The DomainWire Global TLD Stat Report (Q4/2016) is now available. The report covers the global status and registration trends in all top-level domains (legacy gTLDs, new gTLDs and ccTLDs) with additional focus on the European ccTLD market. Highlights from the report:
- Global domains under all TLDs grew 0.3% in Q4 2016 to 309 million. Quarterly growth has decreased, mostly due to negative growth among legacy gTLDs.
- 7 out of the 10 largest TLDs globally experienced negative growth over the quarter and .ru (ccTLD for Russia) overtook .info to 8th largest TLD
- New gTLDs represent roughly 8% of the global market and grew 11% over the quarter. The largest new gTLDs is .xyz, with around 6 million domains however it experienced a small negative growth over the quarter.
- Renewal rates over all new gTLDs are averaging 65% with the geographic TLDs performing best (80%)
- Highest growth among European ccTLDs was .se (Sweden) and median growth trends remain stable at 0.3% monthly
- Market share within locally registered domains in Europe remains favoured to ccTLDs. New gTLDs have increased market share to 3.3% of the market, although growth is relatively slow.
- European retention rate* average is 84% for 2016 and has remained stable over the past few years.
* Retention rate is a standardised methodology to estimate renewals. It is calculated as the difference in domains between two points minus new domains created.
