Which small country earns significant revenue from its .tv internet domain? Tuvalu does, because .tv is the country’s internet country-code top-level domain.
Tuvalu is a Polynesian island nation in the central Pacific with a population of roughly 11,000 people. Its economy is constrained by remoteness, limited land, and a small domestic market, so fishing licences, overseas workers, international assistance, the Tuvalu Trust Fund, and domain royalties all matter to government finances.
The .tv suffix became unusually valuable because it resembles the abbreviation for television. Although it is technically Tuvalu’s country-code domain, registrations are marketed internationally for television, video, streaming, and gaming websites. In 2019, .tv royalties were estimated to account for 8.4% of Tuvalu’s government revenue.
A common mix-up is assuming that .tv is a generic domain like .com. It began as a country-code domain for Tuvalu in 1996, but its commercial appeal has made it widely recognizable beyond the country. The registry’s management has changed over time, most recently moving to GoDaddy Registry.