Four weeks have passed after the British started registering second-level domains in the .uk zone and the number of registrations has exceeded 100 thousand. The result is obviously great, however it is interesting that the number of registrations in “old” English domain zones - .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk summed up together turned out to be greater. Across all .uk domains during last month around 225 thousand new names were registered, which is a repetition of the record of March 2000.
"Given that the domain name market is more competitive than ever before, this is a fantastic endorsement of the power of the UK brand," Eleanor Bradley, Nominet's Chief Operating Officer gave her comment about the situation. "We're pleased not only that our new .uk domain has hit this milestone, but that other .uk domains such as .co.uk and .org.uk continue to be so popular as hundreds of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) hit the market. It shows that highlighting your UK connection continues to be a compelling prospect for businesses and individuals online."
Altogether there are more than 10,5 million domain names registered in .uk domains as of today. This makes .uk the third largest ccTLD after Tokelau (.tk – 24,5 million registrations) and Germany (.de – 15,7 million). However, Tokelau allows users to register their domains for free.
«In domain zones that developed mostly by hierarchical principle (these include .uk domain), second-level domain names are positioned and perceived by users as premium, of a higher status. Apparently, this is why it caused such excitement when the second-level registration has opened. On the wave of interest to domains and registration of new names, more wide spread third-level domains got some attention as well, this effect was noted repeatedly in very different zones. For example, after the launch of .РФ domain in 2011, domain .RU showed a significant growth», - Marina Nikerova, senior deputy director of the Technical Center of Internet pointed out.
