The domain market

This page shows the top-level domains that are most popular with Norwegian users. It also shows how .no domain name holders are distributed among the approximately 400 registrars who have agreements with Norid.

Top-level domains used in Norway

In addition to .no, Norwegian domain name holders can have domains under generic top-level domains such as .com and .org. Several other country codes, such as ".as" (American Samoa), are also available to Norwegian users. The diagram below shows the number of domain names with Norwegian subscribers in the largest generic top-level domains compared with the figure for .no.

Primary top-level domain for Norwegian organizations (February 2006).  .no  91 %,  .com  5 %,  other  4 %.

Many organizations have registered domain names under several top-level domains. Often they use only one of these, while the others are registered to prevent others from misusing company names or trademarks. The distribution of registered domains is therefore not necessarily an indication of the pattern of use.

In 2006, Norwegian organizations were asked what they regarded as their most important domain name. Although the diagram above suggests that .no domain names cover only two thirds of the domain market, the survey shows that more than 90 % of Norwegian organizations regard the .no URL as the most important.

The registrar market

An analysis conducted in 2005 (in Norwegian) showed that competition within the .no domain is functioning well. At that stage the market was characterized by many small players, so that the market concentration was low. The figure above shows that this is still the case.