The study was conducted to measure awareness, acceptance, preferences and knowledge of domains worldwide, including generic and country-specific top-level domains (gTLDs and ccTLDs) and new generic TLDs (new gTLDs). A total of over 5,000 Internet users in Germany and nine other countries were surveyed. In 31 questions, users should indicate which domain name they prefer, for example when asking about the domain for their preferred online banking. As answer possibilities different domains of different domain endings were indicated for selection, for example Onlinebezahlen.com, Onlinebezahlen.de, Onlinebezahlen.bank, Onlinebezahlen.online, Onlinebezahlen.finance, Onlinebezahlen.secure.
Even though Internet users preferred domains under the TLD .com for the USA or the respective ccTLD, a clear tendency towards the new domain extensions became apparent in some questions. Furthermore, agreement could be found on most of the questions: Geographical TLDs such as city names are unique and led the ranking. Domain extensions with special benefits and attractive significance such as the new gTLD .bank also received a high preference. The combination of a fictitious corporate action with .international or .global was also very popular.
The decision to choose one of the new domain extensions as an alternative to the conventional gTLDs/ccTLDs was very different depending on the question in the different countries. When asked which domain would Internet users prefer to buy their shoes online, for example, respondents from Germany and other countries were in the balance, while Brazil and Russia even preferred the new domain extensions by 73% and 67% respectively. Only the USA and Great Britain have a different opinion with less than 20%.
The results on usage habits and settings showed that although the majority of Internet users prefer search engine submissions, the practice of directly accessing a domain name is still very widespread. Here, too, there are country-specific preferences: respondents from Australia and Great Britain prefer the search engine, Indian Internet users most frequently state that they call up the domain name directly. Chinese respondents, on the other hand, used bookmarks the most. Over 94% said they checked the domain name, at least partially.
Further results of the study can be viewed here. To date, only 25% of the requested new domain extensions have been introduced and it will be some time before public awareness of them continues to increase. Take your chance now and register your desired domain(s). Compared to established TLDs such as .de or .com, many popular domain names have not yet been assigned.
The 123domain.eu team will be happy to advise you on the new domain extensions and is available directly at +49 231 58698-123 or by e-mail at info@123domain.eu.