It’s the Most gTLD Time of the Year

As I wonder where the last 12 months went, what better way is there to close out the year than by writing my very own letter to Santa Claus, with all the season’s gTLD references I could muster? Enjoy!

Dear Santa,

With 2023 coming to a close, I figured I needed to send in my requests for peace, .love, and goodwill and gifts for my four children now (apparently, I was nominated to write the letter this year).

But before I do, as a Corporate Domain Professional, let me offer this humble Q4 2023 New gTLD Quarterly Report as my attempt to get on the ‘Nice’ list (unlike cybersquatters who will definitely be on the ‘Naughty’ list).

Busy as you are, you might want to sit back and brush up on the following:

  • What’s happening with .quebec – ICANN policy is always fun to read about, and you drop in on the kids of Quebec on La veille de Noël, too, right, so who loses here?
  • The first installment in our New gTLDs 101 series, on the EBERO. While is sounds like a new robot you might give as a gift during the .holiday, it actually isn’t, so read more to find out about it.
  • As a person of experience, and perhaps sciatica from your time as a .ski bum, the pharma industry might be something you are familiar with – hey folks, I’m just talking about Ibuprofen here! Let’s check into what pharma .brand registry operators are doing with the usage of their gTLDs.
  • With domains out there like santa.com (is that you under the WHOIS proxy service?), you appear to be familiar with .com domains. Come along as we compare registration counts of .com, ccTLDs, and new gTLDs going back to 2015 to see if there are any trends we can find.
  • And of course, the list of the next few ICANN meetings wraps things up – if I recall correctly, I saw you at the New gTLD Prioritization Draw in December 2012, so I hope to see you again at an ICANN event one of these days!

After you get caught up on all of that I might even leave you some cookies and milk on the mantle.

Anyway, I appear to have lost that list of the kids’ .gifts, I might be deserving of a lump of coal this year, though that wouldn’t be very .green of you.

With that I bid you (and the readers who have made it through this letter – you deserve a .gift of your own) adieu! Happy Holidays and enjoy your winter .vacations — we at Markmonitor look forward to delivering more interesting domain-related content to you in 2024!

Best regards,

Chris Niemi

Manager, Strategic Initiatives