Strong growth in country code top level domains
ASCIO
02.06.2007
Companies throughout the world have known for some time that ccTLDs are vital to the success of regional marketing initiatives, can help to improve search engine positioning, and that local protection of their online presence is a necessity when operating in a local market.
Double-digit growth among ccTLDs
At the end of the first quarter of 2007 there were 45,7 million ccTLDs registered, with more than 2 million new ccTLDs added during that quarter. The largest quarterly growth for ccTLDs was the fourth quarter of 2006. This growth has been driven mainly by .CN with half million .CN domain names registered in the fourth quarter of 2006. A large number of other ccTLDs experienced double-digit growth including .SE, .ES, .AT, .IN, .HU, .PT, and .MX.
Top 10 ccTLDs contribute to 64 percent of the total 250 global extensions
In total, country code Top Level Domain names (ccTLDs) grew at 33 percent year over year. Out of more than 250 ccTLDs, the largest ccTLD continues to be .DE with .CO.UK second.
By the end of 2006 there were over 120 million domain names registered worldwide across all of the Top Level Domain Names (TLDs). This in an increase of 32 percent over the previous year.
Source – Zooknic