Josh Bourne ⬥ 10 June
What could the domain names coconutloving.com, desperaterussianhousewives.co.uk, and jellyparties.co.uk have in common? The answer is surprising – all three sites are registered and run by the BBC.
Following a Freedom of Information request, the BBC recently released a list of 154 of the domain names that it owns. The sites range from the predictable, bbcfrench.com, to the peculiar, watchagrownmanrot.co.uk. While seemingly random, they are all relevant in some way to BBC content. Some of the stranger addresses are derived from the plots of BBC TV shows. The site bestmurders.co.uk, for example, was registered in connection to the dark comedy Psychoville. The domains and the sites they host are creative ways to give the shows more exposure.
The BBC was careful to ward off cybersquatters, though, and did not disclose the complete list of the domain names it owns. A number of the domains it omitted were related to forthcoming TV programs and storylines and had been preemptively registered. The BBC did so to avoid giving away future plot details, but also to prevent revealing its domain name strategy to cybersquatters who could then exploit that information to predict and register new names.
It’s really interesting to see the BBC display so much humor and creativity with its domain portfolio. The corporation has been able to generate a significant amount of buzz with its unexpectedly odd domain names and has demonstrated the value of owning them even if it never plans to use them for the creation of real sites (just try typing in desperaterussianhousewives.co.uk).
Tags: BBC, BBC TV, cybersquatters, domain names, Freedom of Information request, Psychoville, TV programs