Niche top level domains….any chance for success!!

This week I have noticed much noise about .nyc such as New York City set to cash in on .nyc, press conferences, and other posts. Since the summer ruling by ICANN to expand the number of top level domains (tlds), we are seeing press and marketing daily about new specific top level domains such as .berlin, .paris, and .nyc. Is there a future for these tlds?

Well, if the success of .cat, a sponsored tld, intended to be used to highlight the Catalan culture and language, is an example of a growing trend; there is hope. For those of you not familiar, the region on Cataluña in Spain uses Catalan, as its primary language for communication, street signs, menus, and schooling. Most in Cataluña also learn Spanish (or Castilian) as a second language. Having this linguistic distinction creates an even larger cultural difference between those in Cataluña versus those in Spain and of course the world. It is with this distinct cultural pride and specific niche that .cat came to be and launched in 2005. In fact, as of January 2009, .cat has over 33,000 registrations.

.cat is bringing success to these niche top level domains. With over 7 million people, Cataluña shows that having a specific, niche domain that is targeted towards a large enough audience is wanted.

This is turn demonstrates a growing trend. We are all looking to sort through the clutter of the Internet and find something customized for our needs. It is clear with choices such as:

1) LinkedIn as the social media choice for professionals
2) www.job.travel if you’re looking for a job in the travel and hospitality field instead of the larger, non-industry specific entities Monster.com or CareerBulider.com
3) websites in one’s native language such as google.fr or google.de

It is with this need to segment information that I believe niche top level domains will succeed, but not all. The choice needs to be specific enough like in the case of .cat, that it is regionalized, distinct, own language or culture, and a large enough population of users and supporters.

So, do .nyc, .berlin, and .paris have the same niche? Perhaps……but you have to convince me. They are all large enough is size to support success, but what makes them different than just the country code of .fr or .de.

With all the hype of new tlds, I believe we will witness many that go through the application process and even launch, but only a few will survive and succeed. The proof of success is if the targeted community will want and support the new tlds. The future of the Internet will be very exciting with further structuring leading to channels or verticals of information that help guide the end user to a specific type of information.

It is no secret that we are already seeing many structured tlds such as .edu for the educational branch, .gov for governmental organizations, and .travel for the travel and tourism industry. All of these tlds have a large enough audience and necessity that they will continue to grow in popularity. Although .com is still the preferred method to promote one’s business and information on the net, I see that the movement is shifting to being specific, niche marketing.