This article appeared in the October 2005 issue of Web Host Industry Review magazine. Click here to subscribe for free.
October 14, 2005 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Europeans, particularly in Germany and the UK, continue to dominate new domain name registrations, registering more domains per registrant than elsewhere and demonstrating their technical aptitude, according to the August quarterly domain name industry brief from VeriSign.
The domain report indicated overall domain name registrations reached an all-time high of 82.9 million, an increase of 28 percent over the same time last year. The report also referenced the continued domain dominance by Germany and the UK, which were bolstered by country code top level domains, and joined by newcomer China.
Worldwide domain registrations in the second quarter grew 8 percent over the first quarter of 2005 with 8.1 million new domain names registered, VeriSign reported. Company spokesperson Patrick Burns says Germany and the UK, always at the top of domain registrations, continued to lead in number of registrations. China, he says, pushed into the top 10 nations for domain registrants. Burns credits strong national languages and regional economies and the booming country code top level domains for the regional success stories.
European registrants who responded to VeriSign?s registrant profile survey, considered themselves on the cutting edge of using and understanding new technologies, with 58 percent describing themselves as "very competent" in terms of creating and managing Web sites. "Europeans who registered domain names tend to think of themselves as a little more technical," Burns says, adding that the latest domain report from VeriSign is the first to break registrant profiles into broad geographic areas.
The domain brief also found that European domain registrants registered the highest number of domains per registrant, with Germany leading the pack at an average of 2.5 domain names per registrant. The US and Japan had lower domains-per-registrant averages of 1.2 and 1.0, respectively.
VeriSign?s findings further highlighted the significance of the country code TLDs, which are most numerous, once again, in Germany. And add the UK to that category. The Brits, too, have a large number of country-code domains in their overall base of names, according to VeriSign.
While lower prices and bundled packages help fuel domain name registration growth, the gains were largely a result of growing queries and accelerated online advertising, VeriSign says.
"Online advertising, particularly the pay-per-click advertising market, represents the main driver behind new domain name growth," the company said in a press release. "Online advertising revenue is forecasted to increase by 34 percent in 2005 and search engine marketing is forecasted to increase 33 percent in 2005. These increases are occurring as online advertising gains share from traditional outlets."
Renewal rates for .com and .net domains, which tend to be indicative of other domain renewal rates were also up, reaching historic highs, according to VeriSign.
"This upward trend in renewal rates began in 2003 and continues to signal strength in the overall domain name registration market," said a statement from the company, which said it processed an average of about 15 billion .com and .net queries per day in its operations during the last three months.
Heather Carle, a spokesperson for .info registry Afilias, says her company has long seen the domain name strength from Europe.
"Our German customer base is very strong," she says. "In fact, all of Europe has been a larger percentage of registrants for .info." In the US, says Carle the speculative market has waned, while in Europe it remains somewhat prevalent.
She also describes a second wave of interest in the Internet, and a second chance for companies and organizations of different nations to get names through country codes and other new domains.
"Some didn?t get first crack at names, so they?re looking for the same thing with other domains," Carle says.
She adds that the European services market remains highly competitive, with aggressive marketing and pricing from the likes of 1&1 Internet and other European Internet service giants.
Carle echoes VeriSign?s findings of strong renewal rates and refers to the healthy domain reseller business from companies such as Tucows, saying bundled services are gaining traction in the market.
"We see a lot of domains sold with hosting," she says. "Some of our registrars have had great success."
