ICANN, the multi-stakeholder organization that defines policies and manages critical parts of the Internet's infrastructure is developing plans to allow for a new expansion of generic top-level domains, alongside of .COM, .NET, .ORG and hundreds more. During a limited timeframe, in Q2 and Q3 of 2026, companies and organizations have another opportunity to reflect their identity, brand, community, city, region, or any other identifier at the top level of the domain name system.
Although each type of new gTLD has its own challenges and success factors, they have one thing in common: applying for and managing your own top-level domain is not an easy and straightforward task: not only does it require careful planning and preparation, domain name registries need to abide by strict policies and have to take into account contractual legal frameworks that are out of their comfort zone.
For this reason, we have developed tailored offerings, based on a collective 50+ years of experience in assisting domain name registries, registrars, brand owners, dispute resolution services providers and ICANN:
During the previous round, many brand owners were seeking to have their brand as an internet top-level domain. Although some brand owners applied for their so-called Brand TLD for defensive purposes (and either did not proceed to delegation or terminated their Registry Agreement with ICANN afterwards), quite a few tried to make the most of their investment.
As we expect that some brand owners will participate in the 2026 round of new gTLDs, we can bring a wealth of expertise in this space.
Quite a few small and major cities and regions applied for their own generic top-level domains in the 2012 round, inspired by the Region of Catalunya's sponsored TLD .CAT.
In the case of city- or regional TLDs, it remains key to obtain the necessary approvals and support to not only apply for the gTLD but also to make it a commercial success. Building your audience as soon as possible is likely more key for these gTLD types, as it gives you a seat around the table with parties who will assist you at a later stage in registering domain names in your TLD.
TLDs in scripts other than standard Latin script have formed part of ICANN's New gTLD Program since the 2012 round, and we expect more activity in the forthcoming 2026 round.
Although there are plenty of opportunities for IDN gTLDs out there, it is important to devise a good strategy around:
During the 2012 round, we advised various brand owners, international organizations and regions in view of applying for, obtaining and registering their IDN TLDs with ICANN.
Generic top-level domains will remain the main focus of ICANN's Second New gTLD Round; however, various shifts in the domain name industry will require applicants for true "gTLDs" to be cautious:
As ICANN has recently published the first Draft version of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook, future applicants should start preparing for submitting their applications for new top level domains in Q2 of 2026.
Based on our decades of experience in working with domain name registries, back-end registry operators, domain name registrars, brand owners and ICANN, we have developed a comprehensive set of services that can help you making the best of ICANN's New gTLD Program. These experiences and insights go beyond "what the Applicant Guidebook says", and explain what it takes to start, operate and manage your own piece of core internet infrastructure.
Whether you are a client of Pitch or not, parties who are interested in applying for their own new generic top-level domain can obtain access to our free knowledge base of articles, views, opinions, ... on our website. Furthermore you can request access to our online Academy, where we are giving a lot of information to prospective applicants (generic TLDs, brands, city- or regional TLDs, etc.):
This information not only relates to "how" you should apply for, obtain and operate your gTLD, but also background information on "why" you should take certain decisions, which impact future evolutions will have on your plans, and how to make the most of your investment.
We also show you in detail how you can use our data and technology to help you taking the right steps at the right time. So please feel free to send an email to Bart, who will coordinate your access to our Academy which, for the time being, is free of charge.