It’s been 10 years this month since Neustar launched .co, taking it from “just” Colombia’s ccTLD to a top-level domain recognised around the world.
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.CO Celebrates 9th Birthday
Colombiaâs ccTLD has been around a lot longer than 9 years, but 9 years ago when there were only 28,000 .co domain names, all of them registered within Colombia, there was a big change. Eligibility rules were liberalised and .co today is treated as a gTLD rather than a ccTLD and there are now more than 2.3 million domain names registered.
In a post on the go.co blog, thanks is given âto the great vision and forward-thinking of Colombiaâs Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (MINTIC), and a liberalised set of registration policies, on July 20th 2010, the registration restrictions were lifted on second-level .CO domains, effectively opening up the namespace to the entire world. This happened to coincide with Colombiaâs Independence Day, so celebration was in the air among the .CO team.â
Prior to July 2010 the only way to register a .co domain name was by being a resident of Colombia.
Today those 2.3 million .co domain names for Colombiaâs country code top level domain are registered in nearly 200 countries and territories worldwide. And over the years, a lot of the seeds that started out with us have grown into mighty oaks, including Angel List (angel.co), 500 Startups (500.co), Twitter (t.co), Common Bond (commonbond.co), WeWork (we.co), Rebel Girls (rebelgirls.co), Mirror (mirror.co), Fitpal (fitpal.co), and, well, millions more!
.CO Gets Chinese Government Approval
Chinaâs Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has approved .co for full commercial operations in the worldâs most populous country, meaning Chinese .co registrants can now host their domain names and websites on Chinese servers.
While there have been several generic top level domains that the Chinese government has given such approval to, .co is the first country code top level domain (ccTLD) to receive such approval.
.CO is the ccTLD for Colombia, but since 2010 has been managed by .CO Internet S.A.S. in Bogota, Colombia, which today is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neustar. It has been marketed as a generic top level domain (gTLD) and Google indexes .co sites as such.
Since launching for worldwide domain registrations in 2010, vast numbers of technology innovators and entrepreneurs have chosen .CO web addresses. Regularly identified with successful startups and world-famous brands, .COâs âhalo effectâ â a certain credibility granted to startup companies adopting .CO domains â is a powerful benefit that is already enjoyed by millions of brands, businesses and entrepreneurs, and will now be available to the Chinese market.
âThe final barrier our Chinese .CO domain owners have faced has now been overcome,â said Crystal Peterson, .CO Internet Director of Sales and Marketing. âDomain names ending in .CO are now fully approved in China along with Chinaâs own .CN top-level domain, and other well-known global domains, such as .com and .biz.â
.CO Grows From Colombia To The World, Reaching Two Million Registrations
The .co TLD, rebranded from being the Colombian ccTLD to being a “generic” TLD has been a hit since with registrations passing the two million mark in January, and despite increasing competition from the new gTLDs growth has grown ten percent in 2014 to 18 percent in 2015.”Since its global launch five years ago, .CO continues to grow and has become the domain name of choice for innovators, entrepreneurs and businesses in more than 200 countries around the world,” said Sean Kaine, Vice President of Registry at Neustar.Global brands like Twitter (t.co and Vine.co), Google (g.co and campus.co) and Taco Bell (ta.co) have all used .co domains and helped to bring mainstream awareness and adoption to .CO.Additionally, hundreds of thousands of innovators, entrepreneurs and start-ups have chosen .co as their domain, including high profile organizations like 500 Startups (500.co), Angel List (Angel.co), Up Global (Up.co) and Common Bond (CommonBond.co) to name just a few.Demand has grown in China as well. In the last quarter there has been a sharp rise in demand from Chinese investors. Interest from China has been particularly strong in connection with two-character number-number and letter-letter premium domain names.As part of their “celebration” in reaching the two million mark, Neustar have provided some facts about the two million registered .co domains:
- In 2010, .co had 28,000 domain name registrations. Surpassing 2 million registrations represents a greater than 7,000% increase in growth since the global launch of the namespace.
- The .CO renewal rate continues to show high usage of domains in a similar fashion to the industry standard, at around 50% for first year renewals and increasing to 80% for domains registered for more than five years (i.e. domains that have been renewed more than five times since 2010).
- .CO is a global namespace, with 50% of registrations coming from the US, 11% from the UK, 5% from Colombia, 4% from Canada and 3% from India.
- With over 3 billion Internet users around the world, and increasing demand for short, memorable, domain names, Mr. Kaine said he expects demand for .CO to continue among startups, innovators and entrepreneurs – especially in growing economies like India and China.
Short and Numeric Domain Tops Weekly Chart
The domain 899.com topped the Domain Name Journal chart of top reported sales for the week ending 13 September in a whopping $801,000 private sale.
The sale easily eclipsed the next biggest sales, that of clink.com ($50,000) and loveseat.com ($25,000), both sold through DomainHoldings.
As usual, Sedo topped the aftermarket outlets with 11 of the top 20 sales with two each for DomainHoldings, Flippa and ExcellentDomains.ca.
There were 13 .com sales on the chart as well as two each for .co and .ca, and one each for .org, .me and .net.
To check out the Domain Name Journal chart of top reported sales for the week ending 13 September in full, go to:
dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2015/20150923.htm
Half Million Dollar Two-Letter .COM Sale Tops Weekly Chart
The fourth biggest reported sale for the year to date topped the latest Domain Name Journal chart â the sale of qe.com for $554,000 through eNaming/MediaOptions.
Shorter .com domains dominated the chart for the week ending 19 July and there were three six figure sales, the other two being 9595.com for $180,000 in a private sale and tie.com for $125,000 through Heritage Auctions.
Overall there were 14 sales of domains with four characters or less, and 18 of the top 20 were .com domains. The other two were a .ca and .co.
And on the aftermarket outlets, there were 14 sales through Heritage Auctions and four through Sedo.
To check out the Domain Name Journal weekly chart of top reported sales for the week ending 19 July in more detail, see:
dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2015/20150729.htm
Neustar’s .CO Domain Celebrates 5th Birthday, Sees Staggering Adoption Across Global Entrepreneurs, Startups and Innovators
Neustar, Inc., a trusted, neutral provider of real-time information services, today (20 July) celebrates the fifth birthday of the .CO web extension. The .CO domain is rapidly becoming the No. 1 choice for innovators and entrepreneurs seeking to build, and amplify their global digital presence.âToday, the domain industry is in the middle of a radical transformation, opening up opportunities for an unprecedented level of innovation and opportunity,â said Lori Anne Wardi, Vice President of Registry Services, Neustar. âThe businesses, brands, and ideas that are being created on .CO every day on a global scale are fundamentally changing the landscape of the Internet, and Neustar has been instrumental in driving that change.â
The Internet is currently at an inflection point offering businesses, brands, entrepreneurs and innovators an opportunity to shape the fabric of their online existence. With the explosion of connected devices, the opening of the Internetâs domain naming system, and the proliferation of mobile computing, brands have a new opportunity to shape their interactions with consumers. Neustar has been helping companies establish, protect and promote their online presence for over fifteen years, and continues to help organizations navigate this new frontier.
â.CO symbolizes creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, which is exactly what Techstars is all about,â said Marc Nager, Chief Community Officer, Techstars. âFor the past five years we have partnered with .CO through our Startup Weekend Events, and have provided tens of thousands of entrepreneurs in every corner of the world with .CO domains to help launch their businesses, brands and big ideas online,â he added.
Short and memorable, .CO domains are indexed and ranked by major search engines exactly the same way as .com and .org extensions. More than just a domain, choosing a .CO domain gives businesses and brands access to exclusive perks, privileges and promotions. .COâs âMembership Programâ helps speed the path to digital success through carefully curated promotions, such as free SEO consulting and tickets to top technology conferences. Neustar is committed to fostering a thriving community of digital visionaries who are building the future of the Internet together, one URL at a time. Neustar is the official registry operator for Colombiaâs .CO domain.
.CO Birthday Milestones
- Over 1.8 Million .CO domains under management
- 120 .CO companies have raised $460 million in funding in 2015
- Over 55% of .CO registrants are from the United States
- 45% of .CO domains are registered outside of the United States
- New York City is the top U.S. city with the most .CO domains registered
- Some popular startups with a .CO domain include, Meerkat, Brit + Co, Hinge, Vine, VSCO and NewCo
In celebration of .COâs fifth birthday, Neustar is providing a set of exclusive offers to its community of innovators and entrepreneurs through its Membership Program, which include free public relations consulting, memberships to co-working space, and access to high value software to help startup founders run their business.
Pair of Six-Figure Sales Top Weekly Chart
A pair of six-figure domain sales topped the Domain Name Journal chart of top reported sales for the week ending 22 March, with currencyconverter.com topping the chart, selling for $150,000 through DomainNameSales while vvv.com came in second, selling for $136,400 through NameJet.
But it was a long way to third, with escapeartists.com selling for $60,000, also through DomainNameSales.
Sedo had a good week in numbers with 16 of the top 21 sales (there was a tie for 20th place). And on the TLD side of things there was another 16, with 16 .com sales and one each for .ae, .se, .de, .ch and .co.
To check out the Domain Name Journal chart of top reported sales for the week ending 22 March, go to:
www.dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2015/20150401.htm
Third Week of Six Figure Sales Topping Charts
For the third week in a row, a six-figure domain name sale has topped the Domain Name Journal chart of top reported sales for the week ending 8 March.
The top selling domain for the week was luxe.com, which sold for $172,500, more than $100,000 above the second biggest sale, generational.com, which sold through Sedo in a $70,000 sale. And third was smartwatches.com, again through Heritage Auctions, in a $35,000 sale.
The two Heritage Auctions sales helped push the total revenues from the Heritage Auctions live event at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel past the $1.2 million mark, with 18 of the 27 names offered now having changed hands, according to Domain Name Journal.
On the aftermarkets, there were 15 sales through Sedo and another two through Flippa. And on the TLD side of things, there were 15 .com sales and one each for .gr, .co, .de and .net.
To check out the Domain Name Journal chart in more detail for the week ending 8 March, go to:
dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2015/20150318.htm
Global Domain Registration Growth Slows With .NET In Decline: Verisign DNIB
The number of domain names under management around the world is creeping closer towards the 300 million mark, with four million added, an increase of 1.6 percent, across all top level domains in the third quarter of 2014 taking the total to 284 million according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by Verisign.For the 12 months to the end of September 2014, registrations, or domains under management, increased by 18.1 million or 6.8 percent. This compares to the 12 months to the end of September 2012 when registrations grew by 26.4 million, or 12 percent.For .com and .net, while they experienced aggregate growth in the third quarter of 2014, .net is in decline in total registration numbers. The combined total for the two gTLDs was 130.0 million in the adjusted zone for .com and .net, up 10.1 million in two years. This represents a 3.3 percent increase year over year compared to a 7.1 percent increase for the equivalent 12 month period two years ago. As of 30 September 2014, the base of registered names in .com equalled 114.9 million names, while .net equalled 15.1 million names compared to 105 million and 14.9 million respectively two years ago.Looking back at previous DNIBs, .net registrations peaked at around 15.2 million at the end of 2013 and early 2014. But since then the gTLD has shed around 300,000 domains coinciding with the introduction of new gTLDs.New .com and .net registrations totalled 8.7 million during the third quarter of 2014, compared to 7.8 million in 2012 and 8.3 million in 2013.The top 10 largest gTLDs and ccTLDs marketed as gTLDs by zone size were .com, .tk, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .co, .mobi, .me and .tv, as of 30 September, accounting for for 179.2 million domain name registrations, or 63.1 percent of the total global domain name registrations.Total ccTLD registrations were approximately 132.1 million in the third quarter, with the addition of 3.2 million domain names, or a 2.5 percent increase compared to the second quarter of 2014. This is an increase of approximately 12.8 million domain names, or 10.7 percent, from a year ago.The combined ccTLDs have also been experiencing a slowing of growth. In the year to the end of September 2012, there were 18 million domain names added, or an increase of 20.7 percent.Among the 10 largest ccTLDs, .tk grew the fastest, at 9.1 percent overall quarter over quarter growth. There were 285 global ccTLD extensions delegated in the root (including Internationalised Domain Names), with the top 10 ccTLDs comprising 67.1 percent of all ccTLD registrations.For the new gTLDs, there were 413 new gTLDs delegated into the root at the end of the quarter, with 91 new gTLDs delegated during the third quarter of 2014. New gTLD registrations totalled 2.0 million, or 1.3 percent of total gTLD registrations.During the third quarter of 2014, Verisign’s average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load was 114 billion (67 billion in 2012) across all TLDs operated by Verisign, with a peak of 318 billion (102 billion in 2012), the highest average and peak query loads in a single quarter to date. Compared to the previous quarter, the daily average increased 20.1 percent and the peak increased 55.6 percent. Year over year, the daily average query load increased 40 percent and the peak query load increased 202.1 percent.For those interested, this quarter’s DNIB featured article is “Cryptocurrency and the Domain Name System” offering a primer on cryptocurrency and the DNS.Copies of the 2014 third quarter Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports, can be obtained at VerisignInc.com/DNIB.