DENIC doesn’t see much threat from fresh TLDs

DENIC downplays threat of fresh TLDs against .de, citing latest eco survey.

eco – the Association of the German Internet Industry released its third Registrar Atlas this stretch. The Registrar Atlas is a survey of businesses that offer domain names. The non-scientific survey targets mostly Germany, but includes respondents from eight countries primarily in Europe.

.De registry DENIC sponsors the survey, along with a number of other registries such as Verisign.

DENIC issued a press release (pdf) regarding the survey results. Not surprisingly, DENIC’s release focuses on downplaying the effects of fresh TLDs on the German domain registration market.

The organization notes that more than 80% of German registrars that participated in the survey don’t expect fresh TLDs to cause a drop in domain registrations for .de.

There are a number of German geo top level domains on the horizon, which could conceivably compete with .de. Firms have applied for .cologne, .bayern, .berlin, .hamburg, .koeln, and .nrw (North Rhine-Westphalia). I believe that’s the highest concentration of geo TLD applications for any country. Many applicants were no doubt attracted by the success of .de, which is generally considered the most successful country code domain name.

eco’s note suggest that many of the respondents are taking a cautious, low investment approach to fresh TLDs. This shouldn’t be a surprise given that many of them count on hosting and other services for much of their revenue. Many of the businesses plan to sell fresh TLDs as resellers rather than getting their own accreditations to each registry, which would be a cumbersome process for a modest domain seller.

DENIC’s press release regarding the survey also notes that “three thirds” of participating German registrars think the share of fresh TLDs in their overall inventory of domains five years from now will be less than 10%.

With numbers like that, DENIC has nothing to worry regarding.