Verisign, the administrator or the .com and .net domain registries, has released their latest quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief covering the 1st quarter of 2018. Verisign reported that 1Q-2018 closed with approximately 333.8 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs) -  an increase of approximately 1.4 million domain name registrations (a 0.4% rise), compared to the previous quarter (4Q-2017). The number of registrations grew by approximately 3.2 million domains (a 1% increase)  year over year.

Verisign's .com and .net TLDs outperformed the overall market. They had a combined total of approximately 148.3 million domain name registrations at the end of 1Q-2018 (with approximately 133.9 million .com registrations and approximately 14.4 million .net

registrations), That represents an increase of approximately 1.9 million total .com and . net domain name registrations (a 1.3% rise), compared to the previous quarter and a combined total increase of approximately 4.6 million registrations (a 3.2% jump) year over year.

The news was considerably less rosy for new gTLDs. The number of new gTLD domain registrations at the end of 1Q-2018 were approximately 20.2 million - a loss of 5.3 million domains (representing a 20.7% decrease) over the past year. 

ccTLDs on the other hand, performed better than the overall market year over year. There were approximately 146.3 million country code domains registered at the end of  1Q-2018. That is a gain of about 3.2 million domains (a 2.2% increase) over the past 12 months. 

Verisign publishes the Domain Name Industry Brief to provide internet users throughout the world with statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry. The first quarter 2018 Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports, can be obtained here: Verisign.com/DNIB.