Cross-round research
Structural comparison across ICANN application rounds
Observation first — only currently defensible official comparisons.
Official ICANN round Application totals. Not observed/represented Application rows.
2012: ICANN 2012 Reveal Day export (Internet Archive–preserved CSV). 2026: ICANN APS official Application aggregate.
Official IDN Application aggregates both rounds.
2012: ICANN 2012 Reveal Day export (Internet Archive–preserved CSV). 2026: ICANN 2026 Reveal Day official/announcement aggregates.
Status: directly comparable official aggregates. Absolute change only — no interpretive market narrative.
2026 round context (not cross-round deltas)
Brand Applications (2026)
333
2026-only — no accepted 2012 Brand equivalent
Community Applications (2026)
16
Orientation context — Community cross-round delta blocked
Self-identified Geographic (2026)
15
Self-identified — not equated with 2012 Geographic
Variant Applications (2026)
9
2026 orientation context
These figures describe the 2026 round. They are not presented as 2012→2026 change metrics.
1614 represented normal Application rows of 1615 official Applications. One administrative-check Application (WDO) sits outside the normal list/export and is coverage metadata — not a silent denominator swap.
Explore 2012 Applicant structure2012-only portfolio bands and concentration — not an additional cross-round comparison.
Confirmed returning Organization sample — steward-confirmed Organization continuity only. Not all returning Organizations, returning-market share, or a whole-round denominator.
Confirmed cross-round Organization relationship
Organization continuity is confirmed — this does not claim identical Applicant legal-entity wording across rounds.
Confirmed cross-round Organization relationship
Organization continuity is confirmed — this does not claim identical Applicant legal-entity wording across rounds.
Confirmed returning Organization sample
112 → 41 (-71)
Unmatched Applicants or Organizations are not labeled new or first-time participants.
Incompatible metrics are withheld rather than forced into charts. This is a trust feature.
Applicant legal entities
Not directly comparable yet
Applicant legal-name grains and completeness differ; RIH does not publish a forced Applicant-count delta.
Regional distribution
Not directly comparable yet
Region definitions and grains are not cleanly aligned for a structural delta.
Community designation
Not directly comparable yet
Community fields share a name but not a proven equivalent definition across rounds.
Geographic designation
Not directly comparable yet
Geographic designations must not be silently equated across rounds.
Unique applied strings
Not directly comparable yet
2026 unique-string completeness is constrained by the WDO coverage gap.
Exact-string competition / repeats
Not directly comparable yet
Exact-string repeat structure is not published as a 2012→2026 delta under current coverage.
Contention
Not directly comparable yet
2012 preliminary and 2026 initial contention states are not treated as an equivalent program-stage measure.
Organization count
Not directly comparable yet
Organization counts are incomplete subsets and must not be presented as round totals.
Multi-Application participant concentration
Not directly comparable yet
Concentration rates are not unlocked without complete, aligned identity coverage.
Brand designation
Not directly comparable yet
Brand is 2026 round context only — not a cross-round change metric.