Domaining Reality Show

by Chris Woodward

Am I the only one surprised that there hasn’t been a reality TV show based on the Domaining industry? Reality TV is big business and lately some of the most successful reality television shows are those that focus on an industry that is unknown to the general public for the most part. People like insight into worlds they would otherwise have no way into, and that’s why I think these types of shows are so popular. Some of my favorite reality shows in this category are Storm Chasers, Storage Wars, American Pickers, Sons of Guns, Wall Street Warriors (which I’m not sure is active, I no longer get the MOJO channel since switching to Direct TV), Pawn Stars, and Auction Kings.

Out of the seven shows listed, five of them have one major thing in common: Making money. To find an even greater connection, the shows Storage Wars, American Pickers, Wall Street Warriors, and Pawn Stars all involve the subjects in the show investing their own money to make big returns. The reason this theme is so popular with viewers is people love the idea that they can just do what the folks on TV are doing and make it rich. No doubt the crowds at storage auctions have increased ten fold since the show Storage Wars first aired. The show follows a few different main characters as they bid and win storage unit auctions, find amazing items in the contents of the unit, and resell them for big bucks. What the cameras don’t show is the time, energy, and money wasted on unsuccessful investments. People only want to see successes and that’s what these shows give them, which makes reality shows and domaining a perfect fit.

People would eat up  seeing someone buy a domain for $100 to make $1000, or $10,000 to make $50,000, or even better $100,000 to make $1M. What domainers do is no different than what the characters on Storage Wars, American Pickers, Wall Street Warriors, and Pawn Stars do…try to buy low and sell high. These shows also like to have a variety of characters and personalities with different strategies for their investments, also perfect for domaining. Most of all, people want to watch something they think they could easily do in their own lives. How hard is it to buy a domain and resell it for 1000% profit? On TV, easy. Little do they know…which again makes this perfect for domaining.

So let’s say this idea gets picked up. Who are the stars? There are many possibilities.

The Mogul: Frank Schilling. The guy has a mansion in paradise because of domain names and influences everything.

The King: Rick Schwartz. If Rick Schwartz wasn’t a domainer and had a reality show I’d still watch it.

The Hustler: Elliot Silver. The guy churns and burns better than anyone.

The Villian: Adam Dicker. People seem to love him or hate him. He talks some shit sometimes…I love that.

The Natural: Shane Cultra. Runs a successful multi-million dollar business and is a successful domainer on the side, just for kicks.

The Marketer: Ostrofsky. People know him from The View and he’ll only get richer from this show.

The Rookie: Teen Domainer. What’s that kid’s name? Brian I think. Started domaining in HS, now just in college.

The Rockstar: I’ll take this one. Viewers would be surprised this can be done while maintaining a constant buzz.

The Girl: Uhhhhhhhhh, help me out here.

Any other ideas?

Now that I’ve written this I can’t believe it’s not already happening. Surely A&E, TLC, Discovery or one of the several other channels that now devote more than 75% of their programming to reality TV will read this and it’ll be a sure thing. And a name for the program? My Vote: Domainiacs. But I’m sure some of you can do better than that.