The Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report

DNIB.com reviews the state of the domain name industry each quarter through a variety of statistical and analytical research, as well as relevant industry insights. DNIB.com provides this report to highlight important trends in domain name registrations, including key performance indicators and growth opportunities, to industry analysts, media and businesses.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The fourth quarter of 2023 closed with 359.8 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 0.6 million domain name registrations, or 0.2%, compared to the third quarter of 2023. Domain name registrations have increased by 8.9 million, or 2.5%, year over year.

The .com and .net TLDs had a combined total of 172.7 million domain name registrations in the domain name base at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, a decrease of 1.2 million domain name registrations, or 0.7%, compared to the third quarter of 2023. The .com and .net TLDs had a combined decrease of 1.0 million domain name registrations, or 0.6%, year over year. As of Dec. 31, 2023, the .com domain name base totaled 159.6 million domain name registrations and the .net domain name base totaled 13.1 million domain name registrations.

New .com and .net domain name registrations totaled 9.0 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to 9.7 million domain name registrations at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022.

Total country-code TLD (ccTLD) domain name registrations were 138.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 0.2 million domain name registrations, or 0.2%, compared to the third quarter of 2023. ccTLDs increased by 5.3 million domain name registrations, or 4.0%, year over year.

Total new generic TLD (ngTLD) domain name registrations were 31.8 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 1.6 million domain name registrations, or 5.3%, compared to the third quarter of 2023. ngTLDs increased by 4.4 million domain name registrations, or 15.9%, year over year.

Top 10 Largest TLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names

As of Dec. 31, 2023, the 10 largest TLDs by number of reported domain names were .com, .cn, .de, .net, .org, .uk, .nl,.ru, .br and .au.

Top 10 Largest ccTLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names

The top 10 ccTLDs, as of Dec. 31, 2023, were .cn, .de, .uk, .nl, .ru, .br, .au, .fr, .eu and .it. As of Dec. 31, 2023, there were 308 global ccTLD extensions delegated in the root zone, including internationalized domain names, with the top 10 ccTLDs comprising 59.3% of all ccTLD domain name registrations.

ngTLDs as Percentage of Total TLDs

The top 10 ngTLDs represented 53.2% 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%. In addition, the chart highlights the top 10 ngTLDs as a percentage of all ngTLD domain name registrations for the fourth quarter of 2023.

Geographical ngTLDs as Percentage of Total Corresponding Geographical TLDs

As of Dec. 31, 2023, there were 50 ngTLDs delegated that met the following criteria: 1) had a geographical focus and 2) had more than 1,000 domain name registrations since entering general availability. The chart summarizes the domain name registrations as of Dec. 31, 2023, for the listed ccTLDs and the corresponding geographical ngTLDs within the same geographic region. In addition, the chart highlights the top 10 geographical ngTLDs as a percentage of the total geographical TLDs.

About DNIB.com

DNIB.com, sponsored by Verisign, provides global statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry, plus analyses of key policy, security and technology trends. The latest Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report, previous reports and interactive dashboards with expanded domain name industry data are all available at DNIB.com.

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Methodology

For information about the statistical methodology used in creating the Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report and DNIB.com’s dashboards, visit https://dnib.com/methodology.