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Dynadot jumps into top 10

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

Dynadot jumps into the top ten registrars for new .com registrations.

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers April 2019.

An anomaly this month is Dynadot, which jumped into the top ten for monthly .com registrations. This pushed NameSilo out of the top ten. I think this has to do with pricing; while NameSilo’s .com sale ended at the end of Q1, Dynadot has continued with discounted pricing. It’s charging $6.99 right now for new .com registrations.

While this means NameSilo is absent from the monthly board this month, it should soon appear on the top ten overall. It has crossed two million .com domains under management but this isn’t reflected in the ICANN numbers, which only go through April.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* 970,751 (NYSE: GDDY) (1,045,199 in March)
2. Xin Net Technology Corporation 324,617 (294,415)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 191,620 (206,170)
4. NameCheap Inc. 152,606 (160,737)
5. Alibaba (HiChina) 130,946 (126,659)
6. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 125,059 (138,627)
7. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 119,976 (135,927)
8. Dynadot 104,837
9. Web.com++  88,873 (83,600)
10. Chengdu West 82,351

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of April 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 50,940,640 (50,831,723 in March)
2. Tucows**  12,484,323 (12,552,098)
3. Endurance+ 7,026,808 (7,065,847)
4. Web.com++ 6,713,881 (6,717,360)
5. Alibaba 6,288,135 (6,226,249)
6. United Internet^ 5,609,664 (5,630,889)
7. Namecheap 4,745,085 (4,694,598)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,814,331 (3,500,398)
9. Google 2,434,742 (2,361,414)
10. GMO 2,026,751 (2,007,437)

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

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows and Enom
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

A strong month for .Com

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

A strong month for .com

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers March 2019.

March was a strong month for many registrars. GoDaddy topped 1 million new registrations and others had lots of new registrations, too. United-Domains fell off the monthly performance chart as GMO jumped on.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 1,045,199 (884,685 in February)
2. Xin Net Technology Corporation 294,415 (123,707)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 206,170 (193,620)
4. NameCheap Inc. 160,737 (146,380)
5. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 138,627 (126,422)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 135,927 (112,636)
7. Alibaba (HiChina) 126,659 (76,420)
8. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 95,985 (69,317)
9. GMO 89,155
10. Web.com++ 83,600 (83,164)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of March 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 50,831,723 (50,529,991 in February)
2. Tucows** 12,552,098  (12,554,559)
3. Endurance+ 7,065,847 (7,076,003)
4. Web.com++ 6,717,360
5. Alibaba 6,226,249 (6,193,225)
6. United Internet^ 5,630,889 (5,629,371)
7. Namecheap 4,694,598 (4,627,488)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,500,398 (3,272,339)
9. Google 2,361,414 (2,266,405)
10. GMO 2,007,437 (1,965,061)

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

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows and Enom
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Constantine Roussos’ DotMusic wins .Music domain

by — Uncategorized 10 Comments

Roussos beats Amazon, Google and others to win control of .Music.

.Music top level domain logo

The long battle for control of the .music top level domain name is owner.

Yesterday, DotMusic founder Constantine Roussos confirmed this his organization was the winning bidder in a private settlement for the extension:

DotMusic defeated a number of heavyweights including Google and Amazon.

.Music has been delayed for many years as Roussos fought legal and policy battles to get the domain.

I suspect the legal bills alone have totalled seven figures.

In the end, the competitors agreed to some sort of resolution. Most likely it was a private auction.

While I don’t agree with some of the tactics Roussos took along the way, he will certainly be a good steward for the .Music extension.

The .App “junk drop” is coming

by — Expired Domains 12 Comments

Expired domains are coming as first anniversary nears.

Image of trash with "The Junk Drop" written on it

In terms of domain name registration volume, .App has been a big success for Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL). The company’s .app top level domain name has nearly 400,000 domains in the zone after 11 months of general availability.

The one year anniversary of general availability is May 8, and that means the inevitable “junk drop” is coming.

The term refers to all the speculative (and sometimes defensive) domain name registrations that registrants drop one year after a top level domain launches. With so many domains coming up for renewal on the anniversary, domains under management inevitably drops.

It will be over a month after the anniversary before we get a clear picture of renewals and drops because of the grace period.

There doesn’t seem to be much of an aftermarket for .app domain names despite high registration volumes. Namebio shows a total of 15 public sales. I received multiple offers for Voicemail.app but none resulted in a sale.

 

New .Com Winners & Losers

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

NameSilo jumps on monthly list.

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers November 2018.

The only notable movement was NameSilo, which jumped from #10 to #6 on the monthly report. It’s currently the 11th largest .com registrar. You can read an interview with NameSilo’s CEO here.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 865,438 (893,103 in October)
2. Alibaba (HiChina) 312,227 (204,213)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 175,148 (183,542)
4. NameCheap Inc. 157,607 (139,033)
5. Xin Net Technology Corporation 152,143 (135,590)
6. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 130,713 (68,758)
7. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 123,087 (130,915)
8. Web.com++ 97,702 (105,815)
9. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 88,236 (92,312)
10. United Internet^ (FRA: UTDI) 66,501 (71,257)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of November 2018.

1. GoDaddy* 49,370,531 (49,222,603 in October)
2. Tucows** 12,659,835 (12,709,575)
3. Endurance+ 7,179,580 (7,240,990)
4. Web.com++ 6,732,478 (6,730,384)
5. Alibaba 6,192,801 (5,972,559)
6. United Internet^ 5,666,856 (5,675,949)
7. Namecheap 4,515,221 (4,452,551)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 2,792,514 (2,639,761)
9. Google 2,057,844 (2,005,816)
10. GMO 1,964,580 (1,975,188)

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

* Includes GoDaddy and Wild West Domains
** Includes Tucows and Enom
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you