.podcast
Is .podcast a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.podcast is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Identity Digital, Radix and Link Freedom Group. Automattic named .podcast as a backup string for its .pod application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
Who is applying, and what they run today
Two of the three already run TLDs, 25.23M names between them. One runs one of .podcast's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .video. Link Freedom Group runs none.
Will names sell?
A clear label for podcast websites, but most shows live on big platforms, so few would pay much to use it as their main address.
Last round the AI scored the 2012 strings blind to their fate. Strings it scored 60 or more hold a median 27,168 names today; those under 30, a median of 30. .podcast’s closest 2012 strings hold .blog 390K, .radio 3K and .video 27K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .blog, held 389,860 names, June 2026. .radio held 2,996; .video held 26,934. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a generic noun for a native-internet publishing format that individual creators and independent shows would put their primary identity on, where value depends on the format itself becoming a durable identity category rather than a passing content fad.
Same medium-noun bet on audio programming as an identity, but it leans toward incumbent broadcasters and stations rather than the self-published long-tail creator who is the natural registrant for a format word.
Also a bare content-format category noun that anyone producing that kind of media could claim, but it is broad enough to read as a generic file-type utility word rather than the name of a specific publishing culture.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and Link Freedom Group face each other in 68 contests this round, .podcast included.
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × Radix
- Link Freedom Group × Radix
- Identity Digital × Automattic
- Link Freedom Group × Automattic
podcast creators, networks, and hosting or tooling companies wanting a show-branded web address; secondarily agencies and media brands promoting audio properties
What a .podcast domain is
.podcast is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .podcast domain extension real yet?
.podcast is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. It is a string applicants have put forward in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, the process that decides whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .podcast domain?
You can’t yet. A .podcast name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .podcast was .blog, delegated on 18 May 2016.
Is .podcast a real TLD?
Not yet. .podcast is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .podcast is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Automattic · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Radix · first recordedRadix
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
KKWT2621T-T62434 · Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC · replacement string of .pod · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T96360 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-184 RTIS2674T-T83171 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-184 VTL2632T-T30500 · Velvet Taupe, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-184
“LFGL2683T-T96360 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-184 RTIS2674T-T83171 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-184 VTL2632T-T30500 · Velvet Taupe, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-184”ICANN
“Radix has applied for these TLDs; we do not own or operate them today.”Radix
“.podcast · AI & Tech · “Stories that stream, voices that carry.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49), at 34. Not in the band above (strong niche, 50-69) because podcast discovery and identity are platform-mediated: audiences find shows inside apps and directories, not by typing domains, so a .podcast address is a marketing pointer rather than a primary identity for most serious shows; by analogy, .radio and .audio have seen real but modest uptake without becoming category defaults, and .fm captured much of the audio-adjacent domain demand through brand-hack appeal that a long literal string like .podcast lacks (analogy, exact figures unknown). Not in the band below (vanity/joke, 10-29) because podcasting is a large, durable medium with a genuine long tail of independent creators, networks, and tooling companies for whom an exact-match, self-describing address has real utility for show sites, link hubs, and campaigns over the next 5 years. The string is semantically perfect but long, and the best names (single words matching show titles or genres) could support a thin aftermarket at low-to-mid prices; volume registrations on price promotions are plausible, strong brand signal is not. Applicant context: LFG filed more than 300 strings in the 2026 round and published its catalog, listing this string under 'AI & Tech' with the tagline 'Stories that stream, voices that carry.'; a large-portfolio applicant suggests broad marketing rather than a podcast-industry-anchored registry push, which I weigh neutrally on adoption likelihood. Main market uncertainty: whether any major podcast hosting platform or directory adopts .podcast addresses as a default creator handle, which would convert it from a pointer into an identity layer.