VeriSign today released the VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief for the first quarter of 2007. The brief, which highlights key industry data for worldwide domain name activity, reports that the total number of domain name registrations reached 128 million, representing a 31 percent increase over the same quarter in the previous year, and a 6 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2006. From the report:

“Registrants around the world registered 10.7 million new domain names in the first quarter of 2007. Coming off an extremely strong new registration rate in the fourth quarter, the first quarter new registrations dropped eight percent quarter over quarter but showed a strong year over year increase of 25 percent. Just as the new ccTLD registrations drove the high growth for the overall fourth quarter results, ccTLDs were a major factor in the slower new registrations in the first quarter.”

On the Top-Level Domain (TLD) break down, the report has highlighted the following overview:

“The Country Code Top Level Domain Names (ccTLDs) grew at 33 percent year over year and five percent quarter over quarter. In terms of total registrations, .com remains the largest TLD in terms of its total base of registrations, with .de (Germany) and .net following. The .org TLD moved into the fourth slot, slightly ahead of .uk (United Kingdom).”

Highlighting key industry stats and trends for Q1 2007:

• Top Level Domain (TLD) registration growth reached 31 percent year-over-year, and 6 percent over most recent quarter

• Country code TLD (ccTLD) growth of 33 percent year-over-year, and 5 percent quarter-over-quarter

• New ccTLD registrations were up 86 percent year-over-year

• 10.7 million total new registrations worldwide in Q1 2007

• Total worldwide base of 128 million domain name registrations

• 7 million registrations for new .com and .net domain names in Q1 2007

PDF copy of the Domain Name Industry Brief for the first quarter of 2007, can be downloaded here.

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