During these days ICANN69 is taking place. Like other public events this year, it is being held online. Yesterday, the key event was a meeting of the members of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) dedicated to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the domain industry. Presentations on various aspects of this topic were given by Patrick Myles (Council of European National TLD Registries, CENTR), Alex Corenthin (Senegalese ccTLD .SN), David Curtin (CEO of IE Domain Registry), Ai-Chin Lu (Taiwanese ccTLD .TW), and Alejandra Reynoso (Guatemalan ccTLD .GT). After a thirty-minute break the participants started a discussion moderated by Irina Danelia, Deputy Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ.
The speakers agreed that the pandemic in general had encouraged an increase in new registrations, above all from small and medium-sized businesses that had to change their form of business and transfer their activities online. The discussion focused on advantages and disadvantages of various forms of registration promotion and registrant support tried out during the quarantine restrictions, such as significant discounts and even free domain names as well as postponement of domain deletion when the registrant cannot prolong the registration due to pandemic-related financial difficulties.
The participants in the discussion stated that fears were not confirmed that the increase in new registrations was due to registrations of domains related specifically to the pandemic. The statistics presented by Patrick Myles clearly shows that coronavirus-related domains comprised just a little part of the total number of new registrations. It was also noted that ccTLDs showed the largest growth during the pandemic, because it was important for small and medium-sized businesses switching to internet activities to emphasize their digital national identity and closeness of their goods and services to potential consumers. This is why, when choosing between a domain like .COM and a ccTLD, new registrants tend to choose the ccTLD.
It is noteworthy that the ICANN69 format is a bit unusual. Preliminary sections were held in late September and early October, and now meetings of organizations representing the domain community are underway. Another large block of sections is scheduled for next week. Representatives of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ. will take part in sections on IDNs and Universal Acceptance.
