How the domain market is developing in Ukraine and the world: key trends

Domain names and domain zones: what they are

Let's start by defining the basic concepts directly related to the topic of this article.

A domain name is the address of a website on the Internet, for example, “example.com”. The maximum length of the domain name before the zone designation is 63 characters. The name can contain Latin letters A-Z, digits 0-9 and a hyphen (-).

Since 2010, you can register domains with Cyrillic characters. Such domains are not very popular, so it is easier to find a free and attractive name in Cyrillic, which can be occupied in Latin.

A domain zone is the part of a domain name that follows the main name (e.g. “.com”, “.org”, “.uk”). It helps to categorise and organise domains by category, country or purpose.

A distinction is made between first-level domains (e.g., “.ua”), second-level domains (e.g., ‘com.ua’) and third-level domains, which are also called subdomains (e.g., “support.com.ua”). Each of these levels may be a domain zone.

The space in which the listed types of domains are specified is defined by the Domain Name System (DNS — Domain Name System). In it, each domain zone belongs to a specific part or administrative space.

Domain zones are classified:

• By region. Regional domain zones indicate that the domain belongs to a certain geographical region.

For example, there are domain names of countries: Ukraine — .ua, .com.ua, France — .fr, USA — .us, Singapore — .sg. Or a particular city: New York — .nyc, Barcelona — .barcelona, Dnipro — dp.ua, Lviv — .lviv.ua. And even separate continents and unions of countries: the European Union — .eu, Asia — .asia.

• By theme. Thematic domain zones do not have a regional attachment and usually indicate the belonging of the site to a certain direction. For example: .com (commercial business), .org (charities, information resources), .net (networking organisations).

Global domain industry development trends

Let's take a look at the key trends that are shaping the future of the domain industry in the world.

Emergence of new specific domain zones

Since 2012, when ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) began accepting applications for generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs), thousands of new domain zones have been registered. In recent years, new extensions designed for specific industries, certain niche markets or audiences have begun to appear. This allows businesses to find the domain that best reflects their needs and specifics, to stand out from the competition and improve their online visibility.

Here are some examples of new specific domain extensions:

• .tech — for technology companies or innovative startups;
• .store, .shop — for online shops and retailers;
• .design — for designers and creative agencies;
• .app — for app developers;
• .blog — for bloggers and content creators;
• .news — for news resources and media;
• .bio — for biographies, science or biology sites;
• .club — for communities or hobby clubs.

In addition to new gTLDs, there is a trend towards creative use of existing ccTLDs (top-level code domains) such as .me or .io. For example, .ai has become particularly popular with the growing demand for services based on artificial intelligence.

Growing popularity of geoTLDs

GeoTLDs are becoming increasingly popular as businesses and organisations seek to focus on specific markets or regions. For example, domains such as .london for London or .tokyo for Tokyo help businesses emphasise their local presence. Cities and regions use these domains to promote innovative projects such as startups or cultural initiatives that emphasise local characteristics.

It's worth noting that domain name types such as geoTLDs help improve local SEO, as they clearly signal to search engines and users that a site is region-specific.

Taking measures to protect domains

As the use of domains increases, so does the number of cyber attacks. Therefore, reliable information protection is very important. Especially as cybercrime is on the rise every year, with phishing attacks alone causing huge losses to ordinary users and businesses.

To protect email from phishing attacks, technologies such as DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) are used. Services and protocols such as DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) and DDoS protection also play an important role in the protection process. The use of these tools is not only a trend in the domain industry, but also the need to respond to modern challenges with adequate measures.

Another of the protection measures is the implementation of multi-factor authentication (MFA), which significantly increases the level of security of domains and accounts, preventing unauthorised access to them. And extending domain name system security provides authentication of DNS queries and protection against manipulation of DNS records.

Bringing Artificial Intelligence to the table

In order to manage domains, check availability and automate registration processes, the introduction of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly popular. Today, it is used to generate ideas for domain names, using algorithms to create creative and memorable combinations of words based on specified key phrases or business topics. The technology also helps automate the process of checking the availability of domain names by quickly checking huge volumes of possible variants.

Trends of domain market development in Ukraine

The domain market in Ukraine in recent years has been characterised by the following trends.

Decrease in the total number of domains in the Ukrainian segment

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, a decrease in the total number of registered domains in the Ukrainian domain space has been recorded. Thus, at the end of 2022, a total of 590,389 domain names were registered, including 26,282 private second-level .ua domains. At the end of 2023, these figures were 512,932 and 25,413 respectively.

The main factor in this trend was the war in Ukraine, in particular, the economic difficulties caused by it, which many Ukrainian businesses and organisations had to face and therefore cut their expenses, including on domain name registration and leasing. In addition, a large percentage of Ukrainian entrepreneurs and companies moved abroad, and they began to register domain names in international domain zones.

Another important nuance: since the beginning of the full-scale war, domains that were not renewed were not deleted. From November 2023 to January 2024, more than 100 thousand such unclaimed domain names were deleted. This had a significant impact on reducing the total number of domains. In February and March 2024, their number continued to decrease, but at a much lower rate.

Increase in the number of domains with Ukrainian character

Starting from the third quarter of 2023, the trend of transition in favour of correct spellings of regional domains in Ukrainian is gaining momentum in Ukraine. This process is accompanied by the addition of new domain zones, such as kyiv.ua instead of kiev.ua, kharkiv.ua instead of kharkov.ua, uzhhorod.ua instead of uzhgorod.ua, etc.

In particular, the domain zone kyiv.ua started accepting registrants in 2015, but was used more as a backup to kiev.ua. Since 2022, there has been a sharp increase in the number of domains in this zone. If you look at the fresh statistics, in July 2024, the number of registrations in the domain zone kiev.ua fell by 224 cases, and in kyiv.ua — increased by 309. The increase in popularity of Ukrainian spelling of cities in domains is also noticeable in other cities. For example, Kharkiv residents began to favour the domain kharkiv.ua over kharkov.ua. And in November 2023 rivne.ua began to prevail in the number of domains over its analogue rovno.ua.

Since 01.10.2023 the registration of domain names in the domains khmelnytskyi.ua, vinnytsia.ua and zhytomyr.ua has been opened. In general, the trend of writing regional domains in Ukrainian transliteration contributes to strengthening the position of the Ukrainian language in the digital environment.

Development of gTLDs

Following the introduction of the domain extension programme in 2013, new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) have emerged to provide more opportunities to register unique names.

Here are a number of gTLDs that are in particular demand in Ukraine:

• .com. This is the most popular and widely used domain of the above-mentioned kind in Ukraine. It is universal and suitable for any type of business or personal sites, because of which the majority of landmark names in the .com zone today are already occupied (as of 01.08.2024 their number reached 271,917).
• .net. This gTLD is particularly popular among tech companies, ISPs and startups.
• .org. Often used by non-profit organisations, charitable foundations and public associations.
• .info. This domain is often chosen for information resources and sites that provide useful information.
• .biz. Used by businesses that want to emphasise the commercial nature of their sites.
• .co. Becoming increasingly popular, especially among startups and companies looking for a short and memorable domain.
• .tech. With the growing interest in technology and startups, this domain is becoming increasingly popular among technology companies and innovative projects.
• .online. Popular with businesses and personal websites that want to emphasise their online presence.
• .site. A universal domain that is used for personal and sometimes corporate websites.

These domains allow website owners to create a recognisable and professional online image, which is important in today's highly competitive marketplace.

Growing popularity of geoTLDs

Geographic Top-Level Domains (geoTLDs) are also gaining in popularity, indicating that a business or resource is geographically tied to a specific location or region. They can be either national top-level domains (ccTLDs) or regional domains.

Regional companies are trying to use local domains to increase trust and affiliation with specific cities or regions. And by experimenting with new geographic domains, they seek to distinguish themselves internationally. This is inherent in small and medium-sized businesses that want to focus on specific markets.

The national first-level domain in Ukraine is .ua. Like the generic first-level domain .com, it has priority in search engines over foreign domain names.

Strengthening cybersecurity and domain protection

This trend is driven by the implementation of regulations, such as GDPR legislation and the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Personal Data”, which regulates information protection. Active work to protect critical infrastructure from attacks is taking place, particularly in the energy, telecommunications and financial services sectors. Cooperation with international organisations to share information on cyber threats and technological innovations also contributes to strengthening the protection of the domain market.

What awaits the domain industry in the near future

Currently, we can already talk about a trend that can significantly change the domain market in the future — the spread of Web 3.0 technology. This is a new stage in the development of the Internet, which is based on decentralisation, openness and protection of personal data.

Here are a few key aspects of how Web 3.0 may affect the domain industry:

1. Decentralisation and blockchain.
   One of the key changes is the development of decentralised domains that are independent of ICANN and other bodies and are managed on the blockchain. This will facilitate the emergence of new domain name registrars that are independent of centralised organisations.
2. Smart contracts.
   Smart contract technologies in blockchain will automate the processes of buying, selling and transferring domain names. This will help simplify and reduce transaction costs and reduce the likelihood of fraud.
3. The new model of domains.
   Web 3.0 will facilitate the development of new types of domain systems, such as Decentralised IDentifiers (DIDs), or domains that use new extensions or formats that are not part of the traditional DNS.
4. Integration with decentralised applications (dApps).
   Next-generation web technologies will affect the way domain names are integrated with decentralised applications. For example, domain names can be used to access dApps or to identify users in decentralised systems.
5. New business opportunities.
   As new technologies emerge, new business models and branding opportunities emerge. Therefore, Web 3.0-related domain names can become valuable assets due to their important role in the distribution of web resources in the online environment.
6. Changes in consumer behaviour.
   Changes in the way users interact with websites and online resources will also affect the demand for traditional domain names. If Web 3.0 reduces the importance of websites or changes their role, this will be reflected in the domain market.

Clearly, the impact of Web 3.0 on the domain industry will be significant, especially if the technology is adopted quickly and widely. In general, both global and local trends within Ukraine show that the domain market continues to evolve, adapting to the new needs of businesses and technology.