Verisign have released their latest Domain Name Industry Brief, which gives domain resellers an overview of the industry through a variety of statistics. Verisign are the registry for, amongst others, .com and .net domain names. Some of the more important and interesting statistics in the report are provided below.
The second quarter of 2012 saw a 3.1% increase in the total number of registered domains. This equates to 7.3 million domain names and takes the total to over 240 million domains. Domain resellers take note; our industry is still growing rapidly!
The .com and .net domain name space grew by 1.6%, which represents an increase of 1.89 million domain names. The number of .com domains registered grew to 103.7 million, while .net domains now number in excess of 14.8 million. In the last quarter alone, there were over 8.4 million new .com and .net registrations.
Verisign’s latest estimate is that 87% of the .com and .net domain names registered resolve to a website of some kind. This is a great indication that these domain names are actively being used.
Interestingly, the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) space saw a massive 5.7% increase. Over 5 million ccTLDs were added in the last quarter alone. As a domain reseller, you should be reminding your clients of the importance of ccTLDs for increased international visibility and the brand image advantages of using a visitor’s local ccTLD.
The Top 4ccTLDs by Domain Name base are as follows:
1. .de (Germany)
2. .tk (Tokelau)
3. .uk (United Kingdom)
4. .nl (Netherlands)
The trend in the industry appears to be the growing popularity of ccTLDs. As a domain reseller it’s great to keep up to date with the latest domain name industry news. Domainbox.com will always bring you the latest news as soon as it breaks. Just keep an eye on our Domain Name News page.