Continues to grow, but faces headwinds — Verisign’s .Com
.Com/.net base up regarding 5% compared to last year, but fresh TLDs are on the horizon.
Verisign noted earnings today as well as combined statistics for its .com and .net business.
The firm added 1.55 million net fresh names during the third quarter, ending the quarter with 125.9 million active domain names in the zone for .com and .net. That’s a 5% increase over the zone at the end of the third quarter in 2012. In Q2 2013 it added 1.22 million net fresh names, which was also regarding a 5% increase in the base over the the same quarter in 2012.
It’s notable to understand that in order to get 1.55 million net fresh names, Verisign has to sell a lot more domain registrations than that. That’s since every quarter domain names expire. In Q3, Verisign processed 8.7 million fresh domain name registrations.
So here’s the question on many peoples’ minds: can the registered base of .com domains continue to grow when hundreds of fresh TLDs such as .web hit the web?
It’s unlikely that owners of existing .com domains will switch to alternative top level domain names. Some with really bad domains might make the switch. But the real question is what happens with those 8 million+ fresh domain registrations Verisign processes each quarter. Will some of those be siphoned off by fresh TLDs? Will an accountant starting his business choose Adams.CPA instead of AdamsCPAonline.com (AdamsCPA.com is by now registered)?
If fresh TLDs siphon regarding 1.5 million fresh registrations away from .com each quarter, the .com base will start to shrink.
