MELBOURNE, Australia, Dec. 23, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Melbourne-based research
company MAP Research has released the world's first report on the size, state
and future of the global domain registration industry.
MAP Research's results show that by the end of 2008, the overall industry will
have a market value of $3.6 billion (all figures in $US), forecast to increase
to $5.3 billion by 2011.
According to the report, whilst the overall market size of the global domain
industry is expected to increase over the next three years, growth will be at a
slower rate than previous years and a drop in average revenue per domain is
forecast.
And although growth in global top-level domains (ie .com and .net) will slow,
growth in country code top-level domains (ie .au and .uk) is expected to
increase in developing countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC
nations).
The research also predicts trends in the domain industry such as consolidation
to gain market share; a growing emphasis on bundling services; growth in demand
for 'domain parking'; growth of mobile internet and .mobi; and a new internet
provider platform, IPv6, dramatically increasing the number of available domain
names.
"Domain registrars are now becoming 'one-stop-shop' service providers, offering
their customers variety of services such as domain registration, domain
management, web hosting and domain resale," said Marco Marcou, MAP Research
Director.
"With the contractions of the top-level market, many of the global domain
registrars are diversifying their revenue base by providing a number of related
value added services to the provision of domain registration," he added.
"These additional services are increasingly being bundled with domain
registration and include web hosting, domain parking, pay-per-click advertising
and selling domain portfolios," said Marcou.
As part of the research, MAP Research interviewed a number of the top 20 domain
registrars globally.
Key points from the MAP Research Global Domain Industry Report
* Registered domains total 185 million, a growth of 20.8% over
2008, expected to reach nearly 297 million by 2011.
* Overall size of the industry is $3.6 billion (all figures in
$US), expected to reach $5.3 billion by 2011.
* The generic top level domain (gGTLD) market has grown 15.1%
over 2008 to a value of $1.83 billion.
* Domain registrars are diversifying into value added services
such as web hosting and domain management.
* Country code top level domains (ccTLDs) will grow by 21% to
a value of $1.81 billion in 2008, driven largely by stronger
demand in the BRIC nations and Eastern Europe.
* MAP Research forecasts stronger demand in BRIC nations
following increasing internet penetration rate, growing
economies and also increasing online advertising market.
* GoDaddy is ranked number one in the world, with a market
share of 27.9% in the gTLD market.
For this and other industry research reports, please visit
www.mapresearch.com.au.
For more information on the report and to interview Marco Marcou, Director of
MAP Research, please contact Nichola Patterson on +61 411 516 517 or
nichola@propellerpr.com.au
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CONTACT: Propeller PR
Nichola Patterson
+61 411 516 517
nichola@propellerpr.com.au
