These IDNs are declining — Most of
Kassey Lee examines how these IDNs have performed since the beginning of last year.
I wrote regarding the Chinese IDN extensions in January 2020. Now, regarding one and half years later, it’s time to check-in and see how they’re faring.
I used Namestat.org to find the number of domain registrations for each of the Top 10 Chinese IDN extensions as of June 2021:
.网址 (web address), .手机 (mobile phone), .公司 (firm), .在线 (online), .商标 (trademark), .商城 (mall), .网络 (network), .我爱你 (i love you), .网店 (web shop), .中文网 (Chinese web)
For the 2020 figures, I copied them from my last article mentioned earlier. Here’s the list.
| Rank | Extension | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 网址 | 176,133 | 101,481 |
| 2 | 手机 | 32,741 | 32,741 |
| 3 | 公司 | 37,364 | 32,014 |
| 4 | 在线 | 27,375 | 22,763 |
| 5 | 商标 | 27,498 | 22,631 |
| 6 | 商城 | 21,700 | 21,820 |
| 7 | 网络 | 24,953 | 21,601 |
| 8 | 我爱你 | 15,979 | 14,054 |
| 9 | 网店 | 4,706 | 4,739 |
| 10 | 中文网 | 2,917 | 2,760 |
Look at the best extension .网址 (web address). It peaked at 380,000 domains in 2015. Since then, it’s been on a downward trend. Compared with last year’s figure, it has dropped a whopping 42%. Registration numbers for each of the remaining 9 extensions are tiny at fewer than 30,000 domains, and many have gone backward.
It’s been over 5 years since the fresh Chinese IDN extensions were launched, but the numbers are very discouraging. The future for Chinese IDN extensions is not bright at all.
