Now that we are halfway through the first quarter of 2024, let’s take a look at the New gTLD space in the Markmonitor Q1 2024: New gTLD Quarterly Report.

With the calendar turning to Valentine’s Day and the recent passing of actor Carl Weathers who played Apollo Creed in the Rocky film series (our condolences to his family and friends), I wanted to do a creative honoring of both events. Well, sit back and take it all in as we do a mashup of Valentine candy heart phrases and Rocky III Apollo quotes (my favorite of the Rocky movies) while introducing this quarter’s report. 

“We’d like to announce the presence at ringside of a true champion; the Master of Disaster, the Count of Monte Fisto, the one, the only Apollo Creed!” 

In our New gTLDs 101 series we have a charming interview with the head of the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) on how it has impacted trademark holders and the New gTLD Program since it went live in 2013. While there are no Apollo-esque monikers for the TMCH (“The Titan of Trademarks” is available), the service it offers continues to add value to trademark holders and their domain name portfolios every day.  

“See that look in their eyes, Rock? You gotta get that look back, Rock. Eye of the tiger, man.” 

As part of our new gTLD Corner series, we’ll discuss the legacy gTLD .gov and how its Registry Operator found the ‘eye of the tiger’ and went from the more traditional approach of an original gTLD to a more modern approach, making big updates in its service model and infrastructure over the past four-plus years.  

“So, I predict that the champ’s gonna take this one.” 

Everyone loves a champion, so come review domain name activity in the wide-ranging sports space. Everything from team sports to lifestyle/fitness sports to sports .brand gTLDs are looked at. (Did you know that cricket has an estimated 2.5 billion fans worldwide? See where .cricket lands in the rankings.)

“There is no tomorrow!” 

We provide an update on the ‘Closed Generics’ concept and the ICANN Board’s recent response to GAC Advice and how this could affect the current estimated timeline in The New gTLD Program: Next Round Implementation Plan.

Notwithstanding your opinion on ‘Closed Generics,’ as of now, for the Next Round, they have no tomorrow.  

“You thought I was tough?” 

Managing the Domain Name System, the underlying framework for the Internet, is a tough but vital challenge for ICANN and the many ccTLD Registry Operators around the globe. The DNS is an essential part of communication for many people in multitudes of languages and scripts. View the updates on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in ccTLDs and New gTLDs to see what is happening.

“You know, Stallion? It’s too bad we gotta get old, huh?” 

Too true, Apollo, too true.  

While this report won’t be near as entertaining as Mr. Weathers’ performances (did you know he was nominated for an Emmy, Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series, in 2021?), hopefully it brings something new and interesting into your day.  

For more information on how Markmonitor can assist you learning more about New gTLDs or other parts of the domain industry, please reach out to us or to your Domain Portfolio Advisor.