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Managing DNS abuse – DNW Podcast #359

by — Podcasts 1 Comment

Tucows CEO Elliot Noss talks about the company’s new initiative.

Picture of Elliot Noss, CEO of Tucows with the words "Managing DNS Abuse"

A lot of good comes from the internet. So does a lot of bad: phishing, spam, explicit child material, etc. On today’s show, Tucows CEO Elliot Noss shares an initiative his company is undertaking to raise awareness and formulate how Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX) responds to abuse connected to domains registered through Tucows and its resellers. Domain registrars are just one part of the internet, but they can play an important role.

Also: EU headaches, OpenSea, Sav milestone and more

Sponsor: Dan.com API Partner Program

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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

Tucows picks up UNR registry and employees

by — Services 2 Comments

Tucows gets into the registry business with the acquisition of Frank Schilling’s technical registry and 10 employees.

Tucows logo

Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX) announced today that it is acquiring Frank Schilling’s UNR technical registry business and 10 of its employees.

Earlier this year, UNR auctioned its 23 top level domain names for more than $40 million. None of the top level domains have transferred to their new owners yet, but UNR Chief Growth Operator Shayan Rostam told Domain Name Wire this week that the assignments are under ICANN review.

Some buyers in that auction will likely continue to use the UNR backend, which Tucows is acquiring. This will give Tucows a toe into becoming a vertically integrated domain name company. Tucows owns reseller registrar platforms including Enom and OpenSRS, as well as retail domain outlet Hover.

Tucows did not disclose the deal’s financial terms and told Domain Name Wire that it is immaterial. At a minimum, I assume it will discuss the terms in its Q3 earnings release later this year.

Tucows reports slight revenue growth in domain business

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

Domain revenue increased 4% year over year, but new registrations declined as pandemic boost wanes.

Tucows logo

Domain name, internet access and mobile services company Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX) reported earnings after the market closed this afternoon.

Overall, the company tallied $75.1 million in revenue in Q2 2021. This number can’t easily be compared against last year because Tucows has since divested its mobile virtual network operator business.

On a segmented basis, Tucows reported slight growth in its domain business. The domain business grew 5% year over year to $62.3 million.

Total domains under management were up year over year but down slightly compared to Q1 as the pandemic bump starts to fade. Customers registered about 340,000 fewer new domains in Q2 of this year than in Q2 of 2020. The domain market started to lift in Q2 2020 as businesses shifted to online business models.

Full quarterly information is available here.

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

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