New gTLD Plunge Sees Global Domain Name Registrations Drop 1.2 Million in Third Quarter

There was a 1.2 million drop in the number of domain names registered around the world in the third quarter of 2017, a decline of 0.4% over the second quarter, which was largely due to a drop of 3.2 million registrations in new gTLDs, the vast majority in 2 new gTLDs – .xyz and .top. However year-on-year registrations, or domains under management (DUM), grew 1.1%.

The figures come from the latest Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief that shows the third quarter of 2017 closed with approximately 330.7 million domain name registrations across all top level domains (TLDs). At the end of September 2016 there were approximately 327.0 million registrations globally.

The .com and .net TLDs had a combined total of approximately 145.8 million domain name registrations at the end of the third quarter of 2017. This represents a 1.2% increase year-over-year. As of 30 September, the .com domain name base totalled 130.8 million domain name registrations, while the .net domain name base totalled 15.0 million domain name registrations. 3 months earlier there were 129.2 million .com domains registered and 15.1 million .net. while 12 months ago the figures for .com and .net were 128.4 million and 15.8 million respectively.

New .com and .net domain name registrations totalled 8.9 million during the third quarter of 2017. In the third quarter of 2016, new .com and .net domain name registrations totalled 8.3 million.

For new gTLDs, as of 30 September, registrations totalled 21.1 million, which represented 6.4% of total domain name registrations, which was down 3.2 million on the previous quarter. As of the end of September 2016 there were 23.4 million new gTLD registrations. The top 10 new gTLDs represented 54.2% of all new gTLD domain name registrations.

Total country code top level domain (ccTLD) registrations were approximately 144.7 million, a 0.3% increase over the second quarter figure of 144.2 million, and a 3.2% increase year over year from 140.1 million.

The top 10 TLDs were .com, .cn (China – 21.4 million), .tk (Tokealu – 19.1 m; which gives away its domains for free), .de (Germany – 16.3m), .net (15.0m), .uk (United Kingdom – 10.7m), .org (10.3m), .ru (Russian Federation – 6.4m), .info (6.0m) and .nl (Netherlands – 5.8m). Rounding out the top 10 looking at only ccTLDs are .br (Brazil – 3.9m), .eu (European Union – 3.7m), .au (Australia – 3.1m) and .fr (France – 3.1m).