CES 2011 Recap: My Top Three Lessons Learned

CES 2011 is winding down with only one day left. Sunday is usually a VERY slow day at CES and many people try to escape Vegas on Friday or Saturday to avoid the mass exodus on Sunday night. Today was the last day for me to hit the show floor as I’ll be at Affiliate Summit starting bright and early tomorrow morning.

As usual I have very little downtime between meetings and enjoying the Vegas nightlife…come’on if you’re going to come to Vegas you have to party…right? So I only have about ten minutes to put this post together so I want to make it short and sweet. I have plenty of great videos and pictures that I’ll be posting next week when I get back to LA so this isn’t the last you’ll hear about CES.

I thought it would be useful to share three lessons I learned at CES this year.

  1. Smart TV is the buzzword of the show and it is clear that the television is becoming more like a computer every day. Each manufacturer has a bit of a different spin and some, like Yahoo even change it up a bit using the term “Connected TV” which I don’t like nearly as much as Smart TV. Either way my #1 take-away from the show is that your next TV will be Internet connected and the #1 keyword phrase people will be searching for in Google is Smart TV and it’s various related longtails.
  2. The rest of the world still doesn’t understand Domaining. I spoke to a few companies on the showfloor about domains I had that were directly related to their niche and already had traffic and rankings. I got the same response across the board – it began with a confused look and a polite, “Ummm I don’t think we buy Domains.” Even trying to explain the concept of organic traffic and saving a fortune on Google Ads just didn’t compute. Now this doesn’t mean these big companies don’t get it…but it is clear the people they send to CES don’t know a thing about domains. The good news for all of us is that this once again verifies how nascent this industry really is.
  3. 3DTV will never take-off unless they get rid of the glasses. I heard this loud and clear at the show when watching people demo 3DTV’s. Just standing for a few minutes I could the same response each time, “it would be cool without the glasses…but I don’t want to wear glasses to watch tv.” Now I’m not saying 3DTV will never take-off…just that it won’t take-off unless they get rid of the glasses.

You can use this information as you like. For me I see Domain Investing as much more than existing in the Domain Space. I see Domain Investing really being about connecting companies with online brands and traffic. CES is the place to be if you want to buy domain names in the Consumer Electronics space – if that’s not your niche then you’ll want to pick a conference that is in a niche you focus on. Do you like geo-targeted law domains? Go to a law conference. Interested in health domains, go to a medical conference. The idea is simple – there is a huge amount of value we all get from Domaining shows but don’t forget that at the end of the day the money is with the end-users…and the end-users don’t even know that Domaining shows (or the industry itself) even exists!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my coverage and insight into what’s coming in the CE space in 2011. As always feel free to comment and share your opinion!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton