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Namecheap overtakes Alibaba, Endurance over Web.com

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

Shakeup on the overall leaderboard.

The words "top 10 domain registrars" in purple and yellow text

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers June 2020.

There are a few key takeaways:

1. As I predicted last month, Namecheap has overtaken Alibaba to become the fifth-largest .com registrar. It now has over 6 million .com domains under management. In June, it topped Tucows for the #2 spot on monthly .com adds. Namecheap was previously a reseller on Tucows’ Enom platform.

2. Web.com is experiencing a serious collapse in new registrations while other registrars are seeing growth. Historically, it was regularly in the top 10 for monthly .com registrations, garnering 60,000+ registrations per month. In June it had only 36,000 new .com registrations, and only 29,000 if you exclude registrations from its Dreamscape acquisition. While it still has a huge base of .com domains, it slipped to #4 on the total .com registration base charts.

3. Wix.com continues its upward climb. The company is getting a boost from people shifting their businesses online during the pandemic and it is increasing ad spend to take advantage of the opportunity. Customers registered another 100k+ .com domains in June, and the company is nearing 1 million .com domains under management.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 1,019,809 (893,819 in May)
2. Namecheap Inc. 276,463  (221,681)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 261,936 (241,523)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 198,274 (185,996)
5. Alibaba (HiChina) 160,422 (129,520)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 159,637 (146,768)
7. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 118,685 (104,064)
8. United Internet^ 78,001 (74,587)
9. NameSilo 58,967 (53,893)
10. Bizcn.com 49,431 (n/a)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of June 2020.

1. GoDaddy* 53,921,563 (53,787,318 in May)
2. Tucows** 12,911,196 (12,858,166)
3. Endurance+ 7,054,410 (7,011,577)
4. Web.com++ 7,036,119 (7,054,625)
5. Namecheap 6,001,568 (5,843,286)
6. Alibaba 5,877,037 (5,876,504)
7. United Internet^ 5,550,769 (5,543,211)
8. Google 3,653,632 (3,566,580)
9. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,087,400 (3,391,386)
10. GMO 2,270,872 (2,305,575)

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 and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Wix has record-setting Q2 thanks to Covid

by — Services 0 Comments

Company nearly doubles its marketing spend as businesses move online.

Image of an explosion with the words "Demand for websites and domain names is booming as businesses respond to COVID-19"

Website builder Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) reported second quarter earnings today, setting records thanks to the pandemic-induced rush to get online.

The company reported a remarkable 64% year-over-year increase in sign-ups with 9.3 million. Most of the new registrations use the free service or don’t convert, but the company grew its paid userbase to over 5 million by adding a net 346,000 subscribers during the quarter. That’s about double the number it added in the first quarter.

Collections—which other companies called bookings—were up 35% year-over-year.

“The need for business owners to move online quickly, communicate with customers, and deliver goods and services has never been more imminent,” said Wix CEO Avishai Abrahami.

Wix nearly doubled its advertising spend to take advantage of the situation. It plans to continue with elevated ad spend as long as it converts. This will suppress free cash flow but should pay long-term dividends.

 

Before the surge: .Com in March

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

Registrars saw an uptick in new registrations in March, which turned into a flood in April.

The words "top 10 domain registrars" in purple and yellow text

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers March 2020.

This data gives the first inkling of increased demand for domains thanks to Covid-19, but the real surge began in April as companies quickly moved their businesses online. We’ll get that data next month.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 990,805 (970,641 in February)
2. Namecheap Inc. 220,563 (203,248)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 201,660 (189,784)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 167,966 (174,972)
5. Alibaba (HiChina) 168,265 (91,190)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 144,355 (132,513)
7. Dynadot 105,006
8. Chengdu West 94,655 (61,674)
9. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 86,353 (75,407)
10. United Internet^ 71,767 (68,936)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of March 2020.

1. GoDaddy* 52,559,293 (52,296,013 in February)
2. Tucows** 12,781,969 (12,791,432)
3. Web.com++ 7,119,532 (7,121,051)
4. Endurance+ 6,888,632 (6,851,967)
5. Alibaba 5,787,345 (5,747,031)
6. Namecheap 5,551,106 (5,431,296)
7. United Internet^ 5,521,784 (5,512,155)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,746,993 (3,961,980)
9. Google 3,367,072 (3,282,713)
10. GMO 2,313,794 (2,304,518)

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, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Website Boom: Wix quantifies massive demand for websites due to Covid

by — Domain Registrars 12 Comments

People are creating websites in droves.

Image of an explosion with the words "Demand for websites and domain names is booming as businesses respond to COVID-19"

Website building platform Wix (Nasdaq: WIX) reported first quarter earnings today. It had a solid first quarter, but things got really interesting in April. As domain name companies can attest, there has been a boon in people registering domains and creating websites due to the Covid pandemic.

In April 2020 compared to April 2019:

  • 63% more people signed up for a Wix account
  • Net paying subscribers added during the month jumped 207% compared to the April 2019 growth rate
  • Collections (cash receipts) soared 76%
  • Online store subscriptions grew 580% compared to the year-ago growth
  • Online store transactions grew 110%

Earlier this year, Wix said it was too early to determine the impact Covid would have on its business. Now it has lifted its guidance going forward, citing the change in consumer behavior “creating a vast tailwind for our business.”

For Q1, both revenue and collections were up 24% compared to the same quarter of 2019. Wix’s base of paying customers increased by 162,000 to 4.7 million during the quarter and 6.9 million people registered for accounts.

Top domain name registrars

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

A monthly look at the latest .com data

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 January 2020.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 1,060,845 (904,896 in December)
2. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 205,518 (165,119)
3. Namecheap Inc. 197,210 (162,806)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 140,818 (154,234)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 138,028 (127,652)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 116,153 (155,992)
7. Dynadot 82,150
8. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 77,686 (64,869)
9. West 263 73,295
10. 1&1 71,196

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

1. GoDaddy* 52,061,831 (51,788,723 in December)
2. Tucows** 12,807,781 (12,837,586)
3. Web.com++ 7,137,113 (7,154,081)
4. Endurance+ 6,810,266 (6,807,222)
5. Alibaba 5,852,372 (6,014,079)
6. United Internet^ 5,507,431 (5,508,700)
7. Namecheap 5,322,270 (5,232,862)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 4,136,931 (4,286,667)
9. Google 3,199,382 (3,109,392)
10. GMO 2,296,219 (2,278,000)

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, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

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