dan.com more regularly. Although the 5% commission is not ideal, transactions tend to move more quickly...

ArtificialIntelligence.com Goes Up for Sale

7
I tried to buy the ArtificialIntelligence.com domain name multiple times over the last 10 years. The emails I sent to the registrant went unanswered,...

EU Gives More IP Protection to Food & Drink Producers

0
Did you know that some well-known food and drink varieties are protected intellectual property regulations? Popular types of drinks and foods that are protected...

Price Testing

1
In 2022, my wife and I decided our kids were ready for some big mountain skiing and we planned a trip to the Rocky...

GoDaddy Making You Sign in to See What You Renewed (Updated)

3
This morning, I noticed something different in a domain name renewal email from GoDaddy. Instead of telling me exactly what domain names I renewed...