Domain name renewal is crucial to the stability and growth of the digital market: understanding why some domains are being renewed more than others helps registries define forecasts, market analysis, and long-term strategies.
To deepen these dynamics, the Registro .it participated in the Benchmarking Renewal Indicators Taskforce of CENTR (Council of European National Top-level Domain Registries), established in 2025 to study the factors influencing domain renewal, with the aim of identifying common indicators, compare analytical approaches and see if certain renewal patterns are replicable across different markets.
Ten European national domain registries collaborated with the task force (ccTLDs: .at, .be, .de, .ie, .it, .nl, .no, .nu, .nz and .uk).
The study analysed about 40 million domains expiring in 2024, adopting a shared methodology, but respectful of data sovereignty: each registry processed the analyses locally, sharing only aggregated results. This approach guaranteed high standards of privacy, keeping sensitive information protected at all times, without being transferred, accessed from the outside or exposed in any form.
Fourteen indicators have been examined, which are related to domain lifecycle, registrant characteristics, usage signals (such as DNS activity), and Registrar profiles. Among the most significant findings, the age of the domain is one of the most decisive factors: the longest-registered domains show significantly higher renewal rates than the most recent ones.
The geographical dimension also affects the behaviour of domains, given that those registered within the registry region tend to remain active longer than domains registered outside the country.
Other factors, such as transfers between Registrars, show less consistent results: their impact on renewals is not uniform, but varies across markets, depending on user policies, strategies and behaviours.
For the Registro .it the results confirm a high stability of the domain base, with renewal rates among the highest in the sample. Also in the Italian case, the seniority of the domain and the location of the registrant are key elements.
The indicators identified in the study form an important basis for future developments: they will be used to create AI-based models that will be capable of estimating the probability of domain renewal. Registrars operating within the .it ccTLD will be able to use these tools to analyse their portfolio, identify the domains most at risk of expiration and optimise management strategies.
The study confirms that collaboration between registries is fundamental to the evolution of the domain market: sharing methods and skills allows to better understand the dynamics of the domain market and to develop increasingly advanced and data-driven services.
For more details, read the analysis on the CENTR website.