Domain Name News

Australia Still MIA On Top Ten ccTLD List

September 6, 2019

Australia's .au continued to be kept out of the top ten list of ccTLD's during the second quarter, with France's .fr extending its lead.

Verisign's latest Domain Name Industry Brief reports the second quarter of this year finished up with 354.7 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 14.9 million names, or 4.4 percent, year over year.

At 354.7 million, that works out to be around one domain name for every 5 people on the planet. 

Leading the pack was .com as always, with 142.5 million registered; followed by China's .cn clocking up 23 million registrations. 

The full top 10 (all TLD's):

1. .com - 142.5 million
2. .cn - 23 million
3. .tk - 22.5 million
4. .de - 16.2 million
5. .net - 13.6 million
6. .uk - 13.3 million
7. .org - 10.0 million
8. .tw - 6.5 million
9. .nl - 5.9 million
10. .ru - 5.7 million

.. so still no sign of any ngTLDs.

Top country code Top Level Domains (ccTLD's)

1. .cn (China) - 23 million
2. .tk (Tokelau) - 22.5 million
3. .de (Germany) - 16.2 million
4. .uk (United Kingdom) - 13.3 million
5. .tw  (Taiwan) - 6.5 million
6. .nl (Netherlands) - 5.9 million
7. .ru (Russian Federation) - 5.7 million
8. .br (Brazil)  - 4.1 million
9. .eu (European Union) - 3.7 million
10. .fr (France) - 3.4 million

.. and again, no .au - which used to pop up quite regularly in the top 10 until the last year or so, albeit usually at no.10

France's extension grew by another hundred thousand or so registrations during the period, extending its lead over .au and perhaps a few other ccTLD's. According to statistics via auDA, .au closed the second quarter with 3,193,421 registrations. At the time of writing, the auDA counter indicated 3,196,474; so France is looking pretty safe for now, unless another country sneaks up on it.

As for how the tiny country of Tokelau, which has a population of around 1,500 (working out to 15,000 domains for each resident) has racked up so many registrations, the answer is .tk is open to all to register - and is free. 

However, free isn't necessarily a good thing when it comes to domain names, particularly if you're an Australian business looking to attract Australian customers - in that scenario, registering a .com.au is the best bet as it is widely recognised locally and trusted.

The full Verisign Q2 2019 Domain Name Industry Brief can be viewed in full here.

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