ICANN has officially kicked off the Next Round of the New gTLD Program, opening two formal processes for applicants and service providers. With program details beginning to come into focus, we thought it would be a good time to run down the key details for prospective Brand TLD applicants.
First, let’s briefly recap the history of Brand TLDs and their usage. The first round of the New gTLD Program, carried out in 2012, allowed organizations of any type to apply for the creation of a new top-level domain. Many of the applicants were involved in the domain name industry and planned to offer domain registration to the public. Another category, representing around a third of all applicants, were companies that wanted the domain exclusively for their own use. These are what came to be called Brand TLDs.
The usage of Brand TLDs varies from case to case, but the main observed categories are:
- Subpages for company programs or divisions (ex. google)
- Regional homepages (ex. abbott, ca.audi)
- Personalized URLs for the employees or contractors (ex. broker-name.dvda)
- Defensive – The applicant doesn’t plan to use the domain but wants to make sure that a different company doesn’t secure it.
It’s been over 10 years since the first Brand TLD was delegated, so potential applicants for the Next Round have the benefit of observing use cases from the first round. Seeing how other companies have (or have not) utilized their domain helps prospective applicants gauge if a Brand TLD makes sense for their company.
If your company or your client(s) have already analyzed use cases, held internal meetings and decided to apply, that’s great! This article can serve as an overview of the deadlines, rules and costs to expect. If your company or clients have had only preliminary conversations about a Brand TLD and have not set the wheels in motion, that’s also fine because…
The Next Round is expected to open in April 2026[1]. There is still a year and a half for the prospective applicant company’s internal stakeholders to debate the option and come to a decision on whether to apply.
If a prospective applicant would like feedback on their proposed use case, IP Twins’ team of experts is happy to have that discussion. Among our clients from the first round was a brand with one of the highest domain counts, so we have some experience in observing future success stories at an early stage. It requires buy-in from diverse areas of an organization and applying only makes sense if leaders of each area are aligned.
The cost of applying for a Brand TLD is clearly another key factor in the decision-making process: The expected application fee will be USD $227,000[2]. Once the domain is delegated, there is an annual fee of USD $25,800[3] [4] in addition to smaller fee for data Escrow. In addition to the ICANN fees referenced, the applicant should also consider the cost of consultancy services for preparing the application, as well as the fee of the Registry Service Provider that provides the technical backend service.
Any applicant interested in obtaining a more precise cost estimate, spanning both fees payable to ICANN and external advisors, may reach out to IP Twins for a customized estimate of fees. IP Twins will be preparing applications in-house and has selected a preferred Registry Service Provider, so we are familiar with expected fees for these services.
Unlike the first round in 2012, Registry Service Providers will be pre-approved by ICANN. The application period for RSPs launched last month and IP Twins’ preferred partner is completing this process. The relevance of this change for the applicant is that it all but eliminates the possibility of failing the technical evaluation.
The addendum to the ICANN Registry Agreement with specific provisions for Brand TLDs, called Specification 13 [5], has not been modified since 2017 [6], so there’s no sign that the rules will change. In very broad terms, the Brand TLD will still be expected to match the applicant’s trademark and second-level domains are not to be licensed to external parties. In turn, Specification 13 exempts the registry operator from certain obligations that address a model where domains are offered to the public through registrars.
Along the same lines, the Application Guidebook for the Next Round won’t be published until next year, but the requirements outlined in this document are expected to be similar to the first round. Applicants can expect their advisors to carefully review the new Guidebook and be prepared to address any new elements introduced in this round. In general, the advisor will draft most sections of the application, but the applicant should be prepared to supply company registration documents and financial statements.
The application window will run for 12-15 weeks in Q2 2026, but applicant preparation is already starting in earnest. Regardless of the likelihood that your company or your client(s) ends up applying, we suggest reaching out to a trusted advisor such as IP Twins now to gain a fuller picture of what to expect in the application process and considerations for successful implementation of a Brand TLD. If you’d like to start this conversation, please reach out to your IP Twins account manager or our shared email juristes@iptwins.com.
Footnotes
[1] New gTLD Program: Next Round | New gTLD Program.
[2] ICANN Sets Expected Evaluation Fee for New gTLD Applications in the Next Round.
[3] dotBRAND Annual Fee Reducation Request, 10 July 2023.
[4] ICANN says it WILL raise its domain taxes soon – Domain Incite.
