How big is the global domain name market?
Market data raises as many questions as it answers
Just how big is the global domain name market? How fast is it growing? And how sustainable is that growth? Those questions remain unanswered by two recent reports on the development of the global domain name market in 2021. Both Verisign's Domain Name Industry Brief Q4 2021 and German provider InternetX's Global Domain Report have clear difficulty interpreting the available data.
Contradictory reports
The Domain Name Industry Brief has now stopped including the domains operated by Freenom (.ml, .tk, .ga and others) in its data. Freenom's registration data had been questioned, because their domains names are scarcely used for websites in practice. Verisign was unable to get verification of the data from the registry, leading to the decision to exclude the Freenom domains. Consequently, Verisign's reported data suggests that the market has contracted by more than 7 per cent to 341 million domain names. By contrast, InternetX's almost simultaneous Global Domain Report 2022 does include the Freenom domains. According to InternetX, therefore, the global market is 364 million domain names – considerably more than Verisign suggests.
Domain Name Industry Brief | Global Domain Report | |
|---|---|---|
Market volume | 341 million domain names | 364 million domain names |
Growth 2021 | -7% before correction; 0.5% after | -0,5% |
Position of .nl in the TLD ranking | 7th | 8th |
Fastest-growing domain | .com | .ga (Gabon) |
Table 1: contrasting data in the two reports.
Big numbers, little usage
A discrepancy of twenty-three million domain names is not inconsiderable. Indeed, the Global Domain Report feels the need to qualify its reported figure. In the so-called 'Majestic Million' – a list of the domain names most often referenced on the internet – .ga, .tk and .ml are barely represented, although registration data suggests that they account for 10 per cent of the global market. In other words, while domain names with those extensions are registered in huge numbers, they are hardly used for bona fide business websites.
High levels of abuse
Unfortunately, the malicious use of those extensions is not inconsiderable. It seems that their 'free' domain names are easily exploited by criminals and others. Mali's .ml domain is often mentioned in phishing research reports, for instance. Over time, high levels of abuse tend to drive bona fide users away from a domain. One has to wonder, therefore, whether countries such as Gambia (.ga), Tokelau (.tk) and Mali (.ml) fully appreciate the potential harm caused to their online reputations by allowing domain names with their country-code extensions to be registered for free.
Focus on usage
It's clear from the two reports, therefore, that the size of the market shouldn't be measured only in terms of registrations. A registered but unused domain name adds less value than a domain name that's in active use for a website and/or mail. That's why, when assessing a domain's impact and market share, we in the Netherlands often focus on the domain's share of the website market, and the level of trust that internet shoppers have in the domain. Those metrics tend to give a more reliable picture of a domain's true value.
