May 20, 2020
The month of April saw 48,754 Australian domain names created - the biggest month for new .au domain name creations in a while says the body that oversees the namespace.
Commenting on April's figures, au Domain Administration (auDA) said while the result was the best seen for some time, the total number of active .au domain registrations actually fell slightly in April compared to where things were at the same time last year. This was largely due to registrants with existing domains not renewing them.
Apparently, in March/April last year there were a number of registrars running promotions. Additionally, variable licence periods of between 1 and 5 years were introduced back in 2018, and auDA says it has seen a gradual shift away from the once standard 2-year licence term.
"March 2020 was the first month the number of one-year licences exceeded the number of 2-year licences and April 2020 saw the trend continue," says auDA.
In April this year the 48,754 tally was 23.9% up on last April's 39,340 registrations. However, the total number of active .com.au domains in April was 2,831,219 - a very small drop from April 2019's 2,832,397.
The .net.au namespace is continuing to bleed registrations - in April 2020, there were 226,571 active names, while in April last year the number was 244,238 - down 7.2%. Here's how the last 4 years have looked for .net.au
... so a drop of 25% since 2017.
The only .au extension to see a year-on-year increase in April was .org.au, growing from 72,377 in April last year to 73,245 last month. The reason why isn't clear, but it may be connected to the COVID-19 pandemic; with new groups starting up to provide various forms of assistance.
In terms of all .au domains under management, there were 3,169,412 last month compared to 3,187,412 in April 2019 - drop of -0.6%
As mentioned last month when commenting on the previous registry report, the .au namespace has matured. However, it remains healthy and still highly regarded - and that's reassuring for all registrants.
The full .au registry monthly statistics report for April 2020 can be viewed here.
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