.FR domains grow by 7% in 2020

Afnic, the association responsible for .FR domain names, is publishing its annual review of the .FR ccTLD and presented the figures behind a good performance in 2020.

With 3,670,372 names in stock at 31 December 2020, i.e. up 7% compared to 2019 with a net balance of 241,421 names, growth of the .FR domain has almost doubled (vs. 3.7% in 2019). It is notably also above that of the French market, which recorded a 6.1% increase for all TLDs combined, and that of the global market which posted just 1.4%.

“2020 demonstrated the strong dynamic of the French domain name industry, in that it relies less on registrations filed with a view to domaining operations than on those filed for purposes of genuine use” says Pierre Bonis, CEO of Afnic.

• .FR posted 7% growth in one year, i.e. double that of 2019, and a market share of 38% of the domain names in France in 2020
• .FR growth exceeds both that of the market and its competitors
• The regions are closing the gap with the Ile-de-France region

Market share of the .FR domain stood at 38% in 2020, up 0.3 pp, while .COM fell 0.6 pp. This trend in .FR is primarily correlated with the acceleration of the digital transformation of companies of all sizes. Not all .FR create operations are for business start-ups, but in the context of a gloomy overall climate, businesses, retailers and trades-persons are counting on the development of their online presence to help them get through the crisis. The 3% decline in the number of delete operations, while stocks increased, confirms this analysis.

“Completion rates of Internet projects among .FR holders were higher than usual, and some holders decided to retain registered domain names so as to be able to use them for new projects”, explains Pierre Bonis, CEO of Afnic