The number of domain names registered around the world grew by 4.5 million in the first quarter of 2020, taking the total to 366.8 million, an increase of 1.2%. The increase was led by an increase in new gTLD registrations of 3.0 million or 10.3%, taking their total to 32.3 million according to Verisign’s latest Domain Name Industry Brief.
In the 12 months till the end of March, registrations across all top-level domains grew by 14.9 million or 4.2% while for new gTLDs, the 12 month increase was 9.3 million or 40.7%.
For country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), registrations dropped slightly to 157.4 million at the end of the first quarter of 2020, a decrease of 0.2 million, or 0.1%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. ccTLDs increased by 0.6 million domain name registrations, or 0.4%, year over year. Excluding .tk, ccTLD domain name registrations decreased by 0.2 million in the first quarter of 2020, or 0.1%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. ccTLDs, excluding .tk, decreased by 2.0 million domain name registrations, or 1.5%, year over year.
As of 31 March, there were 307 global ccTLD extensions delegated in the root zone, including IDNs, with the top 10 ccTLDs comprising 65.4% of all ccTLD domain name registrations.
Total new gTLD registrations were 32.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 3.0 million, or 10.3%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. New gTLDs increased by 9.3 million registrations, or 40.7%, year over year. The top 10 new gTLDs represented 65.4% of all new gTLD domain name registrations. The following chart shows new gTLD domain name registrations as a percentage of overall TLD domain name registrations, of which they represent 8.8%, as well as the top 10 new gTLDs as a percentage of all new gTLD domain name registrations for the first quarter of 2020.
For Verisign’s two largest TLDs, .com and .net continue head in different directions. As of 31 March, the .com domain name base totalled 147.3 million domain name registrations, and the .net domain name base totalled 13.4 million domain name registrations. For .com, growth continues unabated. Compared to 12 months ago there were 141.0 million domain names and at the end of the fourth quarter 2019 there were 145.4 million. But for .net, it heads in the opposite direction. 12 months ago there were 13.8 million .net domains while three months ago it was the same as it was at the end of the fourth quarter 2019 – 13.4 million.
To download the complete Domain Name Industry Brief, either the current one or from an archive going back to 2010, go to https://www.verisign.com/en_US/domain-names/dnib/domain-name-industry-brief-reports/index.xhtml