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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

Wix: here’s what Covid-19 is doing to website creation

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

The pandemic has forced companies to expedite their transition online.

Picture of man wearing surgical mask with the word "Coronavirus" overlayed

Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) is one of the largest website builder platforms. The company sent a letter to shareholders (pdf) today explaining the impact Covid-19 is having on its business.

Like GoDaddy, it sees both positive and negative effects.

There are positive impacts as more offline businesses find a way to offer their services online. Many businesses are doubling down on e-commerce, adding online services, etc.

On the other hand, usage by events companies and hotels is down.

The net-net so far is that, although cancellations are up, so are new sign-ups. Wix said its Q1 results for revenue and collections will be in line with its forecast, but it’s too early to tell what impact it will have in Q2.

GoDaddy, which also offers web presences solutions for small businesses, said its Q1 will land within $5 million of guidance. It expects Q2 to take about a $25-$30 million revenue hit. GoDaddy expects strength from businesses going online but some negative impact from aftermarket domain sales and lost productivity from its employees working from home.

As many readers know, I run a service connecting podcasters to guests. I’ve had some paid members cancel, citing the economic uncertainty. But that has been far outstripped by people signing up as they look for new ways to reach audiences when they can’t do it in person. My revenue on the site is up substantially since the world has been impacted by stay at home orders.

It’s hard to say how the pandemic will impact the industry overall as we are in unprecedented times. But we now have two relevant companies weighing in.

Wix now has 4.5 million paying subscribers

by — Services 2 Comments

Wix’s paying subscriber base inches forward in Q4.

Picture of stock ticker board with words "earnings announcement" below it

Website builder Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) reported Q4 and full-year 2019 earnings today.

The company posted revenue of $204.6 million for the quarter and $761.1 million for 2019. That’s up 25% and 26% year-over-year, respectively.

Collections, which is basically a measure of cash receipts, hit $226.7 million in the fourth quarter and $832.5 million for the year. That’s up 29% and 26% year-over-year, respectively.

Numbers were stunted by the strong dollar.

Wix’s paying customer base increased by 89,000 during the fourth quarter and measured 4.5 million at the end of the year. 5.8 million people registered to use Wix services during the fourth quarter. There are now 165 million registered users, so less than 3% of registered users are active paying users.

Looking ahead to 2020, Wix forecasts revenue to increase to $946-$956 million and collections to reach $1.02-$1.035 billion.

 

JPMorgan analyst cautions on domain growth

by — Services 0 Comments

Auty believes base of .com/.net domains missed his Q3 forecast.

Verisign logoJPMorgan analyst Sterling Auty lowered his forecast for growth of the domain base at Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) in Q3. He lowered his estimate from 1.62 million net adds to just 1.27 million based on zone data from Verisign’s website.

In the same quarter last year, Verisign’s official tally was 1.99 million growth of .com/.net.

Starting this year, Verisign no longer provides a quarterly growth forecast. It only gives an annual forecast. These forecasts are easy to hit because it can pull levers to push registrations. So you can expect full year growth to be within Verisign’s forecast of 3.0% to 4.25% on 153.0 million, or 4.59 million to 6.51 million for the year. Through the first half of the year, growth was 3.1 million domains.

My general observation is that many registrars are offering cut-rate .com registration prices on first-year registrations starting late last year. Verisign offers rebates and promotions to registrars that reduces the cost to less than its standard $7.85 fee.

Auty noted that a shortfall in new registrations could impact GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) and Wix (NASDAQ: WIX).

GoDaddy has been selling some of its valuable domain inventory lately. This sometimes happens toward the end of the quarter and boosts the company’s numbers.

Shares in Verisign and Wix are down about 2% today. Shares in GoDaddy are down about 5% at publication.



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