InternetNZ markets its domain

InternetNZ has launched an online marketing campaign to promote ".nz" internet addresses as growth in website registrations slows and fresh competition from new "top-level domain names" looms.

Growth in the number of ".nz" addresses fell below 10 per cent for the first time this year.

Icann, the global body that administers the internet, plans to open up the internet addressing system next year, so people would be able to register web addresses ending in any suffix such as city and company names rather than the usual ."com" or country codes.

InternetNZ president Peter Macaulay says no-one knows whether that will have an effect on the demand for ".nz" addresses, but it was one factor behind the ".nz is our home" campaign".

It features website owners talking about their sites and is budgeted at less than $100,000.

The campaign is designed to promote the New Zealand internet as a professionally-managed part of cyberspace where website owners' rights are protected.

The society, along with subsidiaries, the Domain Name Commission and the New Zealand Domain Name Registry Services (NZRS), share a $1.50 monthly fee for each ".nz address" that is ultimately paid by website owners.

Last year the fees netted $6.4 million, generating a group profit of $814,000 for InternetNZ.

Because InternetNZ already faces competition from other top-level domains, its delegated authority to manage ".nz" addressing is about as monopolistic as Coca-Cola, Mr Macaulay says.

"Our biggest competition is every other top-level domain out there."

InternetNZ is a membership-based organisation and if website registrars or owners were unhappy with the fees it charged for ".nz" addresses, they could join and do something about it.

The fee has declined over the years as the number of ".nz" websites has grown, but Domain Name Commissioner Debbie Monahan says NZRS and the Domain Name Commission recommended against a reduction last time this was discussed by InternetNZ's council, because they were starting to see a downturn in the growth rate.

"The number of people creating new websites is still relatively high, but people are making a conscious decision whether to renew domain names or not. A few years ago people might have automatically renewed all their addresses, now they are managing their portfolios a little bit better."

- © Fairfax NZ News