Top Domain Names of 2006
There's one industry which has continued to flourish, whether it be web 1.0 or 2.0 or anything in between. And that's the domain name market. The Domain Name Values Weekly site polled 30 domain name experts to find out their Top 20 Domain Transactions of 2006. The main criteria wasn't most money paid, but best long-term value (4+ years). Here are the results:
Top 20 Domain Transactions of 2006
1. Red.org (8) - $50,000 [note: this is Product Red's domain name]
2. Football.us (4) - $18,510
3. Brown.com (5) - $300,000
4. NewYork.info (2) - $46,392
5. XS.net (2) - $13,000
6. Fun.mobi (0) - $100,000
7. CD.com (0) - $277,750
8. Blue.com (1) - $500,000
9. Stockquotes.mobi (0) - $27,000
10. Sex.net (0) - $454,500
11. Wifi.com (2) - $225,000
12. Cameras.com (1) - $1,500,000
13. SexEducation.com (1) - $120,000
14. Prize.com (0) - $70,000
15. Wrestling.com (1) - $500,000
16. CD.net (0) - $20,000
17. Flowers.mobi (2) - $200,000
18. 20.com (0) - $75,000
19. Scouts.com (1) - $107,000
20. Bike.com (0) - $500,000
* First place votes in ( )
While I'm no expert in domain names, it's interesting that 3 .mobi domains are in this list - the mobile Web coming up. Also 9 of the domains are not .com. There are 3 domain names for colors and 3 sex-related domains (some things never change).
Only 1 seven-figure domain in this list though (cameras.com went for $1.5M), so the market isn't as bubble-ish as it was in the dot com era.
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Can we assume that the Wiki.com deal was all smoke and mirrors then? It was rumoured to have been bought for $3m, payable in installments. Hmmm...
Posted by: Chris Lake | January 12, 2007 5:14 AM
I know of at least 3 domains that were sold last year that would be in the top 1/3rd pricing for your list. But, as I suspect most of the big deals are these days, they were private transactions done under NDA.
Posted by: Jevon | January 12, 2007 5:34 AM
What about like.com? $100k.
Posted by: Michael Air | January 12, 2007 5:42 AM
One big reason this industry continues to flourish is that parked domains can make easy money. Unfortunately, this money is taken from unsuspecting PPC advertisers who think they're purchasing genuine search engine advertising. Google and Yahoo are both at fault.
Posted by: Richard Ball | January 12, 2007 5:54 AM
What about vodka.com? Was sold for about 3 million dollars this year to "Russian Standard"
Posted by: Dave | January 12, 2007 6:18 AM
CD.net, CD.com - this format is dead, people just waste their money...
Posted by: Alex | January 12, 2007 10:44 AM
Richard Ball, you bring up a great point. How many times have we done searches on google or yahoo and found a parked domain, covered with CPC ads? Some of these dress themselves up a bit to look like a real webpage (or worse, use other peoples content).
Posted by: Richard MacManus | January 12, 2007 12:20 PM
"One big reason this industry continues to flourish is that parked domains can make easy money. Unfortunately, this money is taken from unsuspecting PPC advertisers who think they're purchasing genuine search engine advertising. Google and Yahoo are both at fault." - Richard Ball
You really could open a can of worms with a post like this. When a company spends thousands of dollars on a traditional Billboard Ad is there any guarantee that anyone sees it? With the Internet, there are no two ways...plus bear in mind that the only time the company pays is when someone clicks on the AD. Click fraud is the only issue and if that can be kept under control...there is no other better way to get targeted eyeballs. The numbers are telling you a story Richard...dont go against the flow....
Posted by: Adrian Keys | January 12, 2007 3:31 PM
Where was wii.com ranked? I heard that was sold for $200-500,000, and surely that name will stick around for 4y+?
Posted by: Julian | January 12, 2007 4:40 PM
there are also live.com and vox.com
Posted by: Emre Sokullu | January 12, 2007 5:17 PM