Starting in 2007, AFNIC decided to undertake the task of producing an annual industry report on the domain name market in France.

1. - 1 -
The .fr stood up well to the economic crisis
In a general climate of economic slowdown, the .fr domain has performed
exceptionnaly well, growing another 25% between 2008 and 2009 (compared
with an average of 8% for the other Top Level Domains worldwide).
Since registration was open to individuals in June 2006, and thanks to recent
improvements in terms of automation and a fall in registrars’ prices, .fr has
become an even firmer favourite among the French. It has accounted for
most of the growth in the domestic domain name industry.
The .fr now accounts for:
33% of all domain names registered in France;••
80% of all new domain names registered in France;••
the•• renewal rate for .fr names remains very high, of around 80%.
One year's growth in the number of names registered in June 2009, various domains
(Source: AFNIC, Study of 50 largest domains worldwide)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Domain
Increase in one year ((June 2008 - June 2009)
Mean growth, 50 largest TLDs:
+ 9% in one year
+6% on gTLDs
+13% on ccTLDs
.lv (Latvia); 53%
.cz (Czech Republic); 30%
.lt (Lithuania); 27%
.ro (Romania); 69%
.pl (Poland); 34%
.ru (Russia); 43%
.pt (Portugal); 33%
.si (Slovenia); 21%
.tr (Turkey); 21%
.ie (Ireland); 21%
.br (Brazil); 21%
.se (Sweden); 19%
.sk (Slovakia); 19%
.ar (Argentina); 19%
.ca (Canada); 17%
.fi (Finland); 17%
.hr (Croatia); 17%
.es (Spain); 16%
.cl (Chile); 16%
.is (Iceland); 16%
.il (Israel); 15%
.be (Belgium); 15%
.nl (Netherlands); 15%
.fr (France); 25%
.mx (Mexico); 24%
French Domain Name Industry Report
2009 Edition
Executive Summary
.fr
Key Figures
1.5 million
1.5 million domain names
milestone reached
on September 10, 2009
25%
25% growth in a year
(vs. 8% average)
80%
80% of new domain names
registered in France
are .fr domain names
€12
Median end-user price steady
at €12/year, in line with other
Top Level Domains
The .fr is doing well,
despite the economic climate
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

2. - 2 -
356,318
209,040
159,911
76,129
48,869
43,959
43,441
35,421
34,523
30,778
22,478
16,595
15,257
14,941
13,737
13,519
11,975
11,432
10,953
7,942
7,903
7,789
7,638
6,879
6,689
6,238
6,211
5,698
5,530
5,233
0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 400,000
OVH
1&1
Gandi
Amen
Online SAS
EuroDNS
NordNet
Namebay
France Télécom
INDOM
PagesJaunes
LWS
United-Domains
Melbourne IT Ltd
Netissime
Nameshield
Mailclub
Web Intelligence
Cronon AG
AB Connect / Hosteur
Viaduc
Arsys
Tucows
NFrance
Linkeo
Drim
Domaine.fr
Neuf Cegetel
E-ZONE.fr
Claranet
30 biggest registrars of .fr domain names, ranked by number of names managed, July 2009
No. of names managed
A doubling in the rate of growth
of .fr names since 2006 thanks to
individuals registrants
Personal (non-corporate) registrants are making
a significant contribution to the growth of the
.fr market. They are now accounting for 50%
of .fr new registrations. Their share of all domain
names registered is rising year by year, and in 2009
reached nearly 40%.
Registrants still young and urban
In terms of their age distribution, the individual
holders of .fr domain names have a median age
of 35.5 years.
There are great variations among administrative
regions when it comes to the geographic location
of .fr registrants. Understandably, the most densely
populated regions are top of the list: Paris accounts
for nearly 20% of .fr domain names registered
in France.
On average, France now has 6 registered names
per 1,000 inhabitants and 230 per 1,000 firms
(vs. 2.6 registered names per 1,000 inhabitants
and 179 per 1,000 firms in 2007).
The .fr domain name is felt to be
meaningful, and very widely used
The opinion surveys commissioned by AFNIC
concerning perceptions and uses of domain names
in France shows that the .fr is associated with
French speaking and with belonging and closeness.
These results have indeed changed little from year
to year.
A study of the responses from the Web servers
associated with .fr domain names shows that
in 2009 three quarters of these names led to an
operational website. Another study, on a random
sample of 1,000 .fr domain names, reveals how the
names are used on the Web. Websites associated
with French domain names are mostly business
ones (nearly half of all names), while only 3% are
obviously personal sites. Most users in fact use their
domain names for personalized e-mail addresses.
The domain name industry presents a varied picture,
but concentration is increasing
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The growing
concentration among
registrars
The structural trends in the
.fr domain name registration
industry are continuing: the
total number of registrars
has continued to fall, down
to 828 this year (-9% on year).
Small players now prefer being
resellers of biggest registrars.
The concentration is growing
faster among the registrars
selling to individuals than in
the business field.

3. Secondary market
The secondary market continues to be very vigorous: 2008 saw 35% yearly growth on one of the main
trading platforms.
The .fr domains are the highest-
priced in such transactions. The
total number of deals in the
secondary market for .fr almost
tripled between 2007 and 2008,
while the average price is now
above that for all domains
together.
The record sale for 2009 across
all TLDs was $5 million; for the
.fr domain the record was €35,000
with a median price set at €800.
This secondary market is
something fairly recent in France,
but people are gradually becoming
aware of the intrinsic value of
domain names, which have every
right to be regarded as assets forming part of their capital.
- 3 -
5.00 €
5.90 €
5.99 €
6.90 €
6.99 €
7.80 €
8.99 €
9.00 €
12.00 €
12.00 €
12.00 €
14.40 €
18.00 €
19.00 €
23.90 €
28.00 €
29.00 €
49.00 €
49.50 €
69.00 €
91.44 €
0 € 10 € 20 € 30 € 40 € 50 € 60 € 70 € 80 € 90 € 100 €
Charges for .fr domain names in September 2009
(by the 30 largest registrars in terms of names registered)
Annual charge, €, before VAT (basic package)
Registrar
Median charge:
€12 + VAT in 2009
(no change from 2008, €17 + VAT in 2007)
Weighted mean by registrars’ market shares:
€14 in 2009 (€15 in 2008)
.info ; 171 €
.biz ; 210 €
.de ; 260 €
.eu ; 292 €
.org ; 295 €
.com ; 318 €
.at ; 331 €
.net ; 409 €
.es ; 415 €
.uk ; 547 €
.fr ; 651 €
0 € 100 € 200 € 300 € 400 € 500 € 600 € 700 €
Domain
Median prices for country-code domain names traded on Sedo in Q2 2009
(Source: Sedo)
in Q2 2009:
Mean of all domains' median prices €350
Mean of all domain nams prices €1200
Median prices (€)
End-user price
A study of the 30 biggest registrars of .fr domain names reveals that the fees currently charged range
between €5 and €90 (plus VAT), with great differences between registrars catering for businesses and those
targeting individuals.
The median charge is €12/year
+VAT, which is now in line with
the generic domains.

4. - 4 -
Big changes on the way
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
186 million domain names have so far been
registered around the world, and the demand for
them is still growing. Against this background
ICANN set about creating some new Top Level
Internet Domains in June 2008. As a result,
many new domains could be introduced in
the next few years. There is a proliferation of
gTLDs projects now being proposed: geographic
ones (.paris, .berlin, .africa, etc.), cultural and
linguistic ones (.bzh for the Breton community,
.cym for the Welsh, and .gal for Galicia, etc.),
and subject-specific ones (.eco, .food, .sport, and
others). Businesses may well also apply for a new
flavour of TLDs: “corporate” gTLDs.
Lastly, thanks to IDN technology it will become
possible for new domains to be available not
only in the Latin alphabet but in other forms
(Chinese characters, Cyrillic alphabet, etc.).
The market should also radically change over the
next few years with the development of new technologies such as The Internet of Things.
About French Domain Name Industry Report
Starting in 2007, AFNIC decided to undertake the task of producing an annual industry report on the domain name market
in France.
Produced with help from Telecom & Management Sud-Paris, the Report aims to raise the profile of domain names and the
players involved, at the same time providing some useful guidance for analysing the market’s strengths and weaknesses.
Further information:→→ www.afnic.fr/actu/observatoire
About AFNIC
(Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération)
Non-profit organization, AFNIC is in charge of the administrative and technical management of the .fr (France) and .re
(Reunion Island) Internet domain names.
AFNIC brings together public and private members: representatives from the French government, Internet users and Internet
Service Providers (Registrars).
Further information:→→ www.afnic.fr
Copyright 2009 AFNIC - www.afnic.fr
Extracts from the French Domain Name Industry Report, 2009 Edition (128 pages),
available at www.afnic.fr/actu/observatoire
Printed on 100% recycled paper.
Technologies
• • • • • • • • •
Data on DNS servers in .fr
Number of DNS servers: 37,000••
(+ 21% on year)
83% of .•• fr domain names specify
2 DNS servers in their configuration
(this is the minimum required).
Number of requests received by authoritative••
DNS servers managed by AFNIC:
more than 3,000 requests / sec. (+ 50%)
Use of IPv6 in .fr
0.7% of queries••
DNS service: 5% of .•• fr domain names
(+ 1,700% on year)
Web: 2% (+ 2,300% on year)••
E-Mail: 0.2%••