doMEn, the .me Registry, announced that registrations have reached the quarter-million mark, making it the fastest growing ccTLD. The .me extension, which has been available worldwide for just over a year, has proven incredibly popular not just for regular registrations, but in the secondary market as well. More than 48,000 applications were received by domain owners wishing to participate in the recent .me domain auction.
Many in the internet marketing industry believe that the popularity of the .me extension correlates specifically to the extensions branding power. “Dot-ME is extremely suitable for consumer brands,” states Mark Kychma of Brands-and-Jingles. This branding power of .me is demonstrated in domains such as Love.Me or YouAnd.Me. These names are memorable and catchy, making them popular among marketers. “Try to forget brands like Hotels4.Me, Pizza4.Me and Tickets4.Me… there is a 99 percent chance you will not,” adds Kychma.
The response was not unexpected if you ask Predrag Lesic, the executive directory of the .me Registry. “This is the kind of reaction we always knew we would elicit with dot-ME.” He goes on to say, “Dot-ME has become an Internet phenomenon.”