CENTR, which includes the registries of ccTLDs in European countries, has published its Global TLD Market Report for the second quarter of this year. The report states that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a noticeable impact on European ccTLDs. This was primarily reflected in the increase in new registrations seen in the first and second quarters. This trend peaked in May, after which it plateaued. However, it left a mark on the overall growth rates of European ccTLDs. In the second quarter, their median growth was 1.3%. And although the figure may seem insignificant, it should be understood that the European domain market as a whole has reached a high degree of saturation, and that sharp surges are unlikely to happen soon. For comparison, over the same period last year, the median growth of European ccTLDs was only 0.5%, thus there is almost a three-fold increase.
The highest growth in the second quarter was recorded by the ccTLDs of Ireland (.IE), France (.FR), Spain (.ES) and Romania (.RO). This may indicate both the entrepreneurial spirit of small and medium-sized businesses in these countries as they moved their activities online and the severity of the lockdown restrictions imposed in these countries. The median cost of a one-year domain name registration in European ccTLDs during the second quarter was 9.6 euros (including taxes). However, the authors of the report note that in the case of business registrants, the cost of a domain name hardly has a serious impact on the choice of a domain zone.
As for the market share, based on the registration statistics in the CENTR member countries, ccTLDs made up 61% of the market across Europe in Q2 – and this indicator has barely changed for several years. The report also states that from April to June this year, the number of Facebook users increased by 8.7% in European countries. In absolute terms, this is about 25 million new users, which brings the total number of users to 272 million. France, Germany and Spain saw the largest growth in new users.
