PRO Extension Passes 100,000 Registered Names

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:15:00 GMT

RegistryPRO, operators of the .PRO top-level domain, last week announced that it surpassed 100,000 registered names for the first time since its launch back in 2004. The general response from the industry has been an overwhelming, 'meh'.

According to registry operator data published by ICANN however, .PRO is one of only six gTLDs to achieve 11 consecutive months of growth in 2010 and ranks sixth among gTLDs with a net increase of over 53,000 names. .PRO also achieved 133% growth through November, which ranks second among all gTLDs though November 2010. It's still so far behind .com and even more recent entrants like .co that it hardly deserves a mention right?

100,000 registered names in seven years does not sound like much, but keep in mind that for many years .PRO was very much a closed system, being rigorous in who was able to sell and resell the extension. It also had a pretty lofty price tag which has subsequently been reduced to around $10/year.

So the question for WM readers is if you were certified in some professional endeavor (doctors, lawyers, etc.) would you acquire a .PRO?

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PRO Extension Passes 100,000 Registered Names