Are web hosting users increasing in number?

It seems that there may be more web hosting users out there, as new figures from Nominet have revealed that there were 187.6 million domain names registered across the world, accounting for an eight per cent rise on figures from September 2008.

However, the speed at which new names have been registered has dropped. Growth rates across all Top Level Domains were as high as 33 per cent in 2006, although these have been slowing since that point, according to the data. Increases in country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) had been driven by China, but this has declined to fall in line with generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs).

Currently, gLTD growth averages out at six per cent, while ccTLD expansion has done a little better at ten per cent. The UK domain name register grew by 13 per cent in 2008 and is expected to achieve growth of eight per cent in 2009, Nominet explained. It said that the fall in expansion rates is in line with the shift in the economic climate from the middle of 2008 onwards.

The research revealed that .de has enjoyed steady growth and has reclaimed the position as the largest ccTLD by volume, meaning Germany is the leader in this field.

Talking about why Germany is doing particularly well in this area, Phil Kingsland, director of communications at Nominet, said: "The German registry … has potential markets where people might sell into Germany from local territories around that area. There’s potential for a requirement due to the nature of German speaking in different territories."

He pointed out that in the German registry there are many more domains that contain hyphens. Mr Kingsland added that it is "perfectly possible" the German registry has a plethora of names with hyphens that are a repeat of other words, or non-hyphenated ones.

Written by Jermaine Jones