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As
I told you in my last
newsletter, domain sales kicked off 2014
with some astounding year over year gains in 1Q-2014.
That powerful post recession rebound continued in 2Q-2014
as well. The
total $ volume of
sales reported to us (sales numbers we detail in our
popular weekly
domain sales reports) across all extensions in
2Q-2014
was $29.5 million, a powerful 32% increase
over the $22.4 million reported in the
same quarter of 2013. That
$29.5 million was 8% lower than the $32
million reported in an outstanding previous quarter
(1Q-2014), but that, due |
2nd
Quarter image from Bigstock
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The
results for .coms only closely mirrored those of
the overall market (no surprise there since .coms always
account for the lion's share of total domain sales,
typically claiming about 75% of the total pie).
In 2Q-2014 $21.5 million worth of .com sales were
reported, a very healthy 28% jump over the same
quarter a year earlier. As was the case with the volume
$ across all extensions, .com was down from the previous
quarter (1Q-2014) when $25.7 million in .com
sales were reported. 1Q-2014 benefited from an unusually
large group of blockbuster .com sales including Whisky.com
at $3.1 million and two others, 37.com and
Youxi.com, that sold for over $2.4 million
each. In addition, the 2Q number was reduced by about
$1.5 million due to the Go Daddy/Afternic quiet period
noted above - the end result of those factors being a
16% decline quarter to quarter (10% off if you give 2Q
the average Go Daddy .com sales that were made but not
reported).
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Global
business image from Bigstock |
The
only category that suffered a year over year
decrease was, surprisingly, the ccTLDs.
That normally strong category fell 12% from
the $3.3 million reported in 2Q-2013 to the
$2.9 million recorded in 2Q-2014. The
quarter to quarter drop was even steeper, showing
a 37% decline from the very strong previous
quarter (1Q-2014) when $4.6 million was
posted. Whatever
the reasons for the setback in this group were,
they were short lived as the country codes
bounced back strongly in 3Q-2014 (a detailed
report on that quarter will be in our next
newsletter that will follow shortly after this
one). |
In
another anomaly, the non .com gTLDs (.net, .org,
inf0, .biz, etc.), normally the weakest category, had
the biggest percentage gains! The group shot up 127%
year over year, zooming from $2.2 million in the
second quarter of 2013 to $5 million in 2Q-2014.
This group typically comes in at about $2 million per
quarter in reported sales, so you might think something
extraordinary must have happened in 2Q-2014 to more than
double that number. You would be right. In 2Q-2014 Sex.xxx
was sold for a mind bending $3 million (more than
this entire category logs in a normal quarter).
Without that one sale the non .com gTLDs would have come
in at $2 million, a number that would be have been off
10% year over year and down 15% from the previous
quarter (1Q-2014) when sales totaled $1.7 million. Because
outlier sales like Sex.xxx can dramatically skew $
volume numbers we also report median sales prices which
can give a more accurate view of market movements. The
median price is the point at which half of sales were
higher and half were lower. Median numbers tend to move
in small increments, often just a percentage point or
two. The
interesting thing about 2Q-2014 median sales prices is
that, unlike the total $ volume numbers, the median
price increased in every category year over year
and in all comparisons (both quarter to quarter
and year to year). That is an undeniable sign of an
improving market.
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In
2Q-2014 the median sales price reported to us
across all extensions was $3,000 - a very
strong 9% year over year increase from $2,750
in 2Q-2013 and 1% better than the $2,970
posted in a very strong 1Q-2014. (*As always, we
need to note that, in order to keep our weekly
reports at a manageable length, we do
not track sales below four figures (to be
specific, we track .com sales of $2,000 and up and
all other TLDs from $1,000 and up). If we also
tracked the lowest end of the market, our median
numbers would be lower and out total $ volume
number would be higher). The
median prices for .com only showed even
bigger improvements. In 2Q-2014 the $3,546
median was a whopping 14.5% higher than the
$3,097 reported in the same quarter a year
ago and 7.5% better than the previous
quarter (1Q-2014) when it was $3,301. |
Growth
image from Bigstock |
The
ccTLDs, despite their drop in total $ volume in
2Q-2014, registered a solid increase in their median
sales price. It was $2,110 in 2Q-2014, 6%
better year over year and 5.5% better than
the previous quarter. While
the non.com gTLDs made it unanimous, also
improving both year over year and quarter over quarter,
their increase was by the smallest possible increment.
The $2,000 posted in 2Q-2014 was exactly $1 higher
that the $1,999 recorded in both 2Q-2013 and
1Q-2014! That is still pretty good considering that this
category - the one to which all new gTLDs belong
- has been flooded with hundreds of new
competitors. That could wind up bringing the medians
down as more new gTLD aftermarket sales are reported.
With so many options to choose from, it would seem
logical that buyers won't have to pay as high a price
for many names in this category. Of course, market
forces that none of us can predict with certainty could
always produce unexpected results. |
