.Paris: 85% Of Registrants Are From France, Top 10 Registrars Account For 86% Of The Domains

More than 80% of the registrations were made within the very first hour of the 24 hours following the launch of .paris domain names.

There is a contrast between this new Top Level Domain and the .fr TLD in terms of geographical distribution of registrants, and of the concentration of registrars.

On December 2, 2014, .paris domain names became available to the general public. The December Issue of the Afnic French Domain Name Industry Report studies the geographic distribution of registrants and the registrars market share.

The .paris TLD was launched on December 2 at 02:00 pm. The chart below highlights the peak of registrations immediately following the opening, in addition to the domains registered during the sunrise period.

 

Changes in the pool of .paris domains within the first 24 hours

(Percentage increase of the pool at the end of the period considered)

Registrants are attracted by the “local” feel of this TLD and by the international prestige of Paris

The .paris TLD is a geo-TLD, i.e. an Internet domain based on a geographic location – in this case, the City of Paris. This definition, which could seem theoretical, has been corroborated by the geographic distribution of registrants.

In fact, 49% of the registrants are located in Paris, 64% in the Île-de-France (Greater Paris) region, and 85% in the rest of France.
The main countries that 15% of foreign registrants come from are Germany, the Unites States, Switzerland, the UK and the Netherlands. This high percentage of registrants located abroad – versus only a few percent under the .fr namespace – underlines the international reputation of the Paris “brand”.

Registrar dynamics for the .paris TLD stand out from those of .fr 

The top three registrars active on the .paris TLD account for 63% of registered domain names, versus 60% for the .fr TLD. However, the top ten already amount to 86% vs. 76% for the .fr TLD.

Based on this data, we can conclude that several days after its launch, the .paris TLD is more concentrated between a limited number of registrars that selected to market it as soon as it became available, than the .fr TLD, which is older and has a larger base of partners.
This observation is both logical and subject to change.

• It is logical because this new TLD is geographical, and, as such, first appealed to registrars for which it represented a key catchment area.
• But it is also subject to change, because many local registrars that do not yet offer this new communication option to their customers will soon get in line – thus diluting the market leaders that currently have the “first mover” advantage.