EU registrars corner .eu registration market

Brussels, 20 September 2011 – An overwhelming 84% of .eu domain names are registered by registrars based in the European Union, according to analysis done by the .eu registry, EURid.

66% of holders register their .eu domain names with a registrar based in the same EU country, while 18% register their .eu domain names with a registrar based in another EU country. This trend is seen for the second year running and is consistent with EURid’s 2010 research.

“We believe most people prefer to use a local .eu accredited registrar because if they ever need support they can get it in their language,” says Marc Van Wesemael, EURid’s General Manager. “A local registrar will also operate in the same time zone, which is another advantage.”

.eu holders in Germany, Lithuania and Poland are most likely to use a local registrar. Whereas, holders in the United Kingdom are most likely to use a non-EU registrar.

.eu registrations according to registrar location in the six most populated EU countries.

The domain name industry is global, so .eu accredited registrars can be located anywhere. Many US-based registrars have subsidiaries in Europe.

Registrar markets
In 15 of the 27 EU Member States, local .eu registrations account for more than 90% of .eu registrar business.

In some cases, a clear cross-border registration trend exists. Many United Kingdom domain name holders register their .eu domain names with US and Canadian registrars and many registrants in Austria, France, the Netherlands and the UK use German registrars for their .eu domain names.

The report summarising 2011’s .eu registration trends among registrars is available here.

Additional statistics about .eu accredited registrars are available in EURid’s Q2 2011 progress report here.