Internet grows to 329.3 Mn domain name registrations in the fourth quarter of 2016

VeriSign has announced that approximately 2.3 mn domain name registrations were added to the internet in the fourth quarter of 2016, bringing the total number of domain name registrations to approximately 329.3 mn across all top-level domains (TLDs) as of December 31, 2016. This data is shared in the online version of the Domain Name Industry Brief that launched today.

The increase of approximately 2.3 mn domain name registrations globally equates to a growth rate of 1.8 percent over the third quarter of 2016. Domain name registrations have grown by 21 mn, or 6.8%, year over year.

The .com and .net TLDs had a combined total of approximately 142.2 mn domain name registrations in the domain name base in the fourth quarter of 2016. This represents a 1.7% increase year over year. As of December 31, 2016, the .com domain name base equaled 126.9 mn domain name registrations, while the .net domain name base equaled 15.3 mn domain name registrations.

New .com and .net domain name registrations totaled 8.8 mn during the fourth quarter of 2016.In the fourth quarter of 2015, new .com and .net domain name registrations totaled 12.2 mn.

During the fourth quarter of 2016, Verisign’s average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load was approximately 143 bn queries per day across all TLDs operated by Verisign, with a peak of nearly 398 bn queries. Quarter over quarter, the daily average query load increased 11.4% and the peak increased by 122.5%. Year over year, the daily average query load increased by 16.0%, and the peak increased 105.1%.