Geography of new gTLDs Applications

Currently there are about 300 top level domains (e.g., .com or .uk) in existence and they represent a key way in which the Internet is organized and accessed.  For example, we once looked at the online popularity of farm animals (including sheep) by comparing the frequency with which the names appeared in .com domains.  Plus, one of the floatingsheep collective got their start studying domain names so it remains an interest.

ICANN has been engaged in a process by which people can apply for new top level domains (TLDs).  On June 13, 2012 ICANN released information on who applied for new TLDs and we thought it was worthwhile take a quick look.  You will start seeing some of these as early as next year.

We thought it would be interesting to visualize different aspects of these applications with Wordle.

Relative Popularity of New TLDs

(size of TLD indicates the relative number of applications)

There were a total of 1930 applications for 1409 different TLDs.  The most popular TLDs included .APP(13 applications), .HOME(11 applications), .INC(11 applications), .ART(10 applications), .SHOP(9 applications), .LLC(9 applications), .BOOK(9 applications), .BLOG(9 applications). Btw, .MAP has three applicants, Google, Amazon and United TLD Holding Company.  

There are also a number of new geographic TLDs that are tied to city (.sydney and .hamburg) and regional (.bayern and . wales) locations.  The current TLD system only allows for country code TLDs.

Relative Popularity of New Geographic TLDs

(size of TLD indicates the relative number of applications)

Location of Applicants for New TLDs

(size of country name indicates the relative number of applications)

The United States represents the bulk of applications but there are some interesting "off shore" locations as well such as Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

Number of Applications submitted by Applicants

(size of applicant name indicates the relative number of applications)

The largest number of applications (101) came from Charleston Road Registry, Inc which is apparently the entity set up to handle Google's TLDs.  Amazon with 76 is the next largest although interesting they used their European branch location in Luxembourg.

Stay tuned...