VeriSign Issues Quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief

HostReview.com
Wednesday, August 17, 2005; 02:20 PM

VeriSign, Inc. (www.versign.com), a provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, today released the VeriSign® Domain Name Industry Brief for the second quarter of 2005. 

According to the report, which highlights key industry data for worldwide domain name activity, total domain name registrations reached an all-time high of 82.9 million, representing an eight percent growth since the first quarter of 2005 and a 28 percent increase since the second quarter of 2004. 

In supporting this growth, the VeriSign Domain Name System (DNS) continued to maintain operational accuracy and stability for 100 percent of the time during the second quarter of 2005.  Also today, VeriSign released the Domain Name Industry Brief Registrant Profile offering insights into the people and organizations who register domain names.

The domain name industry continued to experience strong growth in the second quarter of 2005 as proven by the number of new domain names registered at just over 8.1 million.

The total number of .com and .net domain names grew to 44.2 million by the end of the second quarter of 2005.  This represents a seven percent increase since the first quarter of 2005 and a 30 percent increase since the same period last year.

The growth of queries and total users across the Internet has accelerated the online advertising space. Online advertising, in particular the Pay-Per-Click advertising market, represents the main driver behind new domain name growth. 

In fact, time spent online is now about equal to time spent watching television for most age demographics.  Because people are spending more time online, analysts expect advertising dollars to follow user behavior.  Currently, only 4 percent of advertising budgets are spent online versus approximately 25 percent spent television advertising.

“For several years now, VeriSign has reported that the number of queries it manages in operating .com and .net infrastructure is consistently increasing,” said Mark McLaughlin, senior vice president of VeriSign’s Naming and Directory Services.

.Com currently represents 47 percent of all registered domain names. Collectively, the country code Top Level Domain names (ccTLDs) , such as .de (Germany), .uk (United Kingdom), and .br (Brazil), account for 35 percent, followed by .net at seven percent.

VeriSign publishes the Domain Name Industry Brief to provide Internet users throughout the world with significant statistical and analytical research on the domain name industry and the Internet as a whole. Copies of this quarter’s Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports in the series.