.media Domain: An Address Ending Built for Content Work
.media entered the root zone on 3 April 2014 under an ICANN registry agreement dated 6 March 2014, and the current contracting party is Binky Moon, LLC. The word does not describe one industry; it describes any business that produces and distributes content, from newsrooms to podcast networks. nTLDstats, accessed 12 August 2026, records 130,628 registrations, of which 100,037 appear in the zone file.
Broadcasters, digital agencies, video and audio studios, freelance journalists, publisher networks and in-house communications teams all sit in this zone. There is no eligibility test, no document is requested at registration, and the registry verifies no press credential or agency listing. Try candidate names on the .media domain search screen and compare it with the .movie page if your work is film-first.
Of 130,628 registered names, 100,037 resolve in the zone file. Read that as a planning signal: the single-word root you have in mind is probably actually running a site, so waiting for it to expire is a weak strategy. Build the name in two parts instead — your brand plus the work you do — and treat the generic root as a bonus rather than the plan. A distinctive compound also gives you a stronger position if a trademark question ever comes up.
.MEDIA Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Binky Moon, LLC (Identity Digital)
- Root zone entry 3 April 2014
- Agreement type Base, Non-Sponsored
- Zone size 130,628 registrations, 100,037 published (12 August 2026)
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .media domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.media Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$9.49 /year -
Transfer
$45.49 /year -
Renewal
$48.99 /year -
Restore
$134.90 -
Late Renewal
$7.32
Included With Every .media Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.media Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .media domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .media address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .media domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $7.32 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .media returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.media Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.media Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .media domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.media Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .media Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No. The registry agreement carries an open registration commitment, which forbids the registry from limiting eligibility on the basis of who the registrant is. No press card, agency listing or broadcast licence is requested. In practice the zone is used by independent creators, one-person production shops and in-house communications teams as much as by newsrooms. Check availability on the .media search page.
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Mostly not. As of 12 August 2026 the zone holds 130,628 registrations and 100,037 of them are published, so names that look taken generally are taken and in use. Rather than chasing a bare generic root, pair your brand with a word that describes the work. If you want to test several combinations at once, the bulk domain search screen saves a lot of clicking.
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The extension follows standard gTLD transfer rules, so ICANN's transfer policy applies. Get the authorisation code from your current provider, remove the transfer lock and start the request at the receiving one. In media work the name is often still registered to a former agency or a freelance developer, so confirm who the listed registrant actually is before you begin. Start at the domain transfer page.
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The registry agreement describes a blocking service that runs across the operator's whole portfolio: a trademark holder can prevent others from registering the mark at the second level. That is tidier than buying defensive registrations one at a time. Pair it with the ordinary discipline — register the name for a long term and keep the registrant contact details current so renewal notices reach a live inbox.
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Yes. A certificate is a separate product from the domain and is obtained independently of the extension. Browsers flag pages served without HTTPS, so for a site whose whole purpose is publishing, this is not a step to postpone. Compare options on the SSL certificate page and confirm the installation afterwards with the SSL checker.
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Registration records are queried through RDDS, and personal data is largely redacted under applicable law. You can still see whether the name is registered, which registrar holds it and when the term expires — the three facts that matter most when you are considering an approach to buy it. Run the query from the whois search page.
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