Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief
Q1 2018 - Download Full ReportToday, we released the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief, which showed that the first quarter of 2018 closed with approximately 333.8 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of approximately 1.4 million domain name registrations, or 0.4 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.^[1],[2] Domain name registrations have grown by approximately 3.2 million, or 1.0 percent, year over year.^[1],[2]

.com and .net Breakdown

The .com and .net TLDs had a combined total of approximately 148.3 million domain name registrations in the domain name base^[3] at the end of the first quarter of 2018, with an increase of approximately 1.9 million domain name registrations, or 1.3 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. The .com and .net TLDs had a combined increase of approximately 4.6 million domain name registrations, or 3.2 percent, year over year.

New .com and .net domain name registrations totaled approximately 9.6 million at the end of the first quarter of 2018, compared to 9.5 million domain name registrations for the first quarter of 2017.

TLD Breakdown

As of Mar. 31, 2018, the largest TLDs were:

ccTLD Breakdown

Total country-code TLD (ccTLD) domain name registrations were approximately 146.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2018, with an increase of approximately 0.2 million domain name registrations, or 0.1 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.^[1],[2] ccTLDs increased by approximately 3.2 million domain name registrations, or 2.2 percent, year over year.^[1],[2] The top 10 ccTLDs, as of Mar. 31, 2018, were:

New gTLD Breakdown

Total new gTLDs (ngTLDs) domain name registrations were approximately 20.2 million at the end of the first quarter of 2018, with a decrease of approximately 0.4 million domain name registrations, or 2.0 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. ngTLDs decreased by approximately 5.3 million domain name registrations, or 20.7 percent, year over year. The top 10 ngTLDs represented 51.1 percent of all ngTLD domain name registrations. The following chart shows ngTLD domain name registrations as a percentage of overall TLD domain name registrations, of which they represent 6.0 percent, and also the top 10 ngTLDs as a percentage of all ngTLD domain name registrations for the first quarter of 2018.

For more domain stats from the first quarter of 2018, check out the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief.

[1] The figure(s) includes domain names in the .tk ccTLD. .tk is a free ccTLD that provides free domain names to individuals and businesses. Revenue is generated by monetizing expired domain names. Domain names no longer in use by the registrant or expired are taken back by the registry and the residual traffic is sold to advertising networks. As such, there are no deleted .tk domain names. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131216006048/en/Freenom-Closes-3M-Series-Funding#.UxeUGNJDv9s.

[2] The generic top-level domain (gTLD) and ccTLD data cited in this brief: (i) includes ccTLD Internationalized Domain Names, (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received.

[3] The domain name base is the active zone plus the number of domain names that are registered but not configured for use in the respective Top-Level Domain zone file plus the number of domain names that are in a client or server hold status.