.COM accelerates the fall

According to the report, as of June 30, 2024, in the zone .COM registered 157.6 million names, which is 1.8 million fewer than in the first quarter of 2024. 

This is a significant drop in the zone, given that it lost only 0.2 million names in the first quarter. In general, over the past year, the number of domains in .COM decreased by 3.7 million.

A Verisign-managed domain zone .NET also started to decline: it lost 0.1 million names in the second quarter. Against this background, the company lowered its business forecasts again.

According to Domain Incite, Verisign now expects a decrease in the base of domains managed by it in the range from -2% to -3% by the end of 2024. For comparison, in April, she predicted a range from +0.25% to -1.75%, and in February from +1% to -1%.

At the same time, in an interview with analysts, the CEO of Verisign admitted that the increase in wholesale prices for .COM domains "could have an impact" on the current drop, but blamed registrars who significantly increased retail prices.