The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) published the findings of its first Global Registrant Survey, which was conducted on its behalf by Nielsen.
Here are the key findings:
Awareness of new gTLDs is higher among registrants of domain names than among general Internet users; 65% of domain registrants reported awareness of at least one new gTLD versus 46% of general Internet users.
While 65% of general Internet users said they had visited a domain in a new gTLD, 64% of registrants reported the same.
70% of those surveyed in .Asia said they were aware of at least one new gTLD.
Only South America comes close to that level of awareness, with 66% of respondents from the region indicating familiarity with at least one new gTLD.
Domain registrants said they’re likely to consider a new gTLD for registering domain names in the future; 61% of domain name registrants versus 52% of Internet users.
The top three choices for registering a new gTLD name were .EMAIL, .LINK and .CLUB, which were selected from a fixed list of new gTLDs.
.COM, .NET and .ORG were the most registered TLDs cited in the survey, gaining 72%, 31%, and 23% respectively of the names registrants reported holding.
84% of the sample reported registering a name in .COM in North America while only 53% reported holding .COM domain name in Europe.
While 80% of those surveyed said they had one to five domain names registered, only 40% indicated they registered duplicate domain names in different TLDs, with the highest number of duplicate domain registrations reported in North America 46%.
Nearly half (49 percent) said a TLD’s familiarity was the main factor in choosing which TLD to purchase.
74% of those surveyed said they were familiar with ccTLD’s .
Additional study highlights include:
• Registrants say a well-known TLD is a key factor in determining which domain name to purchase – more important than a reasonable price.
• 61% of registrants find it very or somewhat easy to register a domain name. That figure rises to 76% in North America and 66% in Europe.
• About half of registrants would prefer a cheaper, quicker, less complicated experience when purchasing a domain name, as well as a notable desire to make the process of registering in multiple TLDs easier.
The Global Registrant Survey was conducted by Nielsen on behalf of ICANN.
The data collection phase of the survey took place from February 19 to August 13 2015, and the final report was delivered in September 2015.
A total of 3,357 domain name registrants aged 18+ representing Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America were selected based on ever registering a domain name and being a decision maker in domain name registration decisions meaning they were aware of the purpose of the domain name and in which TLDs the name had been registered.
The survey was administered in 17 languages and drawn from registrants in 24 countries. It seems the pool has a margain of error of 5%.
This survey commissioned by ICANN is in addition to the Global Consumer Survey, whose results were published in May 2015
