Guess What .SUCKS?
May 1, 2018
By tbroughton
Depending on your company’s risk appetite, renewing a .SUCKS domain name might not be worth the price tag.
After an extended Sunrise period, .SUCKS opened for General Availability on June 21, 2015. Now, three years later, corporates might wonder if holding premium domain names as risk mitigation is worth the $2,000+ renewal fees.
Registering brands in .SUCKS in 2015 was compelling for companies with a low-risk appetite. For these companies, not registering a brand .SUCKS domain presumed to leave the brand open to squatters and malicious use.
The .SUCKS Landscape
Over 5,000 names were registered in the first month and the new gTLD saw relatively steady growth through the first two years, topping out around 10,000 registrations in July 2017.
As of April 5, 2018 there are fewer than 9,000 registered domain names. Of these names, 82% are parked and an additional 4% are pending deletes.
Further, across Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2017 Rankings, which lists the top 100 most valuable global brands based on overall brand value and are generally top-of-mind for consumers and cybersquatters alike, the breakdown is as follows:
- 46 brands have registered .SUCKS domain names
- 48 brand’s .SUCKS domain names are currently available, including 7 that had originally been squatted on but were not renewed for subsequent terms
- 6 brand’s .SUCKS domain names are being squatted on, including 1 that is being deleted
Of the squatted domains there is essentially no content, resolving to parked pages or registrar templates.
Conclusion
Owning the .SUCKS domain name for your brand might not be essential for risk mitigation or the best allocation of funds in the arena. There is still very little use overall in the new gTLD and malicious use against brands by cybersquatters is minimal.
