Brandsight recently concluded their Second Annual Domain Management Survey. Respondents to the survey were corporate domain name professionals. Of those that responded, 35% had portfolios that were between 3,000-10,000 domains and another 30% had portfolios greater than 10,000 domains. Fifty-seven percent of respondents reported that they manage domains out of the legal department, with the remaining respondents’ portfolios managed out of IT, marketing and other groups.

This year’s survey revealed that for 53% of respondents, managing domain name portfolios has become more difficult. Given the impact of GDPR, along with the desire to right-size portfolios, drive traffic to relevant content, and reduce expenditures, these results confirm what we have been hearing in the market—that companies are still facing a number of domain management challenges.

Highlights from the survey include:

• 22% of respondents spend 2-3 days each week managing their portfolio, and 32% spend 4-5 days each week, with a close correlation between portfolio size and the amount of time spent managing the portfolio
• 53% of respondents said that managing their domain name portfolio has become more difficult over the past year
• 88% of respondents said that dealing with the impact of GDPR and the inability to access WHOIS contact information has been a challenge for them
• 81% of respondents said that paring back bloated portfolios has been a challenge for them
• 97% of respondents said that ensuring the security of their domain portfolio is an important goal
• 88% of respondents said that reducing domain management expenditures is an important goal

Clearly, domain professionals have been presented with a new host of challenges. However, as a new mechanism for accessing non-public WHOIS becomes available and companies begin to rely on technology solutions to assist with right-sizing portfolios, domain name professionals will hopefully have an easier time managing their portfolios in the coming years. Of course, that assumes that there won’t be any other major changes impacting domain professionals, which undoubtedly there will be.