Premium domain names are a thing, and they are here to stay. The main reason why so many domains are now considered premium and have a price with five figures or more is that the total number of high-quality domain names that are not owned by their target end-users is very small.
Domain broker companies and corporations have bought-out and are now holding the most valuable domains, of which the largest part are .COM domains. This means that not only are domain name not available for registration, but they are now in the hands of companies which can endure holding a domain for a long time with domain renewal period cost not being an issue.
Even if these companies do not have an applied use for these high-quality domains that will add meaning and value to a company’s comprehensive branding strategy, they will hold on to them just so that competing business will not have the opportunity to get these domains.
How a domain name becomes a Premium Domain Name?
Basically, there are two ways a domain name becomes premium:
A domain trader with insight into a certain business or industry will register a domain name and hold on to it until he gets a suitable offer while listing it with domain marketplace websites as an after-market, premium domain name.
Domain registrar recognizes a domain name as potentially valuable and puts that specific domain for auction as an after-market domain, hence it is deemed as a premium domain.
Notably, the .COM domains are still the most valuable premium domains on the market. The main issue is that one or two words .COM domains may be considered “premium” and as such, they will be sold at auctions or held by domain brokers who wish to profit a five or six figure number in dollars.
Premium Domains impact on small and medium business
It is important to note this trend within the domain name world, and confirm that it will only be harder to get the perfectly matching domain name for your business or company, especially if you are a small or medium company and your budget is limited.
Admittedly, new technologies will proliferate into new branches of industry, but again, the domain broker companies stand their vigil and these domain names will not stay available for long.
One of the strongest modern industry propellers is Artificial Intelligence, as it enables big data analysis and innovative approaches to traditional problem-solving. Instead of having an expert team of professionals iterating hundreds of solutions to a problem in a period of months, the AI enables testing millions of possible solutions in a matter of days.
Companies that have the resources to utilize an applied artificial intelligence will profit greatly and will hold a leap over their competition. The AI trend has influenced .AI domain extension popularity surge, growing the said domain more than 1000%.
Premium Domain alternatives?
Luckily for the average website owner, new TLD has started to build momentum, with great examples of alternative domains all over the Internet, on buses in London, billboards in New York City and brave startups who want to own an original online presence with innovative names.
I am sure that domain registrars will be offering .COM and other original gTLD for domain registration, but for a short, original and recognizable domain name you will have turn to new generic top-level domains or country-code domains.
Conclusion
Yes, total domain name registrations are growing year-to-year with a bit more than 5% growth, with the .COM as the largest single domain extension, but ccTLD domain registration as a whole are aiming to dwarf gTLD with China as the leading country domain extension.
We are a witness that the domain world is changing, under the influence of the global economy, business and the way the domain traders buy, sell and trade domain names. This means that you should not waste time if you have a domain name on your mind and it is available for registration, do get it before a domain trader or broker company makes a premium domain out of it.