Verisign has published its quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief for the first quarter of 2021. On March 31, there were 363.5 million registered domain names or 0.8 percent fewer than the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, and 0.9 percent fewer than the first quarter of 2021. The decline was 2.8 million and 3.3 million in total numbers.
This may seem unexpected at a time when many registrars and registries reported more registrations with COVID-related online business names. However, these additions were not enough to mitigate the drop otherwise. The drop was seen mostly in new top-level domains, according to Domain Name Wire. The total number of these first-quarter registrations dropped 12.3 percent, while a 29.3-percent slump was recorded in 2020. This situation can be explained by the end of many new domain zones’ first 12-month period when many registrars and registries attracted clients with discounts. However, many registrants failed to extend their registrations when the time came.
National domain indicators also worsened. As of late March, there were 156.5 million registered names or 2.4 million less than the previous quarter. At the same time, the top-ten domain zones did see low growth or remained flat. China’s .CN national domain was the only exception, and its current decline contributed to the overall slump. Only Verisign-managed .COM and .NET domains saw sustained growth. By late March, the number of their domain names had increased by 2.8 million to 168 million. It should be noted that .COM accounted for all of the growth.
