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UK domain registrations grow in face of economic downturn

by Sarah Griffiths on 5 November 2010, 15:26

Tags: General Business

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Domain dilemmas

UK domain name registrations have increased and are expected to pass 2m, according to a new report.

While the domain name market has grown by 6 percent overall .uk name registrations have soared 11.5 percent, according a report by Nominet, the organisation responsible for .uk internet infrastructure.

Almost 200m domain names were registered worldwide at the end of August 2010, with .com and .info among the most popular, while growth in country code Top Level Domains has slumped by 1.4 percent, partly due to regulatory changes that have affected registrations in the Chinese .cn domain space, according to the report.

Focusing on .uk registrations, the report found that March was the most popular month with 200,000 new registrations and forecasts indicate the total volume of new registrations in 2010 will reach 2 million by the end of the year - the highest ever annual figure. There are beleived to be around 9m .uk websites in total.

The growth in .uk registrations coincides with the highest ever levels of consumer preference for .uk websites over .com alternatives. The report reveals that 80 percent of British consumers would prefer to visit a .uk address rather than a .com address.

Nominet's report also examined the role of domain names in advertising and discovered 65 percent of print and TV ads contained a web address with 83 percent of print ads featuring URLs.

"Given the renewed caution around the global economy, it's great to see the domain name industry continuing to show strong growth. Registrations in the .uk domain space have been particularly good this year, with some of the highest levels of new registrations that we've seen since the dotcom boom, despite the current focus on austerity. It demonstrates that in a recession, people are turning to the Internet to help set up new ventures and pave the way for future growth," said Phil Kingsland, director of marketing and communications at Nominet.