Verisign’s 2012 Q4 Domain Data: 252 million domains worldwide, 121 million .com and .net (INFOGRAPHIC)

Yesterday, Verisign released the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief, which showed that the Internet grew by more than six million domain names in the fourth quarter of 2012. The total number of registered domain names now stands at more than 252 million, which represents a 2.5 percent growth rate over the third quarter of 2012. This marks the eighth straight quarter with greater than 2 percent growth.

More than six million domain names were added to the Internet in the fourth quarter of 2012, bringing the total number of registered domain names as of Dec. 31, 2012, to more than 252 million worldwide across all Top-Level Domains (TLDs), according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief.

The order of the top TLDs in terms of zone size changed slightly when compared to the third quarter. In Q4’2012, the largest TLDs in terms of base size were, in order: .com, .de (Germany), .net, .tk (Tokelau), .uk (United Kingdom), .org, .cn (China),  .info,.nl (Netherlands) and .ru (Russian Federation).

The base of Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) was 110.2 million domain names, a 5 percent increase quarter over quarter, and a 21.6 percent increase year over year in the base.

The .com and .net TLD registrations experienced a 6.4 percent increase over Q4’2011, bringing the combined total number of domain names in the adjusted zone to approximately 121.1 million. New .com and .net registrations totaled 8.0 million during the fourth quarter of 2012. In the fourth quarter of 2011, new .com and .net registrations totaled 7.9 million.

The .com and .net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2012 was 72.9 percent, up from 72.5 percent in the third quarter of 2012.

Verisign’s average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load during the fourth quarter of 2012 was 77 billion, across all TLDs operated by Verisign, with a peak of 123 billion. Compared to the third quarter of 2012, the daily average increased 16 percent and the peak increased 20.4 percent.

The order of the top TLDs in terms of zone size changed slightly when compared to the third quarter, as .cn (China) moved up a ranking from the eighth largest TLD to the seventh largest TLD, resulting in .info moving down one ranking. All other TLDs in the top 10 maintained their rankings.

The latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief also offers a high-level overview of the challenges and opportunities that big data presents companies of all sizes. “Big Data Can Pose Big Challenges, and Opportunities, for Organizations” also includes a synopsis of the data generated within the DNS, and how companies could use this data to inform business strategy and possibly improve network security.