iEstates.com

According to the USA Today Ad Meter, the race for the Super Bowl Ad race was won by the Dogs.

The top three rated ads all featured dogs.

The Doritos commercial where the big Dog bribes the cat owner was the top rated rate.

The Volkswagen ad where the overweight Dog gets fit took second and the Sketchers ad where the Boston Terrier in Dog in sneakers wins the greyhound race finished third.

The rescue dog in the Bud Light that worked tirelessly to supply a thirsty crowd with beer finished 6th.

In 4th place was the Doritos commercial where the Baby grabs the bag of Doritos sling shot style, the M&M/Mars with the ‘Naked” Brown M&M was 5th.

The Godaddy commercials escaped the bottom 5, but were down towards the bottom on the list.

For the record The .Co commercial was ranked lower than the Godaddy.com cloud commercial.

You can see all the results of the USA Today Ad Meter Here…

According to a press release this morning, “Go Daddy also broke its own records for sales on a Super Bowl Sunday”

It also claimed its commercial featuring a QR code produced the “best mobile website traffic … ever.”

Godaddy also says that .Co “enjoyed a significant surge in .CO domain name registrations over the weekend and throughout the live broadcast”.

Godaddy admits in the PR that “Critics Panned their Super Bowl Ads,  but Go Daddy Sees RECORD RESULTS anyway”.

Here is some other info from the press release:

“Go Daddy’s “Body Paint” ad accounted for a tremendous Internet spike during the Super Bowl as reported by Akamai Technologies, a company that monitored Internet usage during the Super Bowl.”

“As a result, GoDaddy.com is serving more customers than ever before, rocketing past a historic 10 million customer mark during the Super Bowl broadcast.”

“The achievement came courtesy of two Internet-Only commercials that prompted viewers to visit the Go Daddy website and a first-ever Super Bowl “technology play” involving an on-screen symbol geared for smartphone users.”

“Go Daddy engaged smartphone users by putting a Quick Response (QR) Code on its Super Bowl commercial, “Cloud.” and “receive discounts for Go Daddy’s cloud-based products and services.”

“Initially, some criticized the move, saying the QR Code looked unusual on the screen, but the gamble paid off as more viewers than ever visited GoDaddyMobile.com.”

“We decided it was worth the risk to play to all the people watching the game and using their smartphones simultaneously,” said Go Daddy Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons. “I’m thrilled we made the decision. Viewers scanned the code and as a result, Go Daddy set an all-time sales record for our mobile site.”

“Prior to the game, it was estimated smartphone users would check their devices ten times during the game. Go Daddy has used the technology in other television ads, but a QR code had never been used in a Super Bowl commercial by any advertiser.”

“The QR Code technique debuted with the star who has been in more Super Bowl commercials (10) than any other celebrity ever, Danica Patrick.”

“People think of Go Daddy as a fun company and we do like to have fun with the Super Bowl ads — filming the ‘Cloud’ with the new Pussycat Dolls was a blast and I think that came through in the commercial,” Danica said. “When you boil it down, Go Daddy is an innovative company, they’re willing to try new things, but at its core, Go Daddy is all about taking care of customers — it’s the best of both worlds and it’s the real secret to Go Daddy’s success.”

“This is Go Daddy’s eighth consecutive Super Bowl advertising campaign.…

Tucows.com just published a post its site entitled “Why We Don’t Like SOPA and promises to follow Reddit lead and blackout its site on January 18th

The story is written by Elliot Noss the CEO of Tucows.com

Tucows.com is the 3rd largest registrar in the world with almost 9 Million domains under management according to registrarStats.com

We congratulate Tucows for taking a strong stance on this and joining the black out which will cost them a day of revenue.

Here is the full post:

“”The proposed SOPA (and equally odious “Protect IP Act“) legislation is fundamentally flawed in how it works and the damage it is likely to do to the Internet, which has been the greatest platform for innovation the world has ever seen.”

“For that reason we will be joining the blackout organized by our friends at Reddit by blacking out the Tucows Software Download site on January 18th from 8am to 8pm EST (1300-0100 UTC).”

“The Internet is a global creature. A “Made in the USA” solution will no more work to stop the problems talked of than would one made in any other single nation state. Worse, the US has been at the forefront of ensuring that the Internet has remained free and a platform for innovation for the last fifteen years. With SOPA, or ProtectIP, that leadership will effectively end and Syria, China, Iran and others will not only use the US as a role model, they will also use these actions as further evidence of US control of the Internet and justification for trying to turn it over to the UN/ITU. This is best described by Susan Crawford.”

“Worse, the legislation itself is fundamentally corrupt. It is bought and paid for by big media, trying vainly to protect anachronistic business models. This has been demonstrated clearly in all of the hearings and the very conduct of the debate. Listening to how deeply uninformed those being asked to legislate this issue are has been nothing short of scary. Watching how support and opposition has lined up has been disheartening. This is the worst example of the kind of fundamental corruption that is at the heart of the US political system currently and is well defined by Professor Larry Lessig. If you have ten minutes please watch this video on the subject.”

“If you have an hour please watch this one.”

“The Internet is not a corpus, it is not a thing. It is a series of protocols, which are really agreements on how computers will behave when connected to the Internet. Treating the Internet like a thing to be legislated and controlled is as ill-conceived as treating “Intellectual Property” like physical property and leads to even greater perversions. ”

“If governments squeeze too tightly, the Internet as we know it will simply get up and walk away. It will fracture and split with a “clean” Internet and a much larger Darknet. than there is today, but not one used mainly for file sharing. Instead the Darknet will become the real Internet. Brands will sell things and Media will offer content on the “Cleannet”, but the Darknet will be where ideas are shared, plans are made, memes are propagated and where most of the cool people, including most of our children, will be.

Prohibitions have never worked to change behaviours. They simply make people who fear things feel good and create a new mini-industry for fear mongers to make money off of.

They do not change behaviours.”"

When the story first broke about the Godaddy boycott or “move your domain away” movement to protest Godaddy’s support of SOPA, it was two weeks ago on December 22nd.

A few days later, we released numbers based off of DailyChanges.com which we acknowledged were only a best guess based on changes made to Godaddy’s default servers of DomainControl.com and promised as soon as we had actual numbers we would report them.

Well we have been tracking the daily incoming and outgoing domain name transfers for Godaddy ever since through RegistrarStats.com, and now exactly two weeks to the day we have “Real Numbers” of completed transfers into and out of Godaddy.

The final tally:

100,000 domain names were transferred away from Godaddy

117,000 domain names were transferred into Godaddy.com

Since RegistrarStats.com is a paid service we can’t share exact and detailed numbers, but of those registrars that got the most domain names from Godaddy transferred to it, Enom.com led the way.

NameCheap.com was one of the registrars that jumped on the Boycott or “move your domain away” and issued special discount codes and promised to contribute money to he EFF if it met certain transfer in goals.

NameCheap is a Enom reseller so all of those incoming transfers into NameCheap show up under Enom.

After Enom the other registrars getting the most incoming transfers from Godaddy during this two week period were, Tucows, Name.com, and KeySystems.com.

However during the same two week period 117,000 domain names were transferred into Godaddy.com

The registrars that lost the most domain names to Godaddy in that time frame were, Moniker.com, Enom.com and Tucows.com

In the last 30 days, once again according to RegistrarStats.com, of the top 25 domain name registrars, 14 of them lost more domains through transfers out and deletions than they gained from transfers in and new registrations.

Meaning only 11 of the top 25 domain name registrars gained domains under management in the last 30 days.

The biggest gainer?

Godaddy.com

Godaddy.com had by far the largest gain of domain names adding over 200,000 in the last 30 days.

The biggest loser?

Moniker.com which lost around 80,000 domain names in the last 30 days.

For some disclaimers.

The numbers contained herein only include completed domain transfers.

Transfers that are in the process but not yet completed or transfers that failed for some reason are not included.

Also RegistrarStats.com has its own series of disclaimers you can read here.

We also discarded any transfer from or to BlueRazor and WildWest, two other registrar under Godaddy ownership.

If your very interested in stats from the registrars there really is no better source than RegistrarStats.com although you would like I had to pay for the service to have access to it.

So we will schedule a final update on the number for two weeks.

I have read some stories that suggest that the Godady “Boycott” was some how unsuccessful.

However clearly the company changed its position and not only no longer supports SOPA, but is now against the bill.

So customers spoke and the company listened I don’t know how much more you can ask for.

The battle over SOPA is far from over, and hearing are scheduled again in Congress this month.

We will keep you updated.

According to RegistrarStats.com,  Moniker.com just fell to the 11th largest domain name registrar being passed by FastDomain.com

During 2011 FastDomain.com picked up around 800,000 registrations while Moniker which was the 7th largest registrar at the beginning of 2011.

During 2011 Moniker.com lost about 8o0,000 domains under management and sits right over 2 Million domain names.

I don’t know much of anything about FastDomain.com, other than they seem to be headquartered in Provo Utah.

Moniker.com on the other hand we hear through the rumor mill, fired some more staff last week.

It should be noted that Webhosting.info still have Moniker as the 10th largest registrar with FastDomains.com as number 12 and KeySystems.com as number 11th.

KeySystems.com is listed as number 12 on RegistrarStats.com.

BigRock.com is an ICANN Accredited registrar, that is one of the major tags used by SnapNames.com to catch domain names on the drop.

I just received an email from them today about the Verisign’s price increase which goes into effect January 15th.

“”Dear Customer,

As your account manager, I would like to inform you of an imminent change in Verisign Registry pricing.”

“From early January 2012,.COM/.NET domain prices will approximately increase by $2 USD.”

“I urge you to take advantage of BigRock’s Industry Best Pricing and register your domains or renew existing ones prior to this price increase.”

“Feel free to contact me for more information or any help that you may need with your account.”

Now Verisign’s wholesale price for .com registrations and renewals is set to increase by 7% or $.51 and its wholesale price for .net’s is set to increase by $.46.

I don’t know if BigRock.com is planning on using the $.51 price increase as an excuse to raise their prices on .com and .net’s by $2, and while a registrar can charge whatever they want for domain renewal or registration,  it clearly not proper to tell its customers that Verisign is raising prices 3X more than they really are.

1 and 1, one of the largest hosting companies in the world, and a domain name registrar,  this morning sent an email to it current customers telling them why they oppose both the  Protect-IP (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and why customers should join the fight against the current bills.

Its a much different tactic taken than other registrars that have taken Godaddy former support of the bills to encourage Godaddy customers to transfer domains out with discount codes.

This email was sent to current customers of 1 and 1 and its call to action message isn’t about getting any new business but to get customers to support organizations like fightforthefuture.org that has  “emerged to protect user interests in the current legislative debate”

Here is the letter that was sent out in full and unedited.

Thanks to Danny for the tip.

“”"”"

Dear Sir/Miss,

You may have heard about Protect-IP (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act
(SOPA) currently under consideration in Congress. If passed, among other
things, SOPA requires Web hosting companies like 1&1 to police websites in
order to prevent them from communicating copyrighted information on the
internet. We would like to make sure you are aware of 1&1’s official
position on SOPA.

As a global provider of domains and hosting services, we oppose the Stop
Online Piracy Act (SOPA) or Protect-IP (PIPA) Acts currently under
consideration. While we observe the concerns of those who are troubled by
the potential impact on protecting intellectual property online, 1&1 feels
there is an urgent need to strike a balance between dissemination of and
access to information and protection against its illegal use within the
public domain.

The US government is currently reviewing SOPA and PIPA as possible ways to
prevent unlawful distribution of copyrighted materials available on the
internet. These current proposals, if passed, would allow for significant
interventions into the technological and economical basis of the internet.
This could put the vast benefits and economic opportunities of entirely
legal and legitimate e-business models at risk. Generally, companies
offering technological services should not be forced to be the executor of
authority in such matters. If they were to act upon every implication of
content infringement without any judicial research into the actual usage of
its customers, the integrity behind their customer’s freedom of
information and speech would be enormously harmed.

1&1 Internet, Inc. has worked through associations and with related
companies to ensure that these aspects are taken into account. Thus, we
welcome the serious consideration by the US Congress of the potential
harmful effects on Internet freedom should SOPA and / or PIPA be passed as
law, and hope the stability of the Internet’s domain name system (DNS)
remains intact.

We encourage every Internet user concerned about these plans to contribute
to the debate and to raise their voice with their local representatives in
the House or Senate. One way to express your concerns could be to use one
of the websites that emerged to protect user interests in the current
legislative debate, such as http://fightforthefuture.org/.

At 1&1 we support you, our customer, and an open internet. If you find that
you are supporting a company that encourages SOPA and wish to drop them as
a provider, please follow the simple instructions contained on the website
linked below.

Thank you for being one of our extremely valued customers, and for taking
the time to read this.

Best regards,

Frederick Iwans
General Manager 1&1 Internet Inc.
“”"”

Yesterday we reported on the two day loss from domain names transferred out of Godaddy.com to other domain name registrars in like of their former support of the SOPA Bill.

As a quick update DailyChanges.com reported an additional 28,656 domain names transferred out of Godaddy.com.

It should be noted that this figure only includes domain names that use Godaddy.com default servers and does not include domains that are hosted on their own server.

For Example this blog, TheDomains.com is hosted on servers  ns1.thedomains.com and ns2.thedomains.com.  If our domain registrar was Godaddy.com (which is and was not) and we moved the domain from Godaddy we would not be on the DailyChanges.com report.

There are sources that track overall domains registered at domain name registrars but they those reports are not real time and report one or two weeks behind, so we will have to wait a while for more accurate reports.

However out of the 50 Million domains registered by Godaddy over 32 Million of these have use Godaddy.com default server of Domaincontrol.com so its a pretty good indication of overall movement.

We will continue to follow the story.

You can Follow us on Twitter here and on Facebook Here

On Thursday as you probably know by now, a poster on Reditt.com called for people to move their domain names away from Godaddy calling December 29th as the day to do so.

Yesterday Godaddy.com reversed it position in the early afternoon EST pulling its support for the SOPA Bill.

So the remaining question is how many domain names got transferred on Thursday and Friday.

We can tell you over 15,000 domain names were transferred from Godaddy.com on Thursday and over 21,000 were transferred away from Godaddy on Friday.

The numbers come from DailyChanges.com.

It should be noted that on Thursday more domains were transferred into Godaddy.com (17,000) than left the registrar.

On Friday although Godaddy.com lost 21,054 domain through transfers out to other registrars, they received 20,034 transfers into Godaddy.com from other registrars.

It should also be noted that for the three days prior to the call for the boycott on Thursday, Godaddy had this amount of transfers out:

that being Monday (8,800), Tuesday (13,000) and Wednesday (14,500).

Wow that was quick.

One day after a post on Reddit called for a boycott of Godaddy.com due to its support of the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA),  Godaddy.com just issued a statement saying it no longer supports it.

“”"Go Daddy is no longer supporting SOPA, the “Stop Online Piracy Act” currently working its way through U.S. Congress.

“Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation — but we can clearly do better,” Warren Adelman, Go Daddy’s newly appointed CEO, said. “It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this.  Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it.”

“Go Daddy and its General Counsel, Christine Jones, have worked with federal lawmakers for months to help craft revisions to legislation first introduced some three years ago. Jones has fought to express the concerns of the entire Internet community and to improve the bill by proposing changes to key defined terms, limitations on DNS filtering to ensure the integrity of the Internet, more significant consequences for frivolous claims, and specific provisions to protect free speech.”"

“As a company that is all about innovation, with our own technology and in support of our customers, Go Daddy is rooted in the idea of First Amendment Rights and believes 100 percent that the Internet is a key engine for our new economy,” said Adelman.

“”In changing its position, Go Daddy remains steadfast in its promise to support security and stability of the Internet. In an effort to eliminate any confusion about its reversal on SOPA though, Jones has removed blog postings that had outlined areas of the bill Go Daddy did support.”"

“Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties, and will continue to do so in the future,” Jones said.”"

Its quite a change from yesterday where Godaddy said they weren’t worried about the boycott or the proposed Move Your Domain Away From Godaddy.com called for December 29th.

The boycott went viral yesterday and Thedomains.com,  post which carried Godaddy.com statement in support of the Bill which was cited by the author of the Reditt.com post, got well over 35,000 visitors yesterday and over 15,000 today.