Home » Web Hosting » Surge in Vacation-themed Domain Names

Surge in Vacation-themed Domain Names

August 18th, 2011 Web Hosting

Businesses across the globe are beginning to admit the importance of upcoming seasons by purchasing seasonal field names with vacation themes. This is clearly to entice travelers during the summer. For instance, golfholidays.co.uk sold for tens of thousands of dollars while Orlandoholidays.co.uk, youthhostels.co.uk and fly24.co.uk all sold for thousands.

Second Quarter 2011 Field Market Study Results

Field name marketplace industry leader, Sedo, announced the results of its second quarter 2011 Field Market Study which demonstrates that the industry trends on the transactions in its marketplace. One positive aspect the study revealed is that multi-word keyword field names continue to be available and affordable. This is the complete opposite of what was predicted once the gTLDs became available.

.com Market Trend

This trend is not exclusive to the United Kingdom, celebration-themed field names are also increasing in popularity in the .com market. For instance, presciptionsunglasses.com was sold for over $10,000, sunburnt.com for $8,800 and tropicalislands.com for $5,300.

Quarterly Financial Results

At the end of the second quarter ending June 30^th, 2011, 10,600 domains had new owners on Sedo’s online marketplace. This accounted for approximately GBP 15 million in sales. Also, there was a GBP 2 million increase in sales during the quarter and the average sale price for Top-Level Domains (TLD) remained strong when compared with previous quarters. Overall, there was a 13 percent growth from last quarter and 4 percent from last year.

Sales remained regular and stable despite the $2.5 million sale of Gambling.com. The median sales from for a .co.uk TLD increased by 5 percent from 2010 to 2011 from GBP 342 to GBP 358.

Statement from the Director of U.K. Operations at Sedo

The Director of U.K. Operations at Sedo released a statement that confirmed the 13 percent increase in sales for the second quarter disproved the theory that the new gTLDs will decrease the current value of existing TLDs. Field names values are steadily on the rise. Therefore, business interested in buying keyword field names to grow their digital real estate should be assured that there continue to be many available at inexpensive prices.

The field name market has been affected by the announcement of the gTLDs, though, the affect appears to be minor. This is brilliant news as it gives many smaller firms a chance to remain competitive. Hopefully the trend of purchasing TLDs continues to grow, even after gTLDs are implemented.