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Which domain registrar is #1 for .com?

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

These are the fastest growing and largest domain name registrars for .com domains.

Picture of a column chart and a magnifying glass with the words ".com leaderboard"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers June 2021.

The only major change this month was DNSPod popping into the top 10 for monthly registrations. In general, registrars seemed to have a slower month than in May.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations in May:

1. GoDaddy.com*  (NYSE: GDDY) 849,403 (1,012,078 in May)
2. Namecheap Inc. 274,622 (279,546)
3. Alibaba (HiChina) 231,579  (223,588)
4. Newfold Digital+ 170,333 (178,969)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 147,625 (162,262)
6. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 144,844  (167,300)
7. DNSPod 137,902 (n/a)
8. Dynadot 137,592 (148,815)
9. NameSilo 120,091 (107,059)
10. TurnCommerce++ 106,905

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of June.

1. GoDaddy* 56,408,172 (56,324,284 in May)
2. Newfold Digital+  14,448,421 (14,561,403)
3. Tucows** 12,791,539 (12,862,281)
4. Namecheap 7,850,961 (7,733,383)
5. Alibaba 6,401,500 (6,353,049)
6. IONOS^  5,916,540 (5,927,252)
7. TurnCommerce++ 4,979,182 (4,897,679)
8. Google 4,603,301 (4,539,761)
9. CentralNic^^ 3,406,068 (3,345,295)
10. NameSilo 2,334,531 (2,258,658)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry, GoDaddy Corporate Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain, Bigrock, Network Solutions, Register.com, SnapNames registrars, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape. There are other Newfold registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes NameBright and DropCatch registrars
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you
^^ Includes Key-Systems, 1API, Internet.bs, TLD Registrar Solutions, RegistryGate, Moniker, Instra

Who’s on top? .Com Leaderboard update

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

These are the fastest growing and largest domain name registrars for .com domains.

Picture of a column chart and a magnifying glass with the words ".com leaderboard"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers May 2021.

CentralNic surged back into the top 10 for monthly registrations with a strong performance at its Internet BS registrar. Other than that, there’s not much noteworthy this month…other than strong numbers for .com registrations overall.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations in May:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 1,012,078 (943,953 in April)
2. Namecheap Inc. 279,546 (268,394)
3. Alibaba (HiChina) 223,588 (236,681)
4. CentralNic^^ 179,098 (AIM: CNIC)
4. Newfold Digital+ 178,969 (181,739)
5. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 167,300 (166,169)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 162,262 (161,105)
7. Dynadot 148,815 (138,560)
8. NameSilo 107,059 (103,342)
9. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 98,571 (96,984)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of May.

1. GoDaddy* 56,259,057 56,324,284 (56,259,057 in April)
2. Newfold Digital+ 14,561,403 (14,551,259)
3. Tucows** 12,862,281 (12,924,199)
4. Namecheap 7,733,383 (7,631,693)
5. Alibaba 6,353,049 (6,271,240)
6. IONOS^  5,927,252 (5,942,360)
7. TurnCommerce++ 4,897,679 (4,789,133)
8. Google 4,539,761 (4,467,691)
9. CentralNic^^ 3,345,295 (3,218,595)
10. NameSilo 2,258,658 (2,196,964)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain, Bigrock, Network Solutions, Register.com, SnapNames registrars, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape. There are other Newfold registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes NameBright and DropCatch registrars
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you
^^ Includes Key-Systems, 1API, Internet.bs, TLD Registrar Solutions, RegistryGate, Moniker, Instra

Is it time for Alibaba to acquire Ali.com?

by — Uncategorized 13 Comments

It might be time for Alibaba to buy a shorter domain.

Alibaba logo shows Alibaba.com in orange text

Going short seems to be a trend in China. Just look at internet giant Alibaba. The name is well-known, easy to remember, and short at 7 characters only. Still, Chinese consumers think it is too long.

Why? The name is 4-pin (A Li Ba Ba=阿里巴巴) but Chinese consumers love 2-pin names as explained in What’s 2-pin and why does it matter for domain investing?. So, it is nicknamed “Ali” (A Li=阿里), which is frequently found in Chinese news.

The company might have been inspired by the 2-pin nickname because now we see the use of “Ali” in many of Alibaba’s sub-brands. Some examples are listed below.

Sub-brand Domain Business line
AliPay AliPay.com Mobile payment
AliExpress AliExpress.com Online shopping
AliYun AliYun.com Cloud services
AliHealth AliHealth.com Medical supplies
AliSports AliSports.com Sports news
AliTrip AliTrip.com Travel services
AliMama AliMama.com Digital marketing
AliGenie AliGenie.com Voice assistant on ioT
AliCapital AliCapital.co VC
AliTelecom AliTelecom.com Telco services
AliMusic (not found) Music
AliMail (not found) Email services

Is it time for Alibaba to follow its sub-brands and acquire Ali.com to complement Alibaba.com?

Authentic Brands Group, LLC owns the domain. For many years, Ali.com was the official website of Muhammad Ali. After Ali passed away in 2016, the domain forwarded to MuhammadAli.com or Alicenter.org. Currently, the domain sends you to Muhammad Ali’s account on Instagram. So, there may be a chance for Alibaba to acquire Ali.com.

Top registrars cooled off in recent .com data

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

These are the fastest growing and largest domain name registrars for .com domains.

Picture of a column chart and a magnifying glass with the words ".com leaderboard"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers April 2021.

Overall, the top registrars saw a slight decline in registrations in April compared to March. Newfold Digital fell back to earth after an outsized March, and NameSilo barely edged out GMO for the final spot on the overall chart.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations in April:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 943,953 (989,943 in March)
2. Namecheap Inc. 268,394 (304,558)
3. Alibaba (HiChina) 236,681 (239,989)
4. Newfold Digital+ 181,739 (350,358)
5. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 166,169 (191,583)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 161,105 (179,623)
7. IONOS^ 153,113 (130,470)
8. Dynadot 138,560 (97,678)
9. NameSilo 103,342 (115,765)
10. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 96,984 (110,517)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of April.

1. GoDaddy* 56,259,057 (56,052,675 in March)
2. Newfold Digital+  14,551,259 (14,611,936)
3. Tucows**  12,924,199 (12,966,909)
4. Namecheap 7,631,693 (7,510,860)
5. Alibaba 6,271,240 (6,159,477)
6. IONOS^ 5,942,360   (5,876,741)
7. TurnCommerce++ 4,789,133 (4,729,908)
8. Google 4,467,691 (4,378,455)
9. CentralNic^^ 3,218,595 (3,124,645)
10. NameSilo 2,196,964

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain, Bigrock, Network Solutions, Register.com, SnapNames registrars, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape. There are other Newfold registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes NameBright and DropCatch registrars
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you
^^ Includes Key-Systems, 1API, Internet.bs, TLD Registrar Solutions, RegistryGate, Moniker, Instra

The man who beat Jack Ma apparently shares the same view on domains

by — Uncategorized 6 Comments

Robin Zeng’s company belatedly acquired the matching .brand.

Image from CATL.com

It’s a strange world. A teacher (Jack Ma) founded an internet company and became very rich, then a farmer (Robin Zeng) established a battery company and became even richer. Today, Zeng beats Ma with his massive $50 billion net worth. In the domain space, however, Ma led and Zeng followed.

In 1999, Ma founded Alibaba. He knew the importance of .com and brand-matching right away, so he invested $4,000 to acquire Alibaba.com from its Canadian owner.

Zeng was less fortunate. When he established CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited) in 2011, he understood the importance of .com but not brand-matching. He registered CATLbattery.com instead.

Within a decade, Zeng created the largest global producer of rechargeable cells for plug-in vehicles and the company went public in 2018. Finally, Zeng followed the footsteps of Ma and acquired CATL.com from California Association of Texas Longhorn Breeders in 2019 when the association switched its domain to CATLbreeders.com.

Interestingly, both Alibaba .cn and CATL .cn do not resolve. Unlike Alibaba, CATL also has the Chinese brand “Ning De Shi Dai” (宁德时代), but a 3rd party owns the matching NingDeShiDai .com.

So, what can we learn from this story?

  • .com is king in corporate China and it is the first choice.
  • .cn is secondary and optional to Chinese companies.
  • English brand is more important than Chinese brand in domain acquisition.
  • Brand-matching creates opportunities to sell domains as upgrades.
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