LOS ANGELES - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced the release of an updated indicator schema, taxonomy, and industry metrics, as part of its Domain Name Marketplace Indicators initiative, a press release stated by ICANN.

The initiative presents statistics related to generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) with the aim of fostering greater transparency for reputable information on the evolution of the domain name marketplace.

In recognition of its role as a key source of reputable domain name marketplace indicators, the ICANN organization (org) is formally operationalizing this initiative for annual release, thereby ensuring delivery of updated indicators to the community.

Across four prior releases, between 2019 and 2022, ICANN org progressively expanded its coverage of marketplace indicators to a total of 29 indicators and over a thousand datapoints. ICANN org has conducted a critical review of the project, assessing indicator use levels alongside the effort required to generate them, with the aim of streamlining future releases and optimizing the efficiency of its work.

An updated Version 1.1 schema, which represents the output of this evaluation, is made up of three overarching categories and tracked by a total of 16 indicators relating to dimensions such as registrant choice, registrant domain adoption, service provider marketplace entry and competition, service provider contractual compliance, and industry safeguards. Historical values for indicators previously published, but discontinued under the current schema update, will continue to remain accessible via ICANN's Open Data Platform.

"The operationalization and updated schema being made available in this fifth wave of indicator release are a logical next step to focus our efforts in delivering valuable marketplace indicators to the ICANN community," said Theresa Swinehart, Senior Vice President, Global Domains and Strategy. "ICANN org will continue to work with the community and its Advisory Panel to evaluate additional enhancements that might be incorporated into this initiative in the future."