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A study by Sedo found that most recently introduced top-level domains had attracted little active use or resale demand. The .info extension was the main exception.
About 46 per cent of .com domains and 50 per cent of .de domains were actively used, while no new extension exceeded one active site in five. Only five per cent of .name registrations hosted active websites; many of the remainder were empty or displayed holding pages.
Sedo believed most unused registrations were speculative purchases intended for later resale. That strategy appeared to work primarily for established .com and .de names. German .de domains accounted for 15 per cent of the global secondary market, almost twice the share of .net.
The study reported almost no buyers for .name, .coop, .aero, .pro and .museum. Sedo expected those extensions to remain niches, but saw stronger long-term prospects for .info. Germany had registered about one million .info addresses, and Schlund + Partner was described as the world’s largest .info registrar at the time. The figures reflected a 2003 market-research snapshot.
