Growth Of 1.1% In 2015 For The “Big Six” Legacy TLDs (Vs. 2.5% in 2014)

The Afnic Industry Report on Domain Names analyses the prospects for growth in 2015 of the 6 main Legacy gTLDs: the .com, .net and .org stand up better than .biz, .info, and .mobi.

It shows that the most recent Legacy TLDs suffer much more from the competition of the new TLDs than .com, .net and .org. The resistance factor can also be seen in the ccTLDs of the European Union, whose growth, at month-end August, was 2.5% over a sliding 12-month period (3.8% for the .fr TLD). It therefore seems premature to proclaim today the “end” of the Legacy TLDs.This study is based solely on ICANN data finalized at month-end May 2015. The trend line is calculated taking into account the historical weighting for the various periods of the year in the performance characteristics, which enables the integration of seasonal variations. Although the trend lines we present are estimates that are still liable to vary, the orders of magnitude are probably quite close to the actual final performance to the extent that we work on large gTLDs, whose volatility is moderate or low.

The trend lines calculated from the figures in ICANN reports indicate growth in 2015 of the “Big Six” was halved. But as in previous years, the average obtained conceals sharp contrasts. For example, the .COM maintained its growth at around 3% while the .MOBI continued its descent into hell with a second year at -28%. The .NET accentuated the decline that began in 2014, but the drop is still under control for the time being compared with the .BIZ, which fell from -9% in 2014 to -15% in 2015.

All the results of this study can be found the October  issue of the French Domain Name Industry Report entitled “2015 Trajectories of the Big Six”