DotAsia Organisation has confirmed the .Asia generic top-level domain name (gTLD) extension now has more than 500,000 domain names under management, highlighting the expanding influence of the Asian market.
The continent has grown in economic stature over the last few years and the digital marketplace has been a major factor in many small and medium-sized businesses expanding into the area – multinational corporations are also establishing their brands using the new extension.
In 2007, the .Asia gTLD launched after getting through the Sunrise period and it has grown steadily since then.
Brand protection is vital for international organizations so it is no surprise many have opted to register their brand to be associated with the new extension. Buying up this digital real-estate could be critical in ensuring the brand is safe and no other individual or enterprise can profit from or harm it.
DotAsia revealed that many registrations for the new gTLD had come from North America and Australia in the earlier years of its existence, highlighting how important western corporations see the region. This has changed recently though, and China, India and Japan have become the nations most interested in the extension.
Edmon Chung, chief executive officer of DotAsia, said the new gTLD is setting the benchmark for community development, awareness and engagement.
“With potentially over 1,000 new top-level-domains coming online, the new internet landscape will change the way people navigate and search the internet, and we believe in the lasting value of ‘.Asia’ in connecting businesses to the largest and most dynamic marketplace online with one domain,” he added.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is scheduled to roll out its gTLDs this year.
“Asian companies and startups are seeing the value of .Asia domains for search engine optimization and for expanding their market across Asia,” added Mr Chung.