Simone Catania from InternetX ( an advertiser here) did a deep dive on the .io extension. Over the years Mike Carson and his Park.io have been big players in the .io space. Mike has made a lot of sales in .io personally.
Simone took a look at why interest has been strong the past few years. One could say that a lot of interest lately has shifted to the .ai domain name extension. But here is some of what Simone wrote on .io.
Why is .io increasingly popular?
According to Domain Name Stat, as of March 2023, there are 1,089,147 registered domain names under .io, with 32% YoY growth. Other reasons why this extension has become so popular among businesses in recent years are the cost-effectiveness and comparative ease of registering a .io domain name.
Neither natural nor legal persons are required to be residents in the UK overseas territory for successful registration. Only second-level domains like .com.io or .net.io are reserved for residents. In contrast to more conventional TLDs, which are now saturated, the ccTLD .io is accessible and its modern, trendy look helps startups and innovative businesses create unique web addresses for sites, landing pages and email accounts and offers with short and memorable .io domain names.
And it is not only tech startups that use them. Many businesses, including game developers and actors from FinTech and the blockchain industry, register their domain name with a .io extension because it conveys an image of modernity and innovation. Their domain names under .io appeal to consumers, especially millennials and Generation Zers, who increasingly seek brands that reflect their values and interests in technology.
The chart shows increased demand in registrations from 2015 to 2023. Looking at Namebio the top sale in 2023 is Vital.io at $60,000. Over 1300 total reported sales.
You can read the full article on InternetX.com
I fail to see why anyone wants to brand on an extension for which a huge percentage of the public, if I’m not mistaken, has no idea what it means.