Internet grows to 366.8 million domain names in Q1 2020

Verisign released the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the first quarter of 2020 closed with 366.8 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 4.5 million domain name registrations, or 1.2 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.^1,2 Domain name registrations have grown by 14.9 million, or 4.2 percent, year over year.^1,2

.COM AND .NET DETAIL

The .com and .net TLDs had a combined total of 160.7 million domain name registrations in the domain name base³ at the end of the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 1.8 million domain name registrations, or 1.1 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. The .com and .net TLDs had a combined increase of 5.9 million domain name registrations, or 3.8 percent, year over year. As of March 31, 2020, the .com domain name base totaled 147.3 million domain name registrations, and the .net domain name base totaled 13.4 million domain name registrations.

New .com and .net domain name registrations totaled 10.0 million at the end of the first quarter of 2020, compared to 9.8 million domain name registrations at the end of the first quarter of 2019.

TLD DETAIL

As of March 31, 2020, the largest TLDs were: ⁴

CCTLD DETAIL

Total country-code TLD (ccTLD) domain name registrations were 157.4 million at the end of the first quarter of 2020, a decrease of 0.2 million domain name registrations, or 0.1 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.^1,2 ccTLDs increased by 0.6 million domain name registrations, or 0.4 percent, year over year.^1,2 The top 10 ccTLDs, as of March 31, 2020, were:

NEW GTLD DETAIL

Total new gTLDs (ngTLDs) domain name registrations were 32.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 3.0 million domain name registrations, or 10.3 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. ngTLDs increased by 9.3 million domain name registrations, or 40.7 percent, year over year. The top 10 ngTLDs represented 65.4 percent of all ngTLD domain name registrations. The following chart shows ngTLD domain name registrations as a percentage of overall TLD domain name registrations, of which they represent 8.8 percent, as well as the top 10 ngTLDs as a percentage of all ngTLD domain name registrations for the first quarter of 2020.

For more domain name stats from the first quarter of 2020, check out the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief.

1. The figure(s) includes domain names in the .tk ccTLD. .tk is a free ccTLD that provides free domain names to individuals and businesses. Revenue is generated by monetizing expired domain names. Domain names no longer in use by the registrant or expired are taken back by the registry and the residual traffic is sold to advertising networks. As such, there are no deleted .tk domain names. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131216006048/en/Freenom-Closes-3M-Series-Funding#.UxeUGNJDv9s.
2. The generic top-level domain and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.
3. The domain name base is the active zone plus the number of domain names that are registered but not configured for use in the respective TLD zone file plus the number of domain names that are in a client or server hold status. The .com and .net domain name registration figures are as reported in Verisign’s most recent SEC filings.
4. Line break indicates that the .com line has been shortened for display considerations.