I read an interesting post about domain naming conventions in the Middle East, where a few companies in the Middle East simply add a "ME" next to their domain name and then register it in the .COM gTLD. For example Google has registered GoogleME.com in addition to its country specific ccTLDs for various Middle Eastern countries, Coca Cola has a Coca-ColaME.com, Disney has DisneyME.com, McDonald’s has McDonaldsME.com. It's important to point out that this is the exception rather than the rule.
In Africa, I have seen companies buying BrandAfrica.com from example MicrosoftAfrica.com, GoogleAfrica.com, MTNAfrica.com but what domains are African brands really using?
I did a snap survey on Africa's Top 50 Companies to get a rough idea on the domains that they are actively using to host their "primary" content:
Although the results are skewed towards South Africa due to the dominance of South African brands in this list and in Africa, 32 out of the top 50 top African brands use a ccTLD of their home country as the primary domain while only 15 use .COM domains. That's a preference rate of 64% for ccTLDs. Nigerian brands are the least likely to use a ccTLD domain name, they prefer a .COM with a BrandNG.com domain format. Egyptian companies also show a preference for gTLDs, particularly .COM domains. Given that this result mostly reflects a South African trend given the sheer dominance of South African brands even amongst the top 1000 brands in Africa, I think a more accurate trend can be discerned from analysing the domains for top 100 brands in each African country. This will not only give a more accurate analysis of which ccTLDs are more accepted by brands in their countries but also a comparison of the proportion of domain registrations in ccTLDs versus gTLDs by top brands in every African country.
Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com
In Africa, I have seen companies buying BrandAfrica.com from example MicrosoftAfrica.com, GoogleAfrica.com, MTNAfrica.com but what domains are African brands really using?
I did a snap survey on Africa's Top 50 Companies to get a rough idea on the domains that they are actively using to host their "primary" content:
- Anglo American PLC SA Domain: www.angloamerican.co.za
- BHP Billiton Africa Domain: www.bhpbilliton.com
- Sasol Domain: www.sasol.com
- SABMiller Domain: www.SABMiller.com
- MTN Group Domain: www.mtn.com plus a couple of ccTLDs
- Standard Bank Group Domain: www.standardbank.co.za also owns .com plus couple of ccTLDs
- First Rand Domain: www.firstrand.co.za
- Orascom Telecom Domain: www.orascomtelecom.com
- Impala Platinum Holdings Domain: www.implats.co.za
- Itissalat Al Maghrib Domain: www.iam.ma
- Old Mutual Domain: www.oldmutual.com and www.oldmutual.co.za
- Anglo Gold Ashanti Limited Domain: www.anglogold.co.za
- Remgro Limited Domain: www.remgro.com
- ABSA Group Limited. Domain: www.absa.co.za
- Telkom SA Limited Domain: www.telkom.co.za
- Orascom Construction Domain: www.orascomci.com
- Gold Fields Limited Domain: www.goldfields.co.za
- Liberty International PLC Domain: www.liberty-international.co.za
- LonMin PLC Domain: www.lonmin.com
- Naspers Limited Domain: www.naspers.com
- Nedcor Limited Domain: www.nedbankgroup.co.za
- Sanlam Limited Domain: www.sanlam.co.za
- Mittal Steel SA Domain: www.arcelormittalsa.com
- RMB Holdings Limited Domain: www.rmbh.co.za
- Attiljariwafa Bank Domain: www.attijariwafabank.com/
- Barloworld Limited Domain: www.barloworld.com
- Imperial Holdings Limited Domain: www.ih.co.za
- Investec PLC Domain: www.investec.co.za
- Harmony Gold Mining Domain: www.harmony.co.za
- Douja Prom Addoha Adh Domain: Not Discernible
- Pretoria Portland Company Domain: www.ppc.co.za
- Telecom Egypt Domain: www.telecomegypt.com.eg
- Tiger Brands Limited Domain: www.tigerbrands.co.za and www.tigerbrands.com
- Sappi Limited Domain: www.sappi.com
- Steinhoff International Holdings Domain: www.steinhoffinternational.com
- Vodafone Egypt Domain: www.vodafone.com.eg
- Venfin Limited
- Liberty Group Domain: www.liberty.co.za
- Network HealthCare Holdings Domain: www.netcare.co.za
- Mobinil Domain: www.mobinil.com
- Omnium Nord Africaine Domain: www.ona.ma
- Edgars Consolidated Services Domain: www.edcon.co.za
- Pretoria Portland Cement SA Domain: www.ppc.co.za
- First Bank Nigeria Domain: www.firstbanknigeria.com
- Kumba Resources Limited Domain: www.kumba.co.za
- Woolworths Domain: www.woolworths.co.za
- Reunert Domain: www.reunert.co.za
- Bank Marocaine Domain: www.bmcebank.ma
- El Ezz Steel Domain: www.ezzsteel.com
- Pick N Pay Stores Domain: www.picknpay.co.za
Although the results are skewed towards South Africa due to the dominance of South African brands in this list and in Africa, 32 out of the top 50 top African brands use a ccTLD of their home country as the primary domain while only 15 use .COM domains. That's a preference rate of 64% for ccTLDs. Nigerian brands are the least likely to use a ccTLD domain name, they prefer a .COM with a BrandNG.com domain format. Egyptian companies also show a preference for gTLDs, particularly .COM domains. Given that this result mostly reflects a South African trend given the sheer dominance of South African brands even amongst the top 1000 brands in Africa, I think a more accurate trend can be discerned from analysing the domains for top 100 brands in each African country. This will not only give a more accurate analysis of which ccTLDs are more accepted by brands in their countries but also a comparison of the proportion of domain registrations in ccTLDs versus gTLDs by top brands in every African country.
Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com
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