Andrew Yang is Winning the Website Primary

Andrew Yang's debate surprise has apparently driven substantial traffic to his campaign website.

All-time traffic high on https://t.co/nYWdJYpqVC last night.  Must have been something I said.

— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) September 13, 2019

However, it looks like this traffic is not a new phenomenon.  Yang's website has been dominant among the Democratic campaign websites for some time.  Here are the Alexa worldwide traffic rankings for the top candidate sites, 90 days ago vs. today:

Yang2020 (.com) #22,715 -> #15,758
BernieSanders (.com) #25,754 -> #26,131
ElizabethWarren (.com) #40,779 -> #29,623
PeteForAmerica (.com) #33,185 -> #61,544
KamalaHarris (.org) #88,914 -> #69,548
JoeBiden (.com) #95,039 -> #77,889

Yang's campaign website is not only clearly leading the pack now, but it was also leading 90 days ago (before his recent surge).  Website traffic is probably a leading indicator for campaign strength.  Anyone surprised by Yang's recent surge in the polls might have seen this coming had they checked Alexa traffic rankings three months ago.

This is good news for Yang, and means more excitement, more fundraising, and more coverage in the months to come.  Driving traffic to a campaign website is only one part of a successful Presidential campaign, but it has become an increasingly important one.

Also, worth noting that Yang's site is the only top Democratic campaign site that includes numbers and letters.  It is also a relatively short domain at only 7 characters.

CCCC .com Registration Continues to Slow

As we noted recently, registration of 4 character .com domains (which has been on a tear for the whole year), finally has hit a rough patch.  Here are the updated numbers of registered 4 character .com domains:

8/27/19: 666,769
9/3/19: 664,324 (-2,445)
9/6/19: 661,110 (-3,214)

9/11/19: 656,408 (-4,702)

Registration has fallen by more than 10,000 in just a couple weeks.  This is still probably a blip, as registrations are still way up for the year.  But it does show some slowdown in this market.  Part of the reason for the decrease in registrations has certainly been the uptick in domains dropping.  It looks like the dropped domains have not been immediately scooped up, and registrations may take some time to recover.

Registrations for other types of short domains remain strong.  So this is likely due in large part to the abnormally high number of CCCC's dropping in recent weeks.  We will continue to monitor and report on registration rates.  

New Liquid Domains Industry Report

This is a big development for the short domain community.  Giuseppe Graziano from GGRG and LXME has been publishing a quarterly report on the short domain industry for some time.   I have read these quarterly reports with great interest, as I know many others have as well.

The quarterly reports have now undergone a significant makeover, and are now available on the web with crisp graphics and smooth navigation. 

Check them out here.

It is especially interesting to see development statistics, sales data, and comparisons with larger markets (like Bitcoin and gold) all in one place.  Great job Giuseppe!  I will continue to use your quarterly reports as a resource for understanding the short domain market.

Short Domain Registration Slows. Sign of Recession?

The past couple weeks marks the first time this year that short domain registration for both CCCC.coms and NNNNNN.com's has declined. 

Here are the numbers:

NNNNNN.com registrations:

8/27/2019 797,285
9/3/2019 796,353 (-932)
9/6/2019 795,370 (-983)

CCCC.com registrations:

8/27/19: 666,769
9/3/19: 664,324 (-2,445)
9/6/19: 661,110 (-3,214)

Is this an initial sign of a coming recession?  Perhaps.  But it also just might be a spike in drops, though.  A few weeks ago upcoming drops for CCCC.com's spiked to 5,039, they had been averaging under 2,000 for the rest of the year.  The number of NNNNNN.com's dropping hasn't increased substantially, but at the same time the decline in NNNNNN.com registration these past couple weeks has not been as stark as with the CCCC.com's.  So it might just be a blip.

Another hint that this may just be a blip is that LLLLL.com registration has continued apace.  5,341 more LLLLL.com's are now registered than were registered a couple weeks ago.  So it looks like people are still registering new short domains. 

Still, we will keep an eye on short domain registrations for any sign of a coming recession.