2010 Results: Ukrainian Domain Name Market
At the end of 2010, the editorial board of AIN.UA initiateda series of blitz surveys in which market participants talk about the results of the outgoing year in their segmentWe decided to start with the domain name segment, which was frequently covered in the media in 2010. Our questions were answered by Pavel Blotsky, CEO of Imena.UA, and Andrey Khvetkevich, Director of Service Online (domain name registrar NIC.UA). Hostmaster's management declined to participate in the quick survey.
How has the domain market changed in 2010?
P. Blotsky: The most notable change was the introduction of Cyrillic IDNs. In fact, 2010 could be called the year of IDNs. By the end of the year, interest in Cyrillic domains had become widespread and continues to grow. The launch of IDNs created a lot of buzz around the world, especially in Russia, and this inevitably impacted our market.
A. Khvetkevich: Development trends in the Ukrainian domain market were fully in line with those of the Ukrainian Internet as a whole. In 2010, the growth rate of registrations decreased by 22%, but the absolute number of new paid orders on NIC.UA in 2010 compared to 2009 increased by 37%.
Which domain extensions were most popular with your clients? Why?
P.B.: The rate of registration of traditional Latin American domain names has returned to pre-crisis levels, but the loss of domain names due to non-renewal remains quite high. Demand has remained virtually unchanged this year. .com.ua and .com remain the most popular domains, followed by .kiev.ua, .net.ua, and .net. Interest in registering in the .UA top-level domain is steadily, albeit slowly, growing. This is due to the fact that more and more active internet projects are realizing the need to register a trademark and a more "reputable" domain from a branding perspective. Furthermore, many startups are initially investing in registering their trademarks and names in the top-level domain. Of the new domain zones, the recently launched .RU domain is the most popular.
A.Kh.: The most popular domain on NIC.UA is PP.UA, due to its free availability. Next comes COM.UA, the most common domain in Ukraine. KIEV.UA is third most popular. Also in demand on NIC.UA are COM, the most popular domain in the world, and IN.UA, which, according to statistics, registers more domains in this domain than other registrars.
What is your answer to the question, "Why register IDN domains in Ukraine today?"
P.B.: Because if you realize tomorrow you need an IDN, it'll be too late to register it. The launch of IDN domains has shown that the problem of cybersquatting is becoming increasingly acute. More and more people are getting involved in the process of seizing Cyrillic domain names that sound similar to the names of well-known brands and popular websites, hoping to make a profit by reselling them.
A.Kh.: IDN is the next step in the development of Ukraine's domain system. Many people find it more convenient to write website addresses in Cyrillic characters, as demonstrated by the popularity of the Russian Cyrillic domain .РФ.
Are you satisfied with the current state of the domain market? What do you think should be changed?
P.B.: Our market still lacks a unified administrative structure that would govern the entire national domain system, develop uniform rules, ensure strict compliance by all participants, and act to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of the national domain market. Therefore, compared to our neighbors, our market's achievements and indicators are more than modest. One of the main reasons for this cannot be overlooked: the immaturity of the market participants themselves – a lack of understanding of their own benefits, a desperate fight for crumbs where businesses with a decent surplus could exist, and attempts to acquire new clients at any cost while abandoning loyalty to the interests of existing clients. In the long term, this leads to the failure of such strategies and negative consequences for the market as a whole.
A.Kh.: The problems in the development of the Ukrainian domain market stem from the fact that Ukraine has many public domain administrators, but there is no properly functioning system for managing relationships between them or for regulating the market—a unified set of rules. Thus, regional domains can operate in violation of the .UA domain rules. As an example, IDN domains in some regional domains appeared without any documentation or official warnings. Moreover, they did not adhere to the rules described on the page:https://hostmaster.ua/idn/, which Ukrainian IDN domains, by definition, should not contradict.
