In 2025, the domain industry experienced a significant transformation as it evolved from a fragmented landscape into a more integrated, capital-intensive market. This shift is characterized by the intertwining of infrastructure, identity, and artificial intelligence (AI). Consolidation within the industry accelerated, regulatory frameworks heightened security and compliance standards, and innovative technologies began to redefine domains, expanding their function beyond mere web addresses to roles centered on trust and machine-readable identity.
This review outlines the key market signals and pivotal moments that shaped domain registration, valuation, and utilization as the industry moves toward 2026.
As of September 30, 2025, legacy top-level domains (TLDs) remained the backbone of the market, with a combined base of .com and .net registrations totaling 171.9 million. The .com domain continues to hold its status as the predominant choice for commercial identity, comprising over 159.4 million registered domains. However, its growth rate has plateaued compared to the broader market, with a renewal rate of roughly 75.3%, primarily indicative of active users or long-term holders.
In contrast, new generic TLDs (gTLDs) contributed to volume growth, marking a 21% year-over-year increase thanks to aggressive pricing and appealing extensions such as .xyz, .shop, and .online. Despite this surge, only about 32.2% of these domains are renewed, revealing a “churn and burn” pattern where many domains are registered for temporary projects or speculative purposes, only to be discarded after the first year. Meanwhile, the country code TLD (ccTLD) sector reached 144.8 million registrations in the third quarter of 2025, reflecting a 3.4% increase year-over-year, driven by geopolitical factors.
The robust performance of ccTLDs like .de (Germany), .uk (United Kingdom), and .nl (Netherlands) underscores their dominance in local markets, where they are preferred over .com for domestic commerce. The growth of .ru (Russia) and .cn (China) reflects local internet governance policies that encourage compliance with domestic data laws. Interestingly, ccTLDs such as .ai (Anguilla) and .io (British Indian Ocean Territory) have transcended their geographical origins, becoming widely recognized as tech-driven domains due to their association with rapidly growing industries.
The year commenced with a notable pivot towards AI and strong regulatory posturing. On January 7, 2025, Google Registry launched .channel, a namespace tailored to content creators on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. This period also saw GoDaddy return to Super Bowl advertising for the first time in eight years, promoting its AI-powered services that facilitate business setup through domain registration.
March 2025 marked a crucial moment for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as it convened ICANN82 in Seattle, focusing on the New gTLD Program and addressing critical issues surrounding string similarity reviews. This advancement brought the Applicant Guidebook closer to completion while the community also worked on the Applicant Support Program, aimed at reducing application fees for underrepresented regions.
In April, the domain aftermarket witnessed a record-breaking sale with the transfer of icon.com for $12 million, affirming the value of premium .com domains. Concurrently, Team Internet Group enhanced its backend registry operations by taking over the .co registry, successfully migrating over 3.3 million domains. The introduction of new gTLDs such as .free, .hot, and .spot also aimed to provide affordable alternatives to generic .com domains.
The consolidation trend intensified in September when CVC Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Namecheap for $1.5 billion, reshaping the competitive landscape. Namecheap’s long-standing position as an independent contender against GoDaddy shifted as it gained the financial backing to expand its services. Additionally, Squarespace unveiled its “Refresh 2025” initiative, introducing AI Optimization for domains, further merging the functions of registrars and digital agencies.
The legal landscape surrounding AI and copyright issues escalated, with major rightsholders suing AI companies over unauthorized use of their works for model training. This situation poses potential risks for the domain market, as the legitimacy of AI-generated content could affect the valuation of registered domains.
As 2025 concluded, the ICANN84 Annual General Meeting held in Dublin confirmed the adoption of the Next Round Applicant Guidebook, paving the way for the next expansion of the internet’s namespace. However, November brought a stark reminder of the internet’s vulnerabilities when a substantial outage impacted Cloudflare, affecting major platforms and prompting an industry shift towards Multi-CDN strategies.
In response to the rising importance of AI, GoDaddy launched the Agent Name Service, which leverages DNS infrastructure to verify identities for AI agents, signifying a new layer of utility for domains. By the end of the year, Newfold Digital secured $100 million from Clearlake and Siris, signaling a focus on strengthening its operations rather than pursuing acquisitions.
As the domain industry moves into 2026, it finds itself as a mature, regulated sector, with consolidation enhancing the influence of a few major players. The shift in value from human-readable domain names towards verified identity and AI trust anchors represents a new era in this essential digital ecosystem.
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