Several factors influence domain registration trends, including the latest digital technology developments, global news, and current events. WhoisXML API aims to stay on top of these trends, aided by our satellite view of the Domain Name System (DNS). We tracked the digital spillovers of the Russia-Ukraine war two weeks after it began and saw how the news was reflected in domain registrations. We also noticed that even this year’s Oscars slapping incident drove relevant domain registrations.

These are only a few examples of domain registration drivers we monitored early this year. For the second quarter of 2022, we followed the digital trails of six significant drivers in our Domain Registration Trends Report Q2 2022 Edition. These domain registration stimuli can be categorized into Q2-specific and all-time domain registration drivers.

You may download the full report from our website. We provided an overview of our analyses and findings below.

Q2-Specific Domain Registration Drivers

Celebration-Related Trends

Events that happened in Q2 2002 were Mother’s Day and Father’s Day on 8 May and 19 June, respectively. We tracked related domains added throughout the quarter and noticed spikes in the week preceding the events. These domains contained the strings “mother” and “father,” alongside “day.” The chart below reflects the trend.

We also studied the registration trend for domains ending in .mom, and the spikes were pretty significant. One occurred the week before Mother’s Day, while the other happened in the week ending 21 May.

News-Related Trends

Another event in Q2 was Elon Musk’s offer to purchase Twitter and the latter’s subsequent acceptance of said offer on 25 April 2022. The news broke the Internet, and we felt the tremors in the DNS. The registration of domains containing Twitter and Elon Musk significantly increased during that week, as you can see in the following chart.

All-Time Domain Registration Drivers

Seasonal Themes

We tracked domain registration trends related to the tax season. Although it began as early as 24 January 2022, and the tax deadline was set on 18 April 2022, the number of new tax-related domains was higher in Q2 than Q1. Overall, there seems to be a consistent flow of domains registered for tax-related strings over the months.

World Event-Themed Registrations

The Ukraine-Russia war has been going on since February, but domain registrations exceeded pre-war levels in Q2. As the war continues, more related domains may be added.

Blockchain-Related Trends

We’ve been monitoring domain registrations related to cryptocurrencies since last year. In Q2, we added non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized financial (DeFi) platforms to the list, as these technology advancements consistently became phenomenal. We focused on cybersquatting domains targeting the most popular cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and DeFi platforms.

The quarter’s first two weeks accounted for most of the domain registrations. While registrations the following weeks were erratic, nearly 1,000 new domains were still added per week until the volume started dwindling in June.

Industry-Related Registrations

We mapped the digital footprints of several industries, such as car dealerships and container shipping companies. Still, one of the most significant trends was the relentless threat of e-commerce cybersquatting domains.

In Q2, we found more than 16,000 cybersquatting resources targeting some of the most frequently visited online shopping platforms. The registrations consistently exceeded 1,200 domains per week from the beginning of the quarter until the first two weeks of June.

Malicious Properties Alert

Given that domains and subdomains are among the primary vehicles for phishing, spamming, scams, and malware distribution, we also analyzed the properties for malicious usage. Out of more than 54,000 properties under all registration drivers, about 2% were malicious. Tax-related properties accounted for more than half of them. The chart below shows how the malicious properties were distributed across the six registration drivers identified for Q2 2022.

We will continue monitoring the DNS for significant domain registration drivers and performing deeper analysis and contextualization using our WHOIS, IP, and DNS intelligence.

If you wish to perform a similar investigation and analysis, feel free to contact us for research collaboration.