Although a half of 2020 is already over, a lot of companies continue to review 2019. Afnic, an association that unites French registries and technical operators, including the French ccTLD .FR and .PARIS, has published its 2019 report on the global domain market. According to this document, there were 346 million domains in the world as of the end of 2019: the growth of 4.7 percent compared with 2018.
Regarding the domain market’s structure, 181 million names account for “old” domain zones such as .COM, .NET, and .ORG, while 132 million are registered in ccTLDs and 33 million in new gTLDs. Of course, .COM remains an unconditional leader with 149 million domain names. However, its share on the market remained the same throughout the year: 43.1 percent, while ccTLDs grew a little: up 3.4 percent. The main structural changes involve both new and “old” (except .COM) domain zones.
For the second year in a row, “old” domains show a six-percent loss in the number of registrations, while new TLDs, on the other hand, gained 19 percent, which is higher than that of last year with only 15 percent. Afnic experts believe this trend may result in a significant redistribution of the market in favor of new TLDs. Among possible reasons, they name the fact that new TLDs’ registries are introducing various innovations faster and more actively, such as cybersecurity measures and protection of trademarks above all.
