A new generic top-level domain .SCIENCE demonstrates the most admirable results. It was launched only in the end of February and as of today there are more than 130 thousand registrations, which makes it 6th most successful new domain. Thus, 3000 names on average are registered in the domain zone. The data of the last three days of last week prove this – the number of registrations was always higher than 3 thousand. Not a single new domain could boast about such achievements till now.
Considering the popularity of science fiction books, movies and online resources, analysts supposed that .SCIENCE domain should do good, but such resounding success is a surprise. But there is a catch. According to reports, around 50 thousand names registered in the .SCIENCE domain were given away for free by Alpnames.com registrar under their promo campaign. The current registration fee remains low in comparison with other domain zones. Domain name in .SCIENCE can be registered through Alpnames.com for 49 cents only. This is why it is too soon to make conclusions about the actual popularity and demand of the “scientific” domain.
“The popularity of the domain zone, when speaking about the new domains, depends on various factors: the story behind it (the target audience and what the domain symbolizes), the easiness of the registration (the availability from the largest registrars), the price for the end customer. In this case despite the fact that the story of the domain is quite narrow and involves working with a small community, the low price made it very attractive for registration. However, we can assess the success of the zone only after a year when the time comes to renew registered names and see how many working webpages do actually exist”, said Marina Nikerova, senior deputy director at Technical Center of Internet about the popularity of the new domain zone.
