Domain registration data from VeriSign backs up the Associated Press’ claim. 128 million domain names were registered worldwide at the end of this year’s first quarter, which was a 31 percent increase from 2006. Domain buyers are purchasing names at a 90,000-per-day clip.
“It’s like real estate,” Monte Cahn, founder and CEO of Moniker.com, told the AP. “This industry is only about a decade old. People looked at domain names as a commodity. It’s a piece of real estate on the web that can’t be replaced. It’s your stake in the ground, your stake in the Internet.”
Cahn and his company recently presided over a domain auction at the Internext Summer 2007 adult webmaster trade show that hauled in more than $725,000. LatinPussy.com was the biggest money earner, garnering $135,000.
Domain registrar Sedo.com said that it handles more than $3 million of transactions each month. DN Journal, which tracks the buying and selling of domain names, said that five sales of domains have topped $1 million this year — including adult sites Sex.com and Porn.com.
“It is a global, multibillion-dollar industry,” Peter Lamson, senior vice president and general manager of NameMedia, told the International Herald Tribune. “Customers need to find your doorstep. A brick-and-mortar business needs an attractive address, and it’s no different online.”
