Verisign Inc.

THE DOMAIN NAME INDUSTRY BRIEF

VOLUME 9 - ISSUE 4 - DECEMBER 2012 THE VERISIGN DOMAIN REPORT AS THE GLOBAL REGISTRY OPERATOR FOR .COM AND .NET, VERISIGN REVIEWS THE STATE OF THE DOMAIN NAME INDUSTRY THROUGH A VARIETY OF STATISTICAL AND ANALYTICAL RESEARCH. AS THE TRUSTED PROVIDER OF INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES FOR THE NETWORKED WORLD, VERISIGN PROVIDES THIS BRIEFING TO HIGHLIGHT IMPORTANT TRENDS IN DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION, INCLUDING KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS AND GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES, TO INDUSTRY ANALYSTS, MEDIA AND BUSINESSES.

VerisignInc.com

THE DOMAIN NAME INDUSTRY BRIEF / DECEMBER 2012

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The third quarter of 2012 closed with a base of more than 246 million domain name registrations across all TopLevel Domains (TLDs), an increase of 5.7 million domain names, or 2.4 percent over the second quarter of 2012. Registrations have grown by 26.4 million, or 12 percent, year over year.1, 2 The base of Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) was 104.9 million domain names, a 4.6 percent increase quarter over quarter, and a 20.7 percent increase year over year in the base.1, 2 The .com and .net TLDs experienced aggregate growth, reaching a combined total of approximately 119.9 million domain names in the adjusted zone in the third quarter of 2012. This represents a 1 percent increase in the base over the second quarter of 2012 and a 7.1 percent increase over the third quarter of 2011. As of Sept. 30, 2012, the base of registered names in .com equaled 105 million names, while .net equaled 14.9 million names. New .com and .net registrations totaled 7.8 million during the third quarter of 2012. This reflects a 1.1 percent yearover-year decrease in new registrations. The order of the top TLDs in terms of zone size changed slightly when compared to the second quarter, as .cn (China) moved up two rankings from the tenth largest TLD to the eighth largest TLD, resulting in .nl (Netherlands) and .ru (Russian Federation) moving down one ranking each,...