Domain Names

Opening the 2026 New gTLD Round: A View from 2020Media

Opening the 2026 New gTLD Round

A Supportive Look with Honest Observations

The application window for the 2026 round of New Generic Top Level Domains is now open. This is the first major expansion of the DNS since 2012 and it marks an important moment for organisations that care about digital identity, namespace control and the future of the open Internet.

At 2020Media we welcome the renewed momentum. We also believe it is important to look at the programme with clarity. There is real progress here, but also areas that still need attention.

A Long Delayed Opportunity

Applications opened on 30 April 2026 and will be accepted until 12 August 2026.
This is only the second time that organisations have been able to apply for their own top level domain. The possibilities include a brand specific domain, a city domain, a community run namespace or a new generic term.

The 2012 round introduced more than 1,200 new gTLDs and changed the global domain landscape. The 2026 round aims to build on that foundation with a more structured and predictable process.

What Has Improved

Several developments deserve recognition.

Internationalised Domain Names receive meaningful support
Applications are accepted in 27 scripts which cover hundreds of languages. This is a genuine step toward a multilingual and globally accessible Internet.

The application process is more organised
The Applicant Guidebook is still extensive, but it is now supported by walkthrough videos, readiness pathways and a dedicated TLD Application Management System.

Operational and financial requirements are clearer
These measures should reduce the number of abandoned or under resourced TLDs that appeared after the 2012 round.

These improvements show that ICANN has listened to community feedback.

Where Challenges Remain

Progress does not remove every difficulty.

The cost barrier is still high
The base evaluation fee is 227,000 US dollars. Additional fees may apply. Even with the Applicant Support Program offering significant reductions, many community groups and smaller organisations will still find the cost difficult to meet.

The process remains complex
Seven modules, twelve appendices and hundreds of pages of policy still create a system that favours well resourced applicants with specialist support.

The market has matured and not always in a positive way
Some new gTLDs have succeeded, but many have struggled with adoption, marketing or long term sustainability. The enthusiasm of 2012 has been replaced by a more cautious environment.

Community and geographic names still face tension
Protections are better than before, but disputes over representation and competing claims remain a real possibility.

What Prospective Applicants Should Consider

If you are thinking about applying, here is the practical view.

A gTLD is powerful only with a clear long term plan
Running a registry is an ongoing operational responsibility rather than a simple branding exercise.

Brand TLDs remain the strongest use case
They offer security, trust and namespace control for organisations with mature digital strategies.

Community and geographic TLDs require strong stakeholder alignment
Without this, contention can derail even well intentioned projects.

Generic open TLDs face a crowded market
Success requires a clear niche, a sustainable business model and consistent marketing.

Our View at 2020Media

We are pleased to see the programme reopen. The Internet benefits from innovation, diversity and the ability for communities and brands to shape their own digital identity.

We also believe that the process still needs simplification, that support programmes should be easier to access and that the industry must speak honestly about long term viability rather than short term excitement.

As a hosting provider with deep experience in DNS operations and Internet governance, we will be following the 2026 round closely. We are ready to help customers understand both the opportunities and the realities.

If you are considering an application or simply want to explore what this means for your organisation, we are here to offer clear and grounded guidance

 

 

Email

Why 2020Media’s Broadcast Email Service Stands Out from the Crowd

In today’s digital age, effective communication is vital for businesses, organisations, and community groups to thrive. Email remains one of the most powerful tools for reaching audiences, driving engagement, and building relationships. That’s why 2020Media is proud to offer its Broadcast Email Service, a solution designed to help you share your message far and wide with ease.

But with numerous email services available, what sets 2020Media apart? Let’s explore how our service outshines competitors in affordability and reliability while delivering everything you need for successful email campaigns.

Affordability Without Compromise

When it comes to email broadcasting, cost matters. Many competitors offer feature-packed services, but they often come with hefty price tags or hidden fees that can quickly add up. At 2020Media, we believe in delivering great value without sacrificing quality:

  • Transparent Pricing: Unlike competitors that charge extra for essential features like analytics or customer support, our pricing is straightforward and all-inclusive.
  • Tailored Plans: Whether you’re managing a small mailing list or sending emails to thousands, our flexible pricing tiers ensure you’re only paying for what you need. Competitors often lock customers into rigid plans, but we put control in your hands.
  • Cost Efficiency: By combining multiple features—such as list management, personalisation, and tracking—into one affordable package, we eliminate the need for costly third-party tools.

Reliability You Can Count On

While affordability is critical, reliability is the backbone of any mailing list service. Delayed or undelivered messages can harm your reputation and disrupt your goals. At 2020Media, we prioritise trust and dependability with:

  • High Deliverability Rates: Our robust infrastructure ensures your emails land in your audience’s inbox, avoiding spam filters and maximising engagement. Competitors may struggle to maintain these rates, especially during high-volume campaigns.
  • 24/7 Support: When issues arise, you shouldn’t have to wait for assistance. Many competitors limit support to certain hours or charge premium fees for immediate help. At 2020Media, our expert team is available around the clock to ensure smooth operations.
  • Scalable Solutions: Whether you’re hosting a small webinar or launching a global campaign, our service adapts seamlessly to your needs, unlike competitor platforms that often impose restrictive capacity limits.

Why Choose 2020Media Over Competitors?

Beyond affordability and reliability, 2020Media is committed to creating a user-friendly experience for businesses of all sizes. Our platform offers:

  • Ease of Use: Our intuitive tools make managing mailing lists a breeze, eliminating the complexity found in some competitor services.
  • Customisation: Personalise your messages to align with your brand, giving you a competitive edge in crafting impactful communications.
  • Diverse Applications: From marketing campaigns to community updates, our service caters to a wide range of use cases, including small businesses, event organisers, non-profits, and educational institutions.

Don’t Overpay for Your Email Service

Competitor platforms often lure customers with flashy features, but the real costs become evident when examining pricing tiers, additional fees, and limitations. At 2020Media, we’ve simplified the process to deliver a cost-effective and reliable solution that doesn’t cut corners.

Ready to elevate your communication strategy? Choose 2020Media’s Broadcast Email Service today and enjoy affordable, reliable, and effective mailing list management tailored to your needs.

Technical

New: IP Space Rental Service

Boost Your Digital Presence with 2020Media’s IP Space Rental Service

In the dynamic world of internet service provision and email broadcasting, scalability and flexibility are key. At 2020Media, we understand the unique challenges that businesses face when trying to maintain operational efficiency while meeting increasing demands. That’s why we’re thrilled to introduce our latest offering: IP Space Rental Solutions.

If you’re an ISP looking to expand your address pool, or an email provider aiming to secure dedicated IPs for optimal deliverability, this service is built to meet your needs.

Why IP Space Rental is the Game-Changer Your Business Needs

Expanding your network infrastructure or maintaining sender reputation can often feel like navigating uncharted territory. Our IP space rental service eliminates the guesswork, offering a straightforward and cost-effective solution. With customisable packages and flexible rental terms, we empower businesses to adapt without hefty upfront investments.

The Advantages:

  1. Seamless Scaling: Whether you’re accommodating a surge in user traffic or expanding your services, rented IPs provide the agility you need to stay ahead.
  2. Enhanced Email Deliverability: Dedicated IPs ensure that your broadcast emails maintain top-notch deliverability and avoid blacklisting.
  3. Cost Efficiency: Forget the financial strain of purchasing IP blocks outright. With rental options, you pay only for the resources you actually use.

Who Can Benefit?

This service is tailored for ISPs, broadcast email providers, web hosting companies, and enterprises seeking short-term or long-term IP expansions. Whether it’s managing large-scale email campaigns or creating temporary testing environments, our solutions adapt to your unique needs.

Why Choose 2020Media?

With years of experience in digital infrastructure solutions, 2020Media combines technical expertise with a customer-centric approach. Our IP space rental service is backed by robust infrastructure, high availability, and 24/7 support. We prioritise reliability, ensuring that your operations run smoothly every step of the way.

Ready to Get Started?

Take your business operations to the next level with 2020Media’s IP Space Rental Solutions. Contact our team today to explore how we can tailor a package to suit your requirements.

Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash

Technical

Introducing Drupal CMS: Your Ultimate Solution for Website Management Available Now at 2020Media

In the ever-evolving world of web development, a robust and flexible content management system (CMS) is crucial for creating and managing dynamic websites. We are thrilled to announce the release of Drupal CMS, now available at 2020Media, your trusted partner for hosting and domain services.

Why Choose Drupal CMS?

Drupal is a powerful and highly customizable CMS that empowers you to build everything from personal blogs to enterprise-level websites. With its modular architecture, Drupal allows you to extend and tailor your site to meet specific needs, making it a favorite among developers and businesses alike.

Key Features of Drupal CMS:

  • Best for:  Marketers, content creators and site builders.
  • Scalability: Perfect for small projects and large-scale applications, handling high traffic with ease.
  • Security: Robust security features to protect your site from vulnerabilities and threats.
  • Performance: Optimized for speed and performance, ensuring a seamless user experience.
  • Community Support: Benefit from a large and active community offering extensive resources and support.

Get Started with Drupal at 2020Media

At 2020Media, we understand the importance of reliable hosting for your Drupal site. Our Drupal hosting plans are specifically optimized for Drupal, ensuring top-notch performance, security, and support. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just getting started, our team is here to assist you every step of the way.

Why Choose 2020Media?

  • Expert Support: Our knowledgeable team provides personalized support tailored to your needs.
  • Reliable Hosting: High-performance servers and 99.9% uptime guarantee for a smooth, uninterrupted experience.
  • Affordable Plans: Flexible and competitive pricing to suit businesses of all sizes.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to leverage the power of Drupal CMS. Visit 2020Media today and explore our hosting plans designed to maximize your site’s potential.

Contact Us:

Ready to get started? Contact our team at 2020Media to learn more about how Drupal CMS can transform your web presence. We look forward to helping you achieve your online goals!

Opinion

The Balancing Act: AI Web Scraping for Training Purposes

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a cornerstone of innovation, driving advancements across various sectors. One of the critical components in developing robust AI systems is training data, which is often sourced through web scraping. As we consider the practice of allowing AI to scrape customer websites for training data, it’s essential to weigh the benefits against the potential drawbacks.

The Case for AI Web Scraping

Web scraping is a technique used to extract large amounts of data from websites, which can then be utilized to train AI models. This process is pivotal for the development of generative AI models that require vast and varied datasets to learn and evolve. The benefits of web scraping for AI training are manifold:

  • Data Abundance: AI models thrive on data. Web scraping provides access to a treasure trove of information that can significantly enhance the learning capabilities of AI systems.
  • Real-time Updates: By automating data collection, AI can keep its training materials up-to-date, reflecting the latest trends and consumer behaviors.
  • Efficiency: Scraping can streamline the data collection process, making it faster and more cost-effective compared to manual methods.
  • Customization: AI can cherry-pick data from trusted sources, ensuring the relevance and quality of the training material.

The Flip Side: Ethical and Legal Considerations

While the advantages are clear, the practice of web scraping for AI training is not without its controversies. The ethical and legal implications of web scraping must be carefully considered:

  • Privacy Concerns: The automated collection of data can inadvertently include personal information, raising significant privacy issues.
  • Legal Ambiguity: The legality of web scraping varies by jurisdiction and often hinges on the terms of service of the websites being scraped. In the UK, for instance, the legality of web scraping depends on how the data is used and whether it violates any laws or terms of service.
  • Intellectual Property: There is a risk of infringing on intellectual property rights when scraping content that is not explicitly in the public domain.
  • User Consent: Ethical web scraping practices demand transparency and user consent, ensuring that individuals are aware of and agree to the use of their data.

Enhancing Visibility and Genuine Traffic Through AI Scraping

Web scraping can have both positive and negative impacts on website traffic. On one hand, if the data collected through scraping is used by legitimate services like search engines or AI chatbots, it could potentially increase visibility and drive genuine human traffic to the website. These services could index the content, making it more likely to appear in search results or recommendations, which in turn could lead to increased visits by real users.

However, it’s important to note that not all web scraping is beneficial. Malicious scraping can lead to issues such as content duplication, which might harm a website’s search engine rankings. Additionally, excessive scraping activities can slow down a website’s performance, negatively affect user experience, and distort analytics data, such as bounce rate and page views. This could potentially reduce the chances of genuine human traffic, as users may become frustrated with slow loading times and leave the site.

Moreover, bots that scrape content account for a significant portion of website traffic in some industries, which can overload infrastructure, skew analytics data, and diminish the value of marketing and SEO investments.

In conclusion, while web scraping has the potential to improve a website’s visibility and attract genuine human traffic, it must be managed carefully to prevent negative consequences. It’s crucial for website owners to implement measures to distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ scrapers and to protect their sites from malicious activities.

Striking a Balance

To navigate the complexities of AI web scraping, a balanced approach is necessary. Here are some considerations for 2020media.com and its customers:

  • Transparency: Clearly communicate the purpose and scope of data collection to users, providing them with the option to opt-out if desired.
  • Compliance: Adhere to legal standards and best practices, respecting copyright laws, terms of service, and privacy regulations.
  • Security: Implement robust security measures to protect the scraped data from unauthorized access or breaches.
  • Ethical Framework: Develop an ethical framework that guides the scraping process, ensuring fairness and respect for user rights.

The decision to allow AI to scrape customer websites for training data is not one to be taken lightly. While it presents an opportunity to enhance AI capabilities, it also poses ethical and legal challenges that must be addressed. By adopting a balanced and responsible approach and giving customers the choice, 2020media.com can harness the power of web scraping while upholding the trust of its customers and complying with regulatory standards.

2020Media offers customers the choice to block or allow bots from scraping your content for AI applications like model training. Please get in touch to find out more.

 

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