In 2020, the terms ‘COVID-19’ and ‘coronavirus’ have become important parts of our day-to-day vocabulary. Like in many other industries, the domain industry has seen effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. In our Q2 2020: New gTLD Quarterly Report, the domain experts behind MarkMonitor™ share recent findings and analysis of said trends. Please complete the form at right to download this quarter’s report.
Topical TLD registration patterns appear
Following major shifts in personal behaviors across the globe over the past few months, domain names continue to be registered in new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) that reflect these changes in daily activities (e.g., .DELIVERY and .STREAM). Read the new report to see which of the gTLDs we reviewed had more than 120% growth in the 90-day period we monitored
.Brand use cases
Likewise, since March many .Brand Registry Operators have started registering domains including COVID-19, coronavirus and related terms, for use in communicating about policies, products and prevention tips to customers, stakeholders and the general public during this difficult time. From CORONAVIRUS.ABBOTT to COVID19.GOOGLE, we’ve got you covered in this quarter’s report.
Variable activity in the gTLD space
Reflecting broader economic uncertainty, as the second quarter of 2020 ended, the number of new gTLD registrations was down slightly overall, from over 33.2 million at the end of Q1 to 33.0 million.[1] That said, there is still a lot of activity in the space as four new gTLDs that changed Registry Operators within the past two years successfully launched in the second quarter. Registry Operators in the .Brand space also continue to register domains and the banking and financial sector regained the top spot in most .Brand registrations by industry from the automotive sector.
Virtual meetings the new ‘norm’
ICANN moved its second main meeting of the year – ICANN68, the Policy Forum – to a virtual only meeting which took place from June 22 to 25. To see our MarkMonitor Recap webinar click here[2]. As ICANN continues to review and respond to global conditions, it also announced[3] that the ICANN 69 Annual General Meeting will be virtual when it takes place from October 17 to 22, 2020.
To see more information about above topics please download Q2 2020: New gTLD Quarterly Report via the form to the right of this article.
As registrar for many of the most visited domain names on the internet, MarkMonitor continues to monitor developments in the gTLD and .Brand namespace. Learn more about MarkMonitor domain management solutions, or reach out to your customer services manager with any questions, and we will be happy to discuss further.
