Published November 6, 2010
According to Nominet, the organisation responsible for running the .uk domain name registry, growth of the registry to the end of August 2010 was 7% and 11.5% year on year.
While at the end of August 2010 there were close to 200 million domain names registered globally, representing an increase around 6%, growth has continued to decrease from it's high over 30% in 2005. However, .uk has seen new registrations at the highest level since 2000.
In March 2010 the registry bypassed 200,000 new registrations in a single month and renewal rates have stabilised to a 12-month average of 69%.
The top 20 .uk registrars are managing over 6.5 million domain names; representing 75.1% of all .uk domain names.
Nominet's report (PDF) also points to registrants increasingly understanding the importance of using their domain name in online advertising, with on average 61% of television advertising featuring a website address and over 83% of press advertisements displaying a domain name.
UK consumers' attitude towards .uk is distinct when it comes to online shopping with the general perception being that .uk is more secure, credible and trusted than .com. Similar trends occur in other countries, for example, Australian consumers showing a preference for sites with .com.au domain names when considering ecommerce transactions.
Interestingly, UK consumers have a high level of expectation that a .uk site will be operated from a company based in the UK, but unlike Australian domain name policies, .uk registration policies allows registrations on an unrestricted basis.
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