The Internet again recorded an impressive growth during the first quarter of 2008, in terms of new domain name registrations. According to VeriSign, Inc, the domain name registrations in the Q1 of 2008 were 14 million. Across all Generic Top Level Domain Names (gTLDs), “.com” has the highest base. New “.com” and “.net” registrations have increased 12% in the first quarter of 2008 over the same quarter of 2007.
14 million new domain names added for Q1 of 2008
There were 14 million new domain names registered in the first quarter of 2008.This is a 17% increase over the previous quarter, and a 15% increase over the first quarter of 2007. It shows that more number of entities are steadily recognizing Internet as an aid to help them stand out in the present day competition.
The total base of TLDs reaches 162 million
The total base of domain name registrations globally across all of the TLDs reached 162 million. This is a 26% increase over the previous year, and a 6% increase over the fourth quarter of 2007. It means, when you go online, you have as many as 162 million websites to view. Increase in number of websites results in increased competition to appear in first position of search results.
The “.com” and other domains
Among all the gTLDs and ccTLDs (country code top level domain names), the .com domain has the highest base. The other domain names ranked next to .com are .de (Germany), .cn (China), .net, .uk, and .org. Other than these, the TLDs with the largest base are .info, .nl (Netherlands), .eu (European Union) and .biz. The composition of the domain name industry and the rank order in terms of base size was relatively consistent, since Q1 of 2007.
Increase of Internet in countries like China and India
Internet has recorded a healthy growth, in terms of domain name registrations in developing countries like India and China. At the end of the first quarter of 2008, there were 1.2 million domain name registrations in India. This is a 46% increase over the previous year. China’s ccTLD (.cn) is in third position among all the gTLDs and ccTLDs. These countries have much more potential of contributing to the development of World Wide Web.
Businesses are increasingly using gTLDs as it appeals to global customers. With the increase in online businesses, social media sites, and personal websites, domain name registrations is showing consistent growth. Increase in online population could further lead to a steady growth in ccTLDs.
