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.Com leaderboard gets a shakeup

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

The Endurance-Web merger changes the look of the charts.

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 November 2020.

Last month, Endurance International Group went private and combined with Web.com in a new company called Newfold Digital. Starting with this month’s report I have combined the entities. I have also added in the SnapNames registrars. Newfold leaps Tucows in the total domains under management chart.

This combination creates one more space on the total domains under management leaderboard, which created another quandary: should TurnCommerce be included? I only include registrars that are open to the public, not closed registrars owned by a domain investor. TurnCommerce’s registrars are open to the public but a large percentage of its domains are owned & operated. I made the decision to start including the registrar and to combine the numbers from NameBright and its DropCatch.com LLCs. That puts it in the #7 slot.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 832,844 (877,848 in October)
2. Namecheap Inc. 263,785 (286,290)
3. Newfold Digital+ 232,929 (n/a)
4. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 207,024 (231,248)
5. Alibaba (HiChina) 203,286 (163,555)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 144,030 (154,803)
7. United Internet^ 120,167 (79,506)
8. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 96,220 (94,842)
9. Dynadot 84,546 (n/a)
10. CentralNic^^ (AIM: CNIC) 80,478 (73,193)

 

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

1. GoDaddy* 54,735,035 (54,610,243 in October)
2. Newfold Digital 14,595,094 (n/a)
3. Tucows** 12,988,434 (12,977,614)
4. Namecheap 6,856,440 (6,516,860)
5. Alibaba 6,133,679 (6,086,689)
6. United Internet^ 5,719,043 (5,655,462)
7. TurnCommerce++ 4,513,069 (n/a)
8. Google 4,052,113 (3,994,114)
9. GMO 2,149,198 (2,174,353)
10. CentralNic 2,207,996 (2,145,282)

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

January’s top domain name stories: Parler, closeouts and more

by — Uncategorized 1 Comment

Here’s a rundown of the top stories and podcasts from the past month.

Logo for Parler

Parler finding a new home (both for its domain and website) was the top story on DNW in January.

Domain name news sometimes follows national and global news, and that was the case in January. The top stories had to do with sites with controversial content having to find new domain name registrars.

Here’s a look back at the top stories on Domain Name Wire last month, as ranked by views:

1. Parler.com domain moves to Epik – The controversial site moved its domain name to registrar Epik shortly after Epik posted a letter sympathizing with its plight.

2. GoDaddy explains AR15 .com boot – GoDaddy kicked gun site AR15.com off the registrar after claiming that the site didn’t take down problematic forum content. The site owners disputed GoDaddy’s characterization. It ended up at Epik.

3. GoDaddy to change closeout auction pricing – GoDaddy’s Dutch auction format for closeout domains will start at $50 instead of $11 beginning in February.

4. Wix changes product name from virus to nicotine – Wix’s Corvid brand name didn’t play well during the pandemic. Its new choice has another problem.

5. Epik continues to bash GoDaddy. GoDaddy says this is why it dropped Epik – Epik penned a post blasting GoDaddy. This is the exact behavior that GoDaddy says caused it to dump Epik from its Afternic network.

Miss a podcast? Listen now:

#322 Digging into Squadhelp – Squadhelp’s founder Darpan Munjal and I dig into the data and how to leverage Squadhelp for domain sales.

#321 Newer domain investors find success – This is a truncated version of a talk hosted by ICA.

#320 Selling Gems – I interview Andrew Miller, seller and/or broker of many valuable domains.

#319 NielsenIQ and domain names – NielsenIQ Chief Marketing Officer Jacqueline Woods explains the company’s branding and acquisition of NIQ.com.

Top .com domain name registrars

by — Domain Registrars 3 Comments

Welcoming CentralNic to the top 10

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 October 2020.

This is the first month that I’m aggregating CentralNic’s major registrars, which puts them in the top 10 on both lists.

Two of the anomalies from last month ended up being just that — anomalies. Hosting Concepts/OpenProvider still posted a strong month but didn’t make the top 10, and United Internet’s PSI brand came back to earth after a sudden surge in the prior month.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 877,848 (914,038 in September)
2. Namecheap Inc. 286,290 (284,154)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 231,248 (231,791)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 181,262 (178,499)
5. Alibaba (HiChina) 163,555 (155,926)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 154,803 (157,453)
7. West 263 98,276
8. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 94,842 (97,021)
9. United Internet^ 79,506 (142,553)
10. CentralNic^^ (AIM: CNIC) 73,193

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

1. GoDaddy* 54,610,243 (54,450,745 in September)
2. Tucows** 12,977,614 (12,963,637)
3. Endurance+ 7,279,094 (7,232,301)
4. Web.com++ 7,074,344 (7,066,244)
5. Namecheap 6,689,036 (6,516,860)
6. Alibaba 6,086,689 (5,947,947)
7. United Internet^ 5,655,462 (5,639,402)
8. Google 3,994,114 (3,924,273)
9. GMO 2,174,353 (2,191,732)
10. CentralNic 2,145,282

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
^^ Includes Key-Systems, 1API and Moniker, Instra

Latest .com ranking has some surprises

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

Two registrars posted big gains in September.

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 September 2020.

There were a couple of surprises in the monthly numbers. Perhaps they are anomalies. First, Hosting Concepts/OpenProvider had a surge in one-year .com registrations, placing it in the top ten. Second, United Internet’s PSI brand posted a surge that doubled the overall company’s .com registrations compared to the prior month.

CentralNic’s brands continue to grow, and I’ll add them as a combined entity starting next month.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 914,038 (970,570 in August)
2. Namecheap Inc. 284,154 (276,557)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 231,791 (245,360)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 178,499 (199,710)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 157,453 (168,619)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 155,926 (221,686)
7. United Internet^ 142,553 (70,580)
8. Hosting Concepts B.V. d/b/a Openprovider 101,645
9. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 97,021 (108,029)
10. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 71,291 (68,308)

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

1. GoDaddy* 54,450,745 (54,215,433 in August)
2. Tucows** 12,963,637 (12,930,920)
3. Endurance+ 7,232,301 (7,183,871)
4. Web.com++ 7,066,244 (7,041,224)
5. Namecheap 6,516,860 (6,338,718)
6. Alibaba 5,947,947 (5,962,510)
7. United Internet^ 5,639,402 (5,554,345)
8. Google 3,924,273 (3,846,200)
9. Xin Net Technology Corporation 2,244,819 (2,539,828)
10. GMO 2,191,732 (2,212,268)

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 changes product name from virus to nicotine

by — Services 0 Comments

Company dumps Covid-sounding brand name.

Screenshot of Velo by Wix web development platform

Wix has changed the name of its web development platform from the Covid-sounding Corvid to Velo.

Each time I got an email this year from Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) about its Corvid web development system, I thought the company is providing an update about Covid-19.

I’m not the only person. Wix has finally decided to change the name of Corvid.

The new brand is Velo. Google ‘Velo’ and you’ll find that Velo is the brand name of a line of nicotine pouches and lozenges. But if you aren’t into sucking on nicotine, Velo is a much cleaner brand than Corvid.

Wix is the latest in a long line of companies that picked decent brand names only to have them take on a second meaning (or, in this case, to be easily confused with something bad). Remember that mobile payments service called ISIS?

Wix published a video making light of the situation:

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