RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), a global leader in domain names and internet security, today announced that approximately 1.3 million domain name registrations were added to the internet in the first quarter of 2017, bringing the total number of domain name registrations to approximately 330.6 million across all top-level domains (TLDs) as of March 31, 2017.¹

The increase of approximately 1.3 million domain name registrations globally equates to a growth rate of 0.4 percent over the fourth quarter of 2016.¹ Domain name registrations have grown by 11.8 million, or 3.7 percent, year over year.¹

The .com and .net TLDs had a combined total of approximately 143.6 million domain name registrations in the domain name base in the first quarter of 2017. This represents a 0.8 percent increase year over year. As of March 31, 2017, the .com domain name base totaled 128.4 million domain name registrations, while the .net domain name base totaled 15.2 million domain name registrations.

New .com and .net domain name registrations totaled 9.5 million during the first quarter of 2017. In the first quarter of 2016, new .com and .net domain name registrations totaled 10 million.

Verisign publishes the Domain Name Industry Brief to provide internet users throughout the world with statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry. The first quarter 2017 Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports, can be obtained at Verisign.com/DNIB.

About Verisign

Verisign, a global leader in domain names and internet security, enables internet navigation for many of the world's most recognized domain names and provides protection for websites and enterprises around the world. Verisign ensures the security, stability and resiliency of key internet infrastructure and services, including the .com and .net domains and two of the internet's root servers, as well as performs the root zone maintainer function for the core of the internet's Domain Name System (DNS). Verisign’s Security Services include Distributed Denial of Service Protection and Managed DNS. To learn more about what it means to be Powered by Verisign, please visit Verisign.com.

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¹ .tk is a ccTLD that is provided for free to individuals and businesses worldwide (http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131216006048/en/Freenom-Closes-3MSeries-Funding#.UxeUGNJDv9s). The zone size for .tk was last estimated by Zooknic in Q4 2014 and this zone size was subsequently used in the Q4 2014 through Q2 2016 DNIBs. In Q3 2016, Zooknic reported a significant decline in the .tk zone and restated the estimated zone size of .tk for each quarter from Q4 2014 through Q3 2016 using a proprietary methodology. As a result, for comparative purposes of this DNIB to the Q1 2016 DNIB, Verisign has applied an updated estimate of the total zone size across all TLDs for Q1 2016 of 318.8 million and an updated estimate of the total ccTLD zone size for Q1 2016 of 140.6 million.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170718006399/en/