Thoughts

Andrew Miller

April 30, 2023

The Evolving Cycles of Ultra Premium Domain Names

Over the years, and especially the past couple of ones, I have discussed the cycles that occur within the ultra-premium domain name asset class. For many of the early years, I invested in, acquired, and advised on the acquisition or sale of “category killer domain names” such as Beer.com, Diamond.com, Software.com, Shop.com, Computer.com, Timeshares.com, and of course, CreditCards.com and InsuranceQuotes.com, to name a few.

Surge in Brands and Adjectives

In more recent years, there was a surge in brands or adjectives, one-word domains that may not signify a category; this was because emerging companies and their VCs either understood the importance of moving to their exact match brand, for example, HelloExtend.com to Extend.com, or companies that on-ramped with a second-tier extension like .io or .xyz realized that in order “to grow up” and be a leader, they needed to move to the .com. During this frenzy, exact match domains pushed category domains off the front page of the news. There were exceptions, such as my Home.com blockbuster.

The Comeback of Category Domains

I have constantly maintained that category domains would storm back and take the lead again. This does not minimize the importance of exact match brands and brandable domains. They are really valuable and super important. But, if you have a category domain for a multi-billion or multi-trillion-dollar category, it can serve as a brand and the authoritative, credible game stopper, to own that industry. Our recent deals at Hilco Digital Assets; Football.com, Legal.com, Sweepstakes.com, and of course, Chat.com, are proving the surge in the value of category domain assets.

Coming Soon

In the coming weeks, we will be able to post on a few more mega deals that are in the process of transacting, eight-figure game-changers for the companies that acquire them, and we are in the process of acquiring some Hilco Digital Assets to address the need that can fill in those categories. More on that soon.

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