The big reveal is nearly here! The day when ICANN reveals what New gTLDs have been applied for is just 24 hours away. After all the talking and all the TLD Application System (TAS) problems we are finally going to discover what New gTLDs we are likely to see! We have speculated on what we might see in a previous blog post. Tomorrow has the potential to change the way the Internet is categorised. It gives companies a chance to get their own branded domain name extension and users the chance to grab a domain name specific to their business or website.

We have already learned about lots of New gTLD applications as applicants were keen to publicise the fact that they had challenged for them. Google has already told us that they have applied for .google, .docs, .youtube and .lol. This is a tiny selection of the 50+ applications the search giant has submitted. Evidently the .google and .youtube strings were obvious choices, but people were surprised by the application for .lol. There are lots of other firms out there vying for new TLDs. Top Level Domain Holdings have already confirmed .london, .app, .rugby and .free among many others. In total they have made 92 applications. Directi has confirmed applications for .music, .news and .blog as part of their 31 application portfolio. Nominet, the .uk domain name registry has confirmed .wales and .cymru on top of their 5, as yet unconfirmed, brand name strings.

This is a tiny representation of the 1,900+ strong set of New gTLD applications that ICANN will disclose in London tomorrow. The event starts at 11:00 UTC/12:00 GMT. In addition to the actual strings applied for, ICANN will reveal details of the applicants themselves and their intended use for the domain names. Primarily this will tell us if the TLD will be closed (for private or controlled use) or open (open registration for anyone).

The domain name industry and the Internet community as a whole are holding their breath for this announcement! Domainmonster.com will be there every step of the way, giving you news the minute it breaks on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. As always, we will be striving to offer these new TLDs to our customers as soon as they become available in the coming months and years.