Steve Jobs used to talk about dots and connecting them to see a bigger picture. I like to collect bits of data to construct my own world of domains. In this article I’ll share with you some of the dots I have accumulated over the years to help me paint a better picture of the Chinese domain market.
In June 2018, I was watching Sisy’s World News (文茜世界周報) produced by a Taiwanese TV station when I saw a report of China having 140 million entrepreneurs — the largest number in the world. I took a screenshot and then filed it away.
In October 2018, again I was watching Sisy’s World News when I heard the National Development and Reform Commission (国家发改委) spokesman say that there were 27 million private enterprises and 65 million sole proprietors, giving a total of 92 million businesses operating in China. I saved that bit of interview as an audio file.
In February this year, the China Internet Network Information Center published a report on the Chinese internet development (第43次中国互联网络发展状况统计报告), which contains the following vital numbers: 38 million domains (56% .cn, 34% .com) and 5 million websites.
92m (or 140m) businesses … 38m domains … 5m websites
The connected dots paint a picture of great demand for domains from end users in China. It also shows that .com is sought after. This is good news for domain investors. The best value may be realized if you own a .com which falls into the domain upgrade path of a Chinese company, as illustrated in the switching of corporate domain by the bike-sharing startup OFO in 2017 from OFO.so to OFO.com for over $1 million.
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Thank you Kassey.Your articles on domains is one of my favorites to read always.The. numbers and details always pull me in to go over and read your past write ups.
Thanks for contributing alot to the domain industry.